Build the Smart, Sustainable Home – In One Day
Future-looking, customer-facing prototypes with a path to ship in ≤2 sprints.
Why We're Doing This
Impact North Star
Prioritise originality and genuine customer impact above all.
Zero to Demo
Conceptualise, build, and present a working demo by the end of the day.
Path to Production
Winners get an executive-sponsored route to pilot in ≤2 sprints.
Culture of Shipping
Foster cross-functional collaboration and focus on shipping, not just showing.
Preparation Timeline
Oct 3
Hackathon announced
Oct 7
RSVP closes; submit team or join as free agent
Oct 8
Theme(s) confirmed; teams finalised
Oct 10
Post your idea and any requests
Oct 13
Final logistics email
Oct 14
Hive Spark Day!
Hack Day Schedule
Windsor Event Space
09:00-17:30
09:00-09:15
Check-in, Wi-Fi, setup & kickoff
09:15
Hacking starts
11:15
Ask-Desk open
12:45-13:30
Optional lunch break
14:00
Demo running order published
15:15
Soft freeze reminder
16:00
Code freeze & submission
16:30-17:15
Demos & Q&A
17:15-17:30
Judges huddle & Awards
Post-17:30
Optional social/showcase
Hackathon Theme Tracks
Umbrella Theme: Smart, Sustainable Home – 2030
Envision customer experiences that leap beyond today. Build solutions that make the home smarter, cheaper, and greener – and demo them today, with a path to ship in ≤2 sprints.
Home Co-Pilot
AI that sees, decides, acts
Give every household an agentic AI that explains, recommends, and takes safe actions – on device where it makes sense.
- Routine-learning predictive comfort with “why/what’s next” explanations.
- Anomaly alerts (“your hot-water schedule just cost £2 extra today – want to fix?”).
- Privacy-preserving on-device models for presence/behaviour patterns.
- “One-tap do it” flows with reversible actions & clear guardrails.
HEM Orchestrator 2030
whole-home optimisation
Coordinate heat pump + EV + battery + solar under a chosen goal (Comfort / £ / CO₂) with transparent trade-offs.
- Storm/Outage mode: predict risk; pre-heat/pre-charge; essential-only scenes; “hours of comfort remaining.”
- Personal Energy SLA: customer chooses a daily budget for Comfort / £ / CO₂; the system meets it and shows trade-offs.
- Digital twin simulation so users preview savings/comfort before applying.
- Neighbourhood Flex (conceptual): opt-in “quiet hour” coordination where homes shift together (privacy-preserving; simulate with synthetic data).
Savings Coach
cut bills, keep comfort
Turn data into daily, do-able actions – not just charts.
- Bill forecast with confidence bands + the 3 actions that change it most today.
- Vampire-drain detector (smart plugs + usage fingerprints) with £/year impact.
- Tariff-switch nudges with honest habit impacts (“you’ll save £14/mo if laundry moves after 21:00”)
- Device ROI coach (“swap to smart plug here -> pays back in 5 months”).
Integrations 2.0
seamless by design
Make third-party devices feel first-party and keep working even when vendors wobble.
- Zero-touch onboarding that recognises device capabilities, suggests best routines, and surfaces “what this device can do here” in plain English.
- Health mirror & self-healing: when an OEM API drifts, the app explains what’s degraded and uses local/edge fallback where possible.
- QR-of-Things: point the app at a label/manual; vision + parsing builds a capability profile and auto-generates onboarding & controls.
- Bring-Your-Data connectors to import tariff/EV/solar info from email or utility portals to personalise control without deep OEM auth.
Smart-Delight & Accessibility
moments that feel like magic
Design moments that are effortless, inclusive, and fun.
- Hands-free arrival with UWB/near-field presence; hallway light, pre-warm, and hot water align without opening the app.
- Web widgets for hivehome.com that preview the value before signup.
- Care Mode guardrails and gentle automations for homes with seniors/children (night safety lightning, safe temps, check-ins)
- Wearable-aware comfort: adapt heating when illness/stress signals spike.
One Home, One Meter
supplier-agnostic control & verification
Turn read-only energy data (DCC and/or Hub Zigbee) into daily customer value: clear explanations and one-tap actions with a measurable £/kWh/CO₂ impact.
- Live Spend Ticket -> Save Now: a tiny overlay shows “£/hr now”; tap “Save £1 today” to apply a micro-plan and watch the ticker drop.
- Baseload Buster: estimate always-on W -> £/year; guide a 10-minute smart-plug sweep; show the baseline drop and projected payback.
- Universal Bill Watcher: detect billing anomalies (e.g., inconsistent estimates vs. reads) and auto-generate a dispute pack with meter-verified evidence the customer can send to any supplier.
- Bring-Your-Tariff: snap a bill or paste a link; we parse unit/standing rates and set a live budget/alerts – across any supplier.
Wildcard
surprise us!
Any audacious, customer-visible idea aligned to Hive’s mission. Agentic AI is welcome. If everyone picks this, that’s fine – just show a clear customer story and measurable impact.
Rules & Policies
Submission Checklist
- Working demo: Live preferred, 60-90s video is OK.
- Repo + README: Use provided templates.
- Pitch deck (3-5 slides): Use provided template.
Team Formation Policy
- Size: Teams of 3-5 people.
- Composition: Must be cross-functional (at least 2 disciplines).
- Eligibility: Open to UK-based permanent employees across Hive Tech. In-person only.
Guardrails & Guidelines
- Scope: Customer-facing prototypes only.
- Originality: No 1:1 copies of existing features.
- Fair Play: Same track is OK, same idea is not.
- Hacking: Core work must be done on the day. Credit third-party/AI tools.
- Data: Synthetic/anonymised data only. No customer PII.
- AI Tools: Use Centrica-approved AI tools; any exceptions must be cleared with organisers in advance or on the day.
- IP: All outputs are Centrica IP.
- Conduct: Centrica Code of Conduct applies.
Judging & Prizes
Judging Criteria
- Customer Value & Impact 30%
- Innovation & Creativity 25%
- Execution, Design & Prototype Quality 15%
- Wow / Coolness 15%
- Feasibility & Shippability (≤2 sprints) 15%
Prizes & Recognition
Grand Prix (Best in Show)
Highest score, exec-sponsored 2-sprint runway, recognition points, and more.
Secondary Awards
Most Shippable, Biggest Cost Saver, Best CX, Most Innovative, Best Use of AI, and People’s Choice.
Logistics Summary
Venue & Layout
Windsor Office, East Wing, Ground Floor Events Space. Zoned for hacking, presentations, and breaks.
Getting There
Shuttle from Slough Station, plus onsite parking (inc. EV bays). Doors open before 09:00.
Food & Drinks
Meals are self-catered (canteen open). Snacks will be provided.
Hardware & Kit
Bring your Centrica laptop and charger. Hive kit available on advance request.
Tools & Access
Standard collab tools. Ensure you have access to the CentricaHive GitHub org in advance.
Health & Safety
First-aid on site. Quiet space available. Please note accessibility needs in advance.