The event took place from May 23 - 24 at ENERGY EXPO 2025, the largest energy expo in the region, and was organized by Techcelerator, the longest-running high-tech accelerator in Romania, together with Romanian Tech Startups Association (ROTSA) with the support of the Ministry of Energy and PPC Romania.

In the hackathon, 130 people registered to create 30 solutions, and 14 teams with 15 solutions became finalists.

"When we launched CleanTech Nexus, the program of which this hackathon is a part along with other actions, we set out to bring together large energy companies with their challenges and innovation providers - be it, startups, scaleups, local software companies or research institutes. In this way, we wanted on the one hand to generate solutions for the requirements of the energy industry, but also to support B2B innovators and entrepreneurs to go from prototyping to application in the energy industry, to test their products with leading energy companies, to win new customers and to scale high-tech products internationally. Through Techcelerator's approach in the area of corporate innovation we have opened a co-creation and business development corridor for these local innovators, some of them already with mature solutions that we are assisting in PoCs (proof of concept) and we hope to see their solutions implemented in energy companies, so that they can then grow internationally to attract investment," said Cristian Dascălu, Managing Partner Techcelerator.

The teams that won the 2025 edition of the CleanTech Hackathon

YellowGrid, the team that won first place and €5,000, is composed of Cătălin Stăncel, Sergiu Mureșan, Andrei Antohie and Cristian Cioabă. They proposed an intelligent energy management system that allows prosumers to monitor and manage their own production and trade surplus energy based on real-time market prices.

"We participated in the Cleantech Hackathon to validate our solution in a competitive and collaborative context, but also to get feedback from mentors and experts in the energy industry. This initiative is essential to support innovation in renewable energy and accelerate the transition towards a more decentralized and sustainable energy system," said Cătălin Stăncel, YellowGrid co-founder and CEO.

Second place went to WiseWatts, with Mihaly Tordai and Mihai Sturza, the team awarded €3,000. WiseWatts is a co-pilot based on Artificial Intelligence that functions as a “digital peer” available 24/7 to optimize energy consumption and integrate green sources.

"We are very stuck in the day-to-day operations of our businesses and it felt like we could never take a few days off and look in which direction to go. The hackathon was the perfect opportunity to disconnect and work intensively on something new, on a challenge that we believe affects all businesses in the world today. That's why we signed up, and it was totally worth it. There were so many cool mentors there with whom we've pivoted the idea several times, and we've met so many people who we think we'll be good friends or partners with in the future. We recommend for everyone!", said Mihaly Tordai, co-founder of WiseWatts.

Third place was won by the PROCESIO team, awarded with 2.000 € and composed of Mihai Dârzan, Marian Voicu, Cuore Nica, Răzvan Țimboiu and Nicolae Irimia. They presented PROCESIO, a business process automation technology, and DiligenticAI - a product created with PROCESIO for extracting data from documents using Large Language Models. The two products form an automation ecosystem that extracts, structures and summarizes information from any unstructured data source. The result is up to 70% reduction in working time and minimization of operational and compliance errors.

"We participated in the Cleantech Hackathon because managing large volumes of unstructured data globally affects the efficiency, operational security and compliance of companies, especially those in the energy sector. Attending the hackathon gave us the opportunity to interact directly with leading companies such as PPC and Delgaz Grid, understand their challenges and discover what business people see as a viable solution to their problems. This initiative is essential for promoting practical, fast and tailored digital solutions that meet the real needs of the industry", said Mihai Dârzan, founder and CEO of PROCESIO.

14 finalists and 15 solutions

The winners received prizes worth €22,000 - of which €10,000 in cash and €12,000 in development resources. Mention prizes were also awarded, as well as access to pilot projects (Proof of Concepts - PoCs) with the companies that supported the event.

The teams that received honorable mention are SoftwareMedia, HexErgy (Italy), Reshape Digital, INCAS, Voltlink.

Also the 14 teams with 15 finalist solutions are Reshape Digital, Voltink, Systemio Technologies, Yellowgrid Distribution, Loftrek, Innowatio Group, Software Media, Renergia, HexErgy, WiseWatts Solutions, National Institute for Aerospace Research and Development - INCAS, CleanCode, Aggranda and Procesio.

The challenges of the competition were proposed by PPC, Delgaz, Romgaz, together with companies interested in innovative solutions such as Distribuție Oltenia, Evryo Group, EnergoBit.

The challenges focused on solutions for transforming the energy sector: from smart grid management and prosumer data integration, to co-investment in renewables and urban charging station optimization. Other topics included predictive maintenance through Digital Twin, AI applied in operational processes and cybersecurity, and automation of industrial inspections with drones.

CleanTech Hackathon is part of CleanTech Nexus, a program launched in June 2024 by Techcelerator together with the Ministry of Energy to promote sustainable technologies and practices in the energy sector and decarbonization processes. CleanTech Nexus has attracted over 100 innovative companies from the region and generated collaborations between startups and corporations.