The idea behind the event was co-developed by Senior Lecturer in School of Computing, Electrical and Applied Technology Dr Masoud Shakiba and AWS Principal Solutions Architect Ratan Kumar.

“The hackathon gives participants the opportunity to develop AI solutions to real-world issues,” says Dr Shakiba. 

“It also provides invaluable networking opportunities for the students taking part, as well as partnership opportunities for future events.”

Participants will use case studies to design interventions making a meaningful impact across various sectors, with projects contributing to one or more of the 17 UN Sustainability Pillars. 

These include eliminating poverty, hunger, inequality or increasing wellbeing, sustainable economic development and meeting climate change goals.

Teams of five members will work with tech industry mentors to help develop their solutions using AWS Generative AI tools, such as Amazon Bedrock and Q, with AWS technicians hosting workshops on how to use this technology.

The event also includes talks and interactive breakout sessions.

Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, Executive Director, Unitec and MIT, opened this week’s Hackathon, alongside Dr Haren Sam, Head of Enterprise, Industry & Greenfield at AWS.

"We’re proud to collaborate with Unitec and be involved in this great initiative,” Dr Sam says.

“It's a great opportunity for us to upskill the future generation of leaders in New Zealand, help them realise the value of GenAI and build innovative and impactful solutions using AWS’ latest technology.”

“We understand the potential of Generative AI to revolutionise many areas of our lives,” says Peseta Sam. 

“As well as the important role we play as decision makers, tech companies, teachers and programmers to provide a holistic context within which it will be developed and used for everyone’s benefit.” 

The Hackathon has attracted more than 180 attendees including students, graduates, developers, researchers and IT professionals.

The three-day event will culminate in a panel review, where industry leaders will evaluate the projects based on criteria including creativity, feasibility, and impact. 

Prizes for the winning teams include unique internship opportunities for students, cash prizes, as well as tickets to the forthcoming M2 AI Summit to be held in Auckland next year. 

Keynote addresses will be given by Dr Helena Bahrami, AI team leader at Wine-Searcher; and Cyril Ovely, co-founder and CTO of global software solutions company, Vxceed.
 
Dr Bahrami and Mr Ovely will also be members of the GenAI Hackathon judging panel which includes Professor Martin Carroll, DCE Academic - Unitec & MIT; Shimi Baliti, solutions architecture manager at AWS; Bec O’Brien, sales manager at DoiT, and Dr Shakiba from Unitec