EuroHack26 - High-Performance Computing Applications Programming Hackathon

Important Dates

• Sunday, July 26: deadline for confirming your participation (no reminder will be sent!). By this date, you should:
  • Register for the event,
  • Send a copy of your ID card/passport to Andreas Jocksch (andreas.jocksch@cscs.ch). Note: If you already have an account for the use of CSCS machines, please send your account name to Andreas Jocksch (andreas.jocksch@cscs.ch).
  • Complete your accommodation arrangements if you wish to stay at the hotel where the event is being held (the room block reserved for participants at the event venue will be released on July 26).
• Friday, August 28, 2026, from 10:30 to 12:00 CEST: Kick-off videoconference.
• Sunday, September 6, at 19:00 CEST: informal icebreaker for those who are already in Lugano and wish to get-together (location to be announced closer to the event by separate email).
• Monday, September 7, at 10:00 CEST: program start (in-person).
• Friday, September 11, at 16:30 CEST: program end (in-person).

Target Audience and Format

Selected teams should plan for their team members to travel to and overnight in Lugano during the event, which will be held in person from September 7 to 11, 2026, at Hotel de la Paix. Your team should consist of a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 4 developers. Due to funding restrictions, it is not possible to invite more than 4 participants per team.

In order to confirm your participation in the program,  we invite you and all your team members to register for the event  by clicking on the red button at the top of this page, to identify yourself by sending the required copy of your ID/passport,  and should you wish to stay at the hotel where EuroHack is held, to book your accommodation by Sunday, July 26, 2026 (see related instructions below).

During this 5-day hands-on workshop you will be working on porting or optimizing your applications on a cluster of CPUs and GPU accelerators. Two mentors will be guiding you during this extremely intense time window. The goal is that the development teams leave at the end of the week with applications executing faster, or at least with a clear roadmap of how to get there. To coordinate work and come prepared to make the best out of your time in Lugano, we will be hosting a Zoom kick-off meeting on Tuesday, August 28, 2026, from 10:30 to 12:00 (CEST). Please block your calendars accordingly.

Participation Costs

Participation in the workshop is free of charge. The meeting room, lunches and one conference dinner, as well as access to the supercomputers throughout the event are offered by the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS). If participants prefer, they can use their own GPU resources. Mentors and learning materials are provided by CSCS and partner organizations.

Participants are responsible for their travels to the meeting venue, their accommodation, four dinners during the week, and personal expenses.

Registration

Please note that to confirm your participation in the program, you and all your team members should register for the event.

Deadline for registration: Sunday, July 26, 2026.

ID Verification

This course includes extensive hands-on sessions. CSCS offers participants temporary access to its machines to run their codes. To obtain the credentials to access CSCS machines, we ask you to please send a copy of your ID card/passport to Andreas Jocksch (andreas.jocksch@cscs.ch).

The copy of your document will be deleted after verifying your identity.

If you already have an account for the use of CSCS machines, please send your account name to Andreas Jocksch  (andreas.jocksch@cscs.ch) by Sunday, July 26, 2026. In this case, the copy of your ID card/passport is not required.

Please note that this step is compulsory to confirm your participation in the program.

Venue

In order to offer a good atmosphere for a week of intense programming, we have chosen Hotel de la Paix in Lugano, Switzerland, only minutes by foot to the scenic Lake of Lugano.

Hotel De La Paix
Via Cattori 18
6900 Lugano
Switzerland

Accommodation

To assist participants in their search for a hotel in Lugano during high season, we have made a room block booking at Hotel de la Paix, where the event will be held.

There are 30 rooms blocked for this event at the venue. Rooms range from CHF 165 (single) – CHF 175 (double room for single use) per night per person with breakfast.

The room block will be released on July 26, 2026. We cannot guarantee room availability after this date.

If you wish to stay at the hotel where EuroHack will be hosted, you can request a room from our block reservation.

You can make your individual booking directly on the hotel website by inserting the room block code EUROHACK26.

Room block code: EUROHACK26

Alternatively, you may contact the hotel (booking@delapaix.ch) to make your individual booking and remember to mention that you are a participant in the EuroHack26.

These rates include breakfast, service, and VAT. Tourists have to pay taxes per person/night in the amount of CHF 6.20. These taxes include the Ticino Ticket – which gives free access to all buses and trains in the Ticino area and several discounts on museums and other tourist attractions. You can extend your stay over the weekend at the same rate, if you wish and provided that the hotel has availability to host you.

Note that being the beginning of September is still high touristic season in Lugano, even if you decide to stay overnight at a different hotel, we recommend that you promptly make your arrangements for your stay in the area.

Travels

The region is served by Milan Malpensa airport (Italy) and by Zurich airport. The train timetable from either of these airports to Lugano main train station (“Lugano, stazione”) is available here. You should calculate a ride of approximately 2h from Malpensa airport and 2h20 from Zurich airport.

The FFS, the Swiss railroad network, is extremely widespread and permits one to travel throughout the country.

From Lugano train station (“Lugano, stazione”), you may take bus number 2 heading towards “Paradiso” and get off at bus stop “Lugano, Santa Brigitta.” The hotel lies 50m further down the road on the left-hand side.

Inquiries

Please contact Andreas Jocksch (andreas.jocksch__AT__cscs.ch) for questions related to the EuroHack content, or Tatjana Ruefli (tatjana.ruefli__AT__cscs.ch) for questions related to the workshop logistics.

We look forward to welcoming you to Lugano at the beginning of September!