The EBS Hackathon 2026 successfully concluded after a week of intensive collaboration among 31 invited participants from diverse disciplines, including developers, breeders, data scientists, and global support teams, focused on advancing digital breeding solutions and ecosystem interoperability. Running in parallel with the annual BrAPI Hackathon, which brought an additional 15 participants, the event was organized by Digital Solutions (DS) and BrAPI, with the venue hosted by the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), including the CIAT Genebank. The hackathon evolved beyond a traditional technical event into a strategic collaboration platform that fostered new opportunities for innovation across CGIAR and partner ecosystems.
Throughout the five-day event, teams from Digital Solutions (DS), Enterprise Breeding System (EBS), BioFlow, Gigwa/CIRAD, BrAPI, Fairgrounds, Genebank, analytics, and interoperability groups worked closely to develop proofs-of-concept, improve workflows, and accelerate decision-making.
One of the key highlights was the rapid alignment achieved between the EBS, Gigwa/CIRAD, and BioFlow teams as they explored interoperability use cases supporting the broader EBS and B4T ecosystems. The collaborative environment enabled teams to quickly identify solutions and align on future development priorities.
As the hackathon progressed, participants established dedicated breakout or “war rooms” to support focused development, troubleshooting, and technical discussions. Conversations with AWS LatAm also opened new opportunities for strengthening research and product development capabilities through future hands-on workshops and acceleration programs.
Midway through the event, teams shared progress updates that revealed unexpected opportunities for EBS integration, including the discovery that EBS could potentially support OFVT-related solutions within CGIAR. This emerged as one of the most promising outcomes of the week and further highlighted the growing role of EBS as a central ecosystem platform.
By the final presentation day, the original nine project ideas had expanded into nearly eighteen potential future initiatives. Participants demonstrated proofs-of-concept involving BioFlow pipelines, AI-assisted imagery workflows, BrAPI expansion, GGCE-EBS accession linkages, and interoperability across multiple breeding informatics platforms.
Beyond the technical achievements, the event reinforced the importance of collaboration across disciplines and organizations. Participants emphasized how working together in one environment accelerated innovation, reduced communication barriers, and strengthened the sense of shared purpose across teams.
The hackathon also delivered strategic gains for the future of the EBS ecosystem, including expanded CGIAR crop onboarding alignment, strengthened partnerships with AWS, and a roadmap for future hackathons that will continue building product management and ecosystem-scale digital innovation capacity.
Post-event survey responses from a subset of participants reflected a highly positive overall experience. Respondents highlighted the event’s contribution to improving understanding of the broader EBS ecosystem and its interoperability with platforms such as BioFlow and other CGIAR digital initiatives. Participants also recognized the value of the event’s facilitation, coordination, collaboration opportunities, and infrastructure, while recommending longer collaboration periods and stronger pre-hackathon preparation for future editions.
The event also strengthened strategic partnerships and future collaboration opportunities, particularly with AWS, while reinforcing the importance of cross-functional teamwork in advancing sustainable breeding informatics solutions. As EBS continues evolving toward a more integrated ecosystem, the EBS Hackathon 2026 demonstrated how collaborative innovation can accelerate research, product development, and interoperability across global agricultural programs.
