The BU Blended Finance Hackathon 2026 is your chance to move beyond discussions and into practical, collaborative problem-solving. We’re bringing together the experts, the innovators, and the doers to tackle real-world challenges and unlock new pathways for risk-sharing and private capital mobilisation. Are you in?

This is a call for practical ideas and realistic solutions to unlock private capital for sustainable economic development and to increase co-operation through risk-sharing.

We believe improved cooperation between BU members, development finance institutions (DFIs), multilateral development banks (MDBs) and the wider finance community has the potential to multiply our shared impact while supporting the SDGs.

Borrowed from software development, a ‘hackathon’ brings experts together to collectively tackle challenges using technical solutions, often taking a first principles approach.

The Hackathon will take place in early 2026 and will be your chance to put forward your solutions and make an impact on our industry!

We are currently calling for submissions from finance professionals with experience working on MDB, DFI and ECA transactions and structuring specialists (ie. bankers, lawyers, brokers, advisors, consultants). Other relevant stakeholders (e.g. academic, thinktank etc.) are welcome to submit, provided there is a practical focus and relevance to real world blended finance solutions.

We need diverse and thoughtful submissions and welcome you to spread this exciting project within your network! If you know of an organization or individual who would like to support this initiative - share this webpage and make an impact.

Be sure to use the hashtag - #BUBlend !

1. Submit a proposal by September 30, 2025.
2. Selected proposals will be invited to the Hackathon Workshop in February 2026 - more logistic details will follow.
3. Post-event report/whitepaper, June 2026.

NOTE: This event will be closed-door and applying the Chatham House Rule to foster open and frank discussion. Participants are welcome to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed. All public outputs will be reviewed in consultation with contributors.

Submissions can be in any format that best showcases your idea - whether that’s a written document, presentation, video, or something else entirely. We encourage you to think outside the box, and we can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Submissions should be sent via email to the Berne Union President by 30th September 2025.

Please include the following in your submission:

• Title, Name, affiliation, short bio and contact email of (lead) submitter
• Short abstract of the proposal or insight
• Key challenge or problem being addressed
• Your perspective or proposed direction
• You can also state challenges or bottleneck which you faced in practice and innovative solutions

Format ideas ...not guidelines

1–2 pages (approx. 800–1200 words of text) OR diagrams illustrating structure examples, in an accessible format such as MS word, PDF etc.

After September 30th, selected contributors will be invited to: 

• present during the Hackathon event;
• join hackathon team as idea owners or domain experts;
• contribute to share the insights in the post-event report or whitepaper; and
• collaborate in follow-up or policy dialogues in BU events (AGM2026)

submit your proposal by september 30th