The European Hyperloop Week (EHW) is the largest annual hyperloop-centered community event in the world dedicated to the development and innovation of hyperloop technology. The event features a combination of activities, including competitions, conferences, workshops, demonstrations, exhibitions and social gatherings. It aims to foster collaboration between students, academia, industry, and governments to accelerate the advancement of hyperloop systems and its full-scale implementation.[1]
Following the cancellation of SpaceX's Hyperloop pod competition in 2020, teams around the world were eager to continue innovating and competing but lacked a platform to showcase their work. In response, four European student teams—Delft Hyperloop, HYPED, Hyperloop UPV, and Swissloop—joined forces to create their own competition: the European Hyperloop Week (EHW). EHW was established to provide a platform for the hyperloop community to come together to compete, innovate, network, and share knowledge.[2]
The event has grown in prominence and participation since its inception, attracting student teams, industry experts, and companies from around the world. The spirit of the event is described by their slogan: Fostering Innovation Through Collaboration.[3]
Map of countries of participating student teams (2023)
Activities
Conference
EHW hosts a series of presentations, panel discussions, and workshops led by students, industry experts, researchers, and academics. These sessions cover a wide range of topics related to hyperloop technology, infrastructure, regulation, and sustainability. They form a platform for open-source research and networking.[citation needed]
Competition
One of the main attractions of EHW is the hyperloop pod competition, where student teams from universities globally design, build, and test their hyperloop pods. These competitions include three main categories as of 2024: Complete System Demonstration, Promising Subsystem Demonstration and Research Submission. The goal is to push the boundaries of current hyperloop technology and full-scale implementation, and inspire the next generation of engineers and innovators.[23]
Hyperloop UPV Pod Demonstration during the 2022 European Hyperloop Week in the Netherlands
Student teams are evaluated by a technical jury consisting of industry experts, academics and former student team members.
Teams participate in various technical and strategic categories, including:
Overall System Award
Levitation
Propulsion
Braking
Complete Pod Demonstration
Scalability and Innovation
Communications and Public Engagement
Overall System Awards Winners
The following table summarizes the top 3 teams in the Overall System category of the European Hyperloop Week from 2021 to 2025:
The event serves on one hand as a networking hub for students, professionals and companies. It offers participants the chance to connect with potential employers, partners, and investors. On the other hand, the platform generates awareness about the hyperloop concept amongst the general public. This networking aspect is crucial for fostering collaborations and driving future projects in the hyperloop industry and in adjacent industries such as railway, electronics, pneumatics and other fields of engineering.
EHW includes exhibitions where companies and organizations involved in the hyperloop ecosystem showcase their latest technologies, products, and services. These exhibitions provide a glimpse into the cutting-edge advancements and innovations in the field.[24]
Online
The European Hyperloop Week hosts the largest knowledge hub of hyperloop-related research papers, and annually collects and publishes student team submissions for open-source access on their website. They have also organized and promoted online seminars on hyperloop-related topics.[25]
Organization
European Hyperloop Week is coordinated jointly by four founding university teams: Delft Hyperloop (Netherlands), Hyperloop UPV (Spain), Swissloop (Switzerland), and HYPED (United Kingdom). These teams share responsibility for the event's strategic planning, governance, and execution, regardless of the host location, ensuring a truly collaborative and international approach.
The organizational structure also includes members from other participating student teams, fostering continuity, innovation, and diversity within the volunteer-led initiative. While the legal foundation representing the event is based in Zurich, Switzerland—serving administrative and compliance functions—operational leadership remains distributed equally among the founding teams.
The event is funded and supported through sponsorships, institutional partnerships, and contributions from the participating teams.[26]
Since its launch in 2021, the European Hyperloop Week has become one of the leading student-led mobility competitions in Europe. It has contributed to the development of early-stage hyperloop technologies, talent development, and academic-industry collaboration.
More than 1,000 engineering, business, and design students from over 30 countries have participated in the event since its inception, with top technical universities such as Delft University of Technology, ETH Zurich, Universitat Politècnica de València, and the University of Edinburgh consistently represented.
The event has been hosted in major European innovation hubs, including:
Valencia, Spain (2021)
Delft and Hilversum, Netherlands (2022)
Edinburgh, United Kingdom (2023)
Zurich and Dübendorf, Switzerland (2024)
Groningen and Veendam, Netherlands (2025)
The rotating host model has allowed the event to engage diverse academic ecosystems and municipal stakeholders across Europe.
The competition has also attracted significant support from sponsors and industry and institutional stakeholders. These sponsors contribute through financial backing, technical mentorship, jury participation, and hosting site visits or demonstrations. The visibility of EHW has also helped strengthen European collaboration around hyperloop standardization and infrastructure strategy.
The team of student volunteers organizing the second edition of the European Hyperloop Week in 2022
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