Circuit.Rocks is officially on board as a hardware sponsor for SparkFest 2026, the flagship hackathon and mentorship day organized by the Google Developer Group on Campus PUP. The event takes place July 9, 2026 from 11 AM to 5:30 PM at PUP Main Campus, Bulwagang Bonifacio.
We joined SparkFest because the format is exactly the kind of student experience we like to back: not just a code sprint, but a full day that pairs hands-on hardware building with structured mentorship, pitching, and community-impact work.
What’s happening at SparkFest 2026
The GDG PUP team is running SparkFest 2026 as five parallel tracks in one day:
- Hackathon — team-based building around the day’s theme, with hardware kits available on the floor.
- Mentorship Sessions — one-on-one and small-group time with industry mentors so first-year hackers aren’t left decoding datasheets alone.
- Pitching Day — teams present their prototypes to a judging panel, sharpening the skill that turns a working demo into a fundable idea.
- Networking Activities — structured intros between students, alumni, and sponsors, so nobody leaves without a follow-up contact.
- Community Impact Initiative — a track focused on projects with direct social value rather than tech-for-tech’s-sake.
What Circuit.Rocks brings to the floor
Our sponsorship covers hardware provisioning for the hackathon. Sparkmates working through the day will have access to the parts they need to move from concept sketch to working prototype without waiting weeks for international shipping.
The catalog we bring includes:
- Adafruit boards, sensors, and Feather ecosystem parts — the ones that come with real docs and libraries that just work.
- DFRobot Gravity sensors, HUSKYLENS AI vision, and pH/EC water-quality kits — great fit for teams building environmental or robotics ideas.
- Arduino official UNO, Mega, MKR, and Nano boards — the safe default when a team needs to iterate fast.
- Raspberry Pi Pi 5, Pi Zero 2 W, and Pico W — for teams whose builds need Linux, a display, or wireless connectivity.
- Motors, drivers, batteries, wiring, and enclosure basics so hardware teams aren’t stuck sourcing a jumper wire at 2 PM.
Everything in the SparkFest kit line-up comes from Circuit.Rocks’s authorized-brand catalog, so the parts students touch on the day are the same ones they can buy back in Manila to keep prototyping after the event ends.
Why we back events like this
Circuit.Rocks has been shipping parts to Filipino makers since 2015, and one thing we’ve learned is that the students who become confident engineers are the ones who touched real hardware early. A datasheet only gets a beginner so far — actually wiring up a motor driver, watching a servo twitch the wrong way, and figuring out why is where the learning locks in.
Hackathons like SparkFest 2026 give that experience at scale. One day, dozens of teams, mentors on hand to unstick you before you rage-quit. That’s a much steeper learning curve than a semester of theory alone. It’s also a low-friction way to get into the maker community — walk in on Thursday morning knowing nothing about GPIO, walk out on Thursday night having demoed a prototype in front of judges.
How to join SparkFest 2026
Registration and event details are live at the SparkFest 2026 website: sparkfest.gdgpup.org. The event primer with the full brief is at tinyurl.com/mtud86em, and GDG PUP is running a DP blast at frame.gdgpup.org/events/sparkfest for anyone who wants to show sparkmate colors on their profile.
See you at Bulwagang Bonifacio on July 9. Bring a laptop, bring a notebook, bring a teammate — the hardware we’ve got covered.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where is SparkFest 2026?
SparkFest 2026 runs on Thursday, July 9, 2026, from 11 AM to 5:30 PM at PUP Main Campus – Bulwagang Bonifacio. Registration is open at sparkfest.gdgpup.org and the full event primer is at tinyurl.com/mtud86em.
Who is SparkFest 2026 for?
SparkFest 2026 is open to students across programs – not just Computer Engineering or Computer Science. If you want to try a hackathon for the first time, this is a friendly on-ramp with structured mentorship built into the day. If you’re already a hackathon regular, the pitching and community-impact tracks let you level up beyond just shipping a demo.
What will students actually take away from SparkFest 2026?
Hands-on time with real hardware they’ve never touched before, mentor feedback on a working prototype (not just an idea), a short pitch on record from the pitching-day panel, and a network of student peers and industry mentors who now know your work. Practically: hardware fluency, teamwork under a deadline, and a portfolio-grade demo you can bring into a job interview or a research application.
