Compiled Feb 10, 2026
XR + AI Opportunities
Hackathons, grants, prizes, accelerators, and conferences worldwide
This Week / Next 10 Days
EU Creative Europe Immersive Content
Up to EUR 200K/project
WXO World Experience Awards
4 categories
Presight AI Startup Accelerator
3 month program, Abu Dhabi
Games for Change Awards (Best in XR)
Ceremony Jul 21 NYC
CMU XRTC Creative Research Grant
$1K to $8K
NVIDIA Cosmos Cookoff registration
$5K top prize, physical AI
Unity for Humanity Grant
$10K to $25K per project
AWS + Datadog GenAI Hackathon (SF)
$15K credits + $10K+ prizes
Cannes Competition Immersive
Official Cannes selection
AWE USA 2026 Speaker Submissions
Speaking slot, Long Beach Jun 15 to 18
Technovation AI Ventures Accelerator
Up to $100K equity free
A' Design Award VR/AR (late deadline)
Trophy + package
Snap Spectacles Community Challenge
Up to $5K/winner, $33K+/month
March 2026
EIC Accelerator (EU)
Up to $2.5M grant + $10M equity
Meta AI Glasses Impact Grants
$25K to $200K per grant, ~$2M total
VivaTech Next Startupper Award
Pitch live Jun 17, Paris
Bpifrance Pionniers de l'IA
Up to 100% subsidy Phase 1
SensAI Hack San Francisco
XR+AI prize pool
Entrepreneur First The Bridge
Up to $250K initial, $3M future
SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival
Prestige selection
Epic Games MegaGrants (Cycle 1)
$5K to $500K, no repayment
Niantic Real World Impact Challenge
$3K grand prizes + categories
Startup World Cup Regionals
$1M investment grand prize Oct 2026
April 2026
Laval Virtual Awards
LV Award, free exhibition
SIGGRAPH Real Time Live! / Frontiers
Prestige demo slot
Horizon Europe: Virtual Worlds and XR
$4 to 5M/project, $30M total
Horizon Europe: AI and Digital Tech
$307M allocated
Intrinsic AI for Industry Challenge
Dexterous manipulation
SIGGRAPH Posters / Appy Hour
Prestige display
Microsoft AI Agents Hackathon
Cash prizes, 3 weeks virtual
May 2026
June 2026
SuperAI Genesis Singapore
$100K OpenAI credits
AWE USA Startup Pitch + Auggies
Auggie Awards, startup prizes
Databricks Data+AI Summit Hackathon
$10K+ first place
Bpifrance AI Pioneers (round 2)
Up to 100% subsidy
VivaTech 2026
Pitch studio, 14K startups
YC AI Startup School
$25K+ in credits, 2K students
GITEX Europe Supernova Challenge
EUR 100K equity free
IBM TechXchange Hackathon
$10K prize pool
TechCrunch Battlefield 200 apps close
$100K equity free
July 2026
Fall 2026
Startup World Cup Grand Finale
$1M investment prize
TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield 200
$100K equity free
Web Summit Lisbon PITCH
Flagship competition
Meta Horizon Developer Competition
$1.5M across 32 awards
AWE Europe / UnitedXR
$200K startup prizes
GITEX Global Dubai Supernova
$200K cash prize
NeurIPS 2026
Demo track
Rolling / Always Open
Snap Spectacles Community Challenge
$5K/winner, $33K+/month
Snap Lens Creator Rewards
Payouts at 15K qualified posts
XR Hack (multiple cities)
$100K from Meta
SensAI Hack Global Tour
$10K/city
Lablab.ai
AI hackathons
Apart Research Sprints
3 day AI safety sprints
NVIDIA Inception
Co-marketing, hardware, cloud credits
Microsoft for Startups
Up to $150K Azure credits
Google Cloud AI Startup
Up to $350K credits
AWS Activate
Up to $100K credits ($1M for GenAI)
HTC VIVE X
$100K to $200K convertible note
Antler Disrupt
$400K + $650K perks
AI Grant
$250K SAFE + $350K Azure credits
Residencies and Special Programs
Major Conferences
MWC Barcelona
Mar 2 to 5
GDC
Mar 9 to 13, SF
SXSW
Mar 12 to 18, Austin
NVIDIA GTC
Mar 16 to 19, San Jose
Harvard XR Conference
Apr 11
Web Summit Vancouver
May 11 to 14
London Tech Week / AI Summit
Jun 8 to 12
AI Engineer World's Fair
Jun 29 to Jul 2, SF
SIGGRAPH
Jul 19 to 23, LA
EuroXR
Nov 3 to 6, Valencia