About the festival
The Data4Good Festival is centered on data challenges for the common good bringing together bachelors students from across Europe, fostering creativity, collaboration, and innovative solutions to address pressing societal issues using data-driven approaches.
The festival hosts a weekend of fun, learning and innovation while letting students enjoy great moments in Berlin. If you fancy an opportunity to enjoy free food, exciting workshops and the chance to gain prizes and meet other incredible students from peer institutions, don’t hesitate to apply.
Our festival highlights include:
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Hackathon for the Common Good: A hackathon aimed at addressing real-world challenges using data-driven solutions. This hands-on experience focuses on enhancing participants' technical skills by working on real-world datasets. Participants can win cash prizes, swag bags, access to premium data science learning resources and other awards;
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Data science workshops: professors, data experts and practitioners in the field conduct specialised workshops throughout the festival to provide insights into data science workflow and the latest trends, best practices and technologies;
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Social events and networking opportunities: The festival provides a platform for you to connect with like-minded peers, industry professionals, and mentors with social activities to make lasting connections.
How can you apply?
Applications for the 2026 Festival is now open!
You can apply using this form. We welcome registrations of teams of students. Please form a team with other students in your universities or with your partners in other universities (you can be from different programmes and years of study). Please ensure that all members of the team register separately using their own email address and list the same team name in the registration form. We recommend a team size of no larger than 6.
If you are an individual candidate without a team, don’t worry, you are also welcome to apply and we will help match you with other individual participants so you can form a team before the event.
This event is open to students of Bachelor programmes in in Europe. Scholarship for travel and accommodation in Berlin are available but limited. Please indicate in your application whether you would like to apply for the scholarship and we will inform you of the results once you are accepted.
Please fill out the form below to register for the festival. The deadline for application is December 12, 2025. We will inform you by December 20, 2025 if your application was successful. Please note that submitting a registration does not mean automatic admission to the Data4Good Festival. All applications will be carefully reviewed, and confirmed participants will receive an official acceptance email once selections are made. If you have any questions regarding the event or your application, feel free to reach out to us at data4good[at]hertie-school[dot]org. Thank you!
The Journey So Far
Our previous partners
Established in 1999 by entrepreneur Dieter Schwarz and based in Heilbronn, the Dieter Schwarz Stiftung is a non-profit foundation whose guiding principle is “Promote education, share knowledge, venture future.” Its focus is on forward-looking educational and scientific initiatives, especially promoting lifelong learning and strengthening innovation in the region and beyond.
Founded in 1977 by Reinhard Mohn, Bertelsmann Stiftung is a major German foundation based in Gütersloh that aims to strengthen society, promote people and develop systems for the public good. Through studies, programmes and events, it offers impetus for social change and works on issues such as education, digitisation, health, social justice and democracy.
Accenture is a global professional services company with specialism in strategy & consulting, technology, operations and digital transformation, operating in more than 120 countries. The company works across industries to help organisations “change and grow quickly” by connecting deep sector knowledge with technology capabilities.
The IOM is the leading intergovernmental organisation on migration, founded in 1951 and headquartered in Geneva. Its global mission is to promote humane and orderly migration for the benefit of migrants and society. fIts work includes operational assistance for migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as policy advice, research, and data-gathering around migration flows worldwide.
Technologiestiftung Berlin is a non-profit foundation that fosters digital and technological innovation in Berlin and beyond. It brings together administration, education, culture, business, science and urban society to develop digital solutions with open data and open code, oriented toward the common good. Its project arm, the CityLAB Berlin, acts as an open-space lab at the interface of urban society, administration and science, prototyping and exploring digital urbanisation and smart-city approaches.