Norway puts AI skills to the test with first national AI championship
Norway is launching its first national artificial intelligence competition, with the Norwegian AI Championship set to begin on March 19 at Mesh Community in Oslo.
The four-day, open competition introduces a nationwide benchmark for applied AI skills, with teams competing on live challenges for a total prize pool of up to NOK 1 million.
A national test of applied AI skills
According to event organizers, the championship is designed to create a shared national stage for AI capability, bringing together students, professionals, startups, and companies to solve real technical challenges under time pressure.
The competition runs digitally from March 19 to 22, with physical hubs planned in Oslo and Trondheim. Teams receive three challenges simultaneously and submit solutions through an automated API scoring system, allowing progress to be tracked in real time.
Sondre Li Hauger, General Manager at Mesh Youngstorget and part of the organizing team, shared on LinkedIn that the event marks the first time Norway has had “a real benchmark for what Norwegian AI talent can do,” highlighting the scale and ambition of the initiative.
Launch event and participation model
The championship opens with a kickoff event at Mesh Youngstorget in Oslo, beginning at 17:00 on March 19, followed by the release of competition challenges at 18:00. The launch event will be livestreamed nationwide, with additional local kickoff events in other cities expected to be announced.
Participation is free for individuals, including students and professionals. Companies entering with a team are required to pay a fee. The competition supports common programming languages, APIs, and machine learning tools, and participants can work remotely without attending a physical hub.
Positioning AI skills beyond the classroom
The Norwegian AI Championship arrives as countries across Europe explore new ways to assess and grow AI capability beyond formal education pathways. Rather than focusing on credentials or coursework, the competition emphasizes execution, problem-solving, and technical decision-making under real conditions.
Organizers describe the initiative as a way to connect talent, industry, and investors while testing how AI skills translate into deployable solutions. By combining open access, live scoring, and a national prize structure, the event aims to make AI capability more visible and comparable across sectors.
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