Maximizing Project Value with M.O.R.E.
Student Hackathon 2026
What happens when a real business challenge meets a team of ambitious students, experienced project managers, and a framework designed to unlock more value?
This year, the PMI Bulgaria Chapter Student Club invites students to take part in a hands-on project management experience built around real business cases and the theme:
Maximizing Project Value with M.O.R.E.
The Hackathon gives students the opportunity to work on a real-world project challenge submitted by a participating company and transform it into a project with a stronger strategic purpose and greater value.
Rather than simply solving a business problem, participants will explore how a project can create more value for the organisation, its stakeholders, and its users
How teams develop solutions?
Teams take the challenge as the starting point for developing a new project direction, supported by:
A mentor from the participating company
Students with diverse academic backgrounds, skills, and perspectives
A mentor from PMI Bulgaria Chapter
Practical project management tools and approaches
Develop a project concept that goes beyond the initial challenge and demonstrates how its value proposition can be strengthened through a project management approach.
What to Expect?
The Hackathon is designed as a collaboration that connects students with businesses and project management professionals.
Participating companies provide a real project or business challenge where the expected value needs to evolve due to changing business circumstances, new opportunities, stakeholder needs, or other project conditions.
Project Management Practice
Apply project management frameworks to real-world business cases in teams. You’ll tackle challenges for value propositions that can be strengthened through a project management approach.
Training and Mentorship
Access exclusive training materials and receive support from experienced mentors from PMI Bulgaria Chapter and business experts from our partner companies.
Connect and Network
Meet like-minded peers, industry professionals, and potential future employers. Expand your PM community and visibility.
Present, Pitch, and Win
Prepare a winning project proposal and pitch your solution to an expert jury. The top three teams will receive prizes and recognition. All participants get a Certificate of Participation.
The M.O.R.E. approach
The Hackathon is built around the idea that successful projects should not only deliver outputs – they should create meaningful value.
Using the M.O.R.E. model, teams will examine different aspects of their project and identify opportunities to strengthen the value it creates.
The framework will help participants look beyond the initial project scope and ask:
Where can we create more value?Students will use the model as a practical lens for analysing their case, developing their project
What is M.O.R.E.?
Proven M.O.R.E. Practices Associated with Project Success charter and presenting the opportunities they have identified.
Want to explore the framework deeper?
How will it work?
1. Get ready
The Hackathon starts with the preparation and collection of real business cases from participating companies.
Once the cases are collected, student teams will be matched with a challenge and prepared for the project work ahead.
2. Work on a real business case
Students will receive a real-world business challenge provided by one of our participating companies.
The case will serve as the foundation for developing a new project with:
A clear project purpose + a strategic objective + an enhanced value proposition
Teams will have the opportunity to understand the business context, identify key stakeholders and constraints, explore alternative approaches, and develop a project concept that responds to the challenge while creating additional value.
3. Two weeks of teamwork
20 October – 5 November
This is where the real project work begins.
Student teams will work independently and collaboratively to develop their solution. Throughout the process, they will receive guidance from both a company mentor and a PMI project management mentor.
Mentoring sessions will take place during the two-week period, including weekends or other mutually agreed times.
Teams will be expected to apply project management thinking to:
- understand the business challenge;
- Define the project and its strategic purpose;
- Identify stakeholders and their expectations;
- Structure the project and its key elements;
- Explore opportunities to increase project value;
- Develop a clear and compelling value proposition;
- Prepare their final project presentation.
Pitching Day
The Hackathon culminates in a final Pitching Day, where teams will present their project concepts to a specially selected jury.
Each team will present its developed Project Charter and demonstrate how the proposed project can create additional value through the M.O.R.E. approach.
The presentation will give teams the opportunity to showcase:
- Their understanding of the original business challenge;
- The strategic purpose of their proposed project;
- The project structure and key elements;
- Stakeholder and value expectations;
- Opportunities for increasing the project's value proposition;
- The practical impact of their proposed solution.
Projects will be evaluated against a dedicated set of criteria developed for the Hackathon, taking into account the complexity and specific characteristics of the respective business cases.
What are the general guidelines?
Students will be assessed based on their group work and the following deliverables:
1Generate solution options to the provided business case (problem statement) and validate your choice with the business mentor.
2Develop a project charter and validate it with the project mentor (Template with guidelines will be provided at the kick-off meeting).
3Prepare a 10-minute presentation with your project proposal and pitch to the jury members.
Why participate?
Real Business Experience
Move beyond theoretical exercises and work with a challenge provided by an actual organisation.
Learn from Professionals
Receive guidance from experienced PMI mentors and company representatives throughout the Hackathon.
Develop Your Skills
Work with students from diverse backgrounds, develop your project management skills and explore how projects can create greater value.
Build Your Network
Work with students from diverse backgrounds, develop your project management skills and explore how projects can create greater value.
Key Dates
16 October 2026
Registration Deadline
Kick-off Meeting
24-25 October 2026
(place to be announced)
In-Person Hackathon Days
5 November 2026
Final Presentations & Awards
From a business case to a project with more value
The Hackathon is not simply about finding an answer to a problem.
It is about understanding why the project matters, who it creates value for, and how that value can be increased.
Join us and turn a real business challenge into a project with more purpose, more value, and more potential.
Contact Us
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