Melbourne | Claude Impact Lab

The Claude Impact Lab is back in Melbourne. One day, teams of builders, and one big question: what does AI mean for people's jobs, and what can we build about it?

📅 Saturday 14 November 2026 · doors 8:00am, wrap 6:30pm
📍 Inspire9, Richmond (opposite Richmond station, full address shared once approved)
🎟️ Free. Places are limited to 80 builders this round and approved by the organisers.

WHAT IS A CLAUDE IMPACT LAB?
A one-day hackathon where teams use Claude to build tools that tackle real problems for real people. Melbourne hosted the first Impact Lab in the Southern Hemisphere in May. This is the second run, and we're going again with what we learned.

THE PROBLEM
This round builds on our Claude Conversations community workshop, where people from all walks of life talked about what AI means for their work. The mood was mildly worried rather than doom, and the people who use AI hands-on worried less. The biggest worries were the junior pipeline breaking, inequality, scams and misinformation, losing our own thinking, and job loss.
Your team builds a tool that responds to one of those worries: a retraining tool, a job exposure check, a skills passport, a trust or AI literacy tool, or your own idea. The full brief and what to bring land in the participant portal later this week.

TEAMS
Teams are 2 to 4 people, and teams lock in on Thursday night (12 November). This week we'll send registered guests a link to the participant portal, where you form your team, find teammates in the chat and, on the day, submit your project. Places are limited, so form your team early. Coming solo or as a pair? Ask to be matched in the portal and we'll put you in a team.

HOW THE DAY RUNS
8:00 Doors open, check-in and coffee
8:30 Welcome and kickoff: the problem, how the day runs, what to submit and how judging works
9:00 Hacking starts, with mentors on the floor all day
Midday Lunch (time to be confirmed)
3:30 Tools down and afternoon tea. Submissions close and judging starts
4:00 Talks while the judges review every submission (speakers to be announced)
4:45 Shortlist announced: the top 5 or 6 teams
5:15 Finalist pitches, 3 minutes per team
5:45 Judges deliberate
6:00 Winners announced and photos
6:30 Venue clear, drinks down the road for anyone keen

WHAT YOU SUBMIT AT 3:30
A public URL for what you built (or a username and password for the judges if it isn't public), a short paragraph on what it is and the problem it solves, and a 5-slide deck. A short video is optional and uploads straight to your submission.

WHAT YOU GET
✨ Claude credits to build with on the day (details to come)
🧭 Mentors on the floor and a judging panel
🤝 A room full of developers, designers, data people and domain experts
🏆 Shortlisted teams pitch live on stage, and the winners take home the title

WHO SHOULD COME
Developers and engineers. Data scientists and analysts. Designers and UX people. HR, careers and workforce people. Educators, students and new grads. Community organisers and nonprofit workers. If you've got a view on what AI means for work, or you know how to build, you belong here.

WHAT TO BRING
Your laptop and charger, Claude Code installed before you arrive, and the email you registered here with (it's how you sign in to the portal).

A Claude Community event, supported by Anthropic. Hosted at Inspire9.