Innovation Challenge · New in 2027
The challenges our industry faces today, turned into business models. It has a call of its own, separate from Summer Projects.
November 2026 → February 2027
Two calls, not one split in two. The Innovation Challenge is the call to build; the Innovation Track is the call to come and see what was built.
Innovation Challenge
November 2026 – January 2027
“Build a solution to a real industry problem.”
4 to 6 remote design-thinking sessions: the problems come out of the room, teams form around the ones worth the work, and each team ends with a business model.
Innovation Track
2nd–3rd February 2027 · Montevideo
“Come and see where the industry is heading, and what is being built.”
Two days inside Summer Week for senior people from the industry, investors and mentors — short enough to come from anywhere in the region without clearing a whole week.
Inside the Innovation Challenge
Between November and January you meet 4 to 6 times, remotely, and work through a design-thinking process: from a problem nobody has solved yet to something built that proves it can be. And every problem starts from the same place:
The 2027 theme
Hasta la vista, downtime!
Operating Global Streaming in the Age of Agents
The whole edition hangs from that thread. Summer Projects pulls at it from the technical side; this track pulls at it from the business one.
October 2026 → February 2027
The call opens at the launch meetup and closes on 30 October. From there the teams form, and from November to January they work.
14–30 Oct
The call
Tell us how you want to join.
30 Oct – 5 Nov
Selection
We review every application.
Nov → Jan
Teams at work
Teams form around the problems and build a business model, over 4 to 6 sessions.
Summer Week
MTV Night
The teams pitch to investors and industry leaders, over dinner.
You don’t have to be a founder to take part. Six different profiles make this work, and each one comes in at a different moment.
First-time founders and pairs
A real problem, a team, validation and access to the industry.
They build. They come in through the Challenge and end up pitching at the Track.
Students
Experience, a network and a first contact with the industry.
They build with the teams, and get to talk to executives.
Executives with a problem
Quick answers to pains they already live with.
They own a problem: they validate it in the interviews and see teams working on it.
Mentors
To give back to the ecosystem and stay close to what is new.
They accompany a team or a problem: about an hour every two weeks.
Investors
Deal flow, and to understand why invest in Uruguay.
Jury at the MTV Night pitches. They meet the founders and pick who to follow.
Senior people from abroad
Conversations, demos, unhurried networking and getting to know Uruguay.
Peers from LATAM, the US and Europe, and possible partners or mentors.
Innovation Track · 2nd–3rd February 2027
Two days of the week that are yours, and you can come just for them. A couple of things worth sitting down for, and the rest is conversation, long lunches and the city.
Discover Summer Week →Tuesday 2 February · Night
The MTV Night
The Innovation Challenge teams pitch their business models over dinner, in front of investors, mentors and the local entrepreneurial ecosystem.
And around it, across the two days
Innovation Track 2026
The Innovation Track ran for the first time in 2026. David Hassoun, Barry Owen (Wowza) and Olga Kornienko (EZDRM) were in the room, and what struck them was finding the same problems on every side of the media supply chain.
Summer Projects or Innovation Challenge
The two calls open the same day and run in parallel from November, and both end in Montevideo. You can take part in one, in the other, or in neither and still come for Summer Week. If you are not sure which one is yours, these are the questions that usually settle it.
Summer ProjectsSomeone from the community brings a challenge they live every day, and the community votes which ones are worth a project.
Innovation ChallengeNobody brings it. It comes out of the first sessions, from the problems the participants see themselves, and the executives validate which ones are worth the work.
Summer ProjectsYes. You build an open-source project alongside other engineers, with a Tech Sponsor guiding the work.
Innovation ChallengeNo. A team needs product, business and design people as much as builders, and the Qualabs team builds the prototype with you.
Summer ProjectsA remote team from the community, with a Tech Sponsor who unblocks you and an Industry Supporter who tries it in production.
Innovation ChallengeA team that forms during the sessions, with industry mentors alongside and executives who live the problem you picked.
Summer ProjectsAn open-source library, shared with everyone and used beyond the camp.
Innovation ChallengeA business model: who has the problem, what the offer is and how it makes money.
Summer ProjectsA live demo at the Demo Day, on 3 February in Montevideo.
Innovation ChallengeA pitch at the MTV Night, in front of investors and industry leaders.
