Date To Be Announced

The Rise of AI Agents Hackathon

Building Next-Gen AI Agents | Dubai AI Week

⏱️ Design, build, and launch a real-world AI Agent - As part of Dubai AI Week


πŸ“… Fall 2026 / TBA


πŸ† $60,000+ prize pool


🀝 Join solo or with a team.


πŸ“ Location

Deriv Offices, One by Omniyat, 24th Floor, Al Mustaqbal Street, Business Bay, Dubai, UAE


On-site participation is by invitation only. Travel and accommodation are not covered.


πŸ§‘β€πŸ’» Apply now and build the next generation of AI Agents.

The Rise of AI Agents Hackathon event thumbnail
About

Join us during Dubai AI Week for the Rise of AI Agents Hackathon.

This hybrid event brings together developers, founders, and innovators to design AI Agents that can reason, plan, and act autonomously. With a global online build phase and an exclusive on-site finale in Dubai, participants will experiment, collaborate, and showcase high-impact AI solutions.


Projects should go beyond simple prompt-response interactions, demonstrating autonomy, structured decision-making, multi-step workflows, and real-world applicability across productivity, research, automation, finance, and operations. This is a chance to build production-ready AI Agents that truly support users, teams, and organizations, all within the excitement of Dubai AI Week. 

Challenge
Challenge

Design, build, and launch a real-world AI Agent - As part of Dubai AI Week

Choose a track that matches your vision:

  • 🧠 Intelligent Reasoning Use advanced reasoning to analyze inputs and make independent decisions. Your agent should be able to handle roadblocks and change its plan without human intervention.


  • πŸ”„ Agentic Workflows Design workflows where the agent plans its own steps, calls external tools (APIs, databases, or browsers), and manages multi-step tasks over time.


🌍 Enterprise Utility Solve a real-world friction point for the managers and entrepreneurs at AI Week.


  • 🧩 Multimodal Intelligence Leverage the ability to process images, documents, audio, or video to unlock richer interactionsβ€” such as analyzing business reports or physical environment data.


  • 🀝 Collaborative Systems Build a multi-agent system where different specialized agents coordinate and share information to achieve a high-level goal that a single LLM couldn't handle alone.

Technology 
Partners

Technology Partners & Workshops 

To be eligible for Google GCP prizes, you must build your project using Gemini models and Google AI tools to power the intelligence and behavior of your agent. You’ll choose your track from the options listed in the Challenge section to guide your project focus.

Participants should select the Gemini model that best aligns with the intelligence, speed, and complexity required by their AI Agent.

Gemini 3 Flash is optimized for speed and responsiveness. It’s ideal for agents that need to operate in real time, handle frequent interactions, or power fast user-facing experiences such as chat assistants, workflow automations, and interactive tools. If your agent prioritizes low latency and high throughput, Gemini 3 Flash is a strong starting point.

Gemini 3 Pro is built for advanced reasoning and deeper cognitive tasks. It’s well suited for agents that need to analyze complex inputs, reason across long contexts, plan multi-step actions, or synthesize information from multiple sources. Teams building research agents, analytical assistants, or decision-making systems will benefit most from Gemini 3 Pro’s enhanced reasoning capabilities.


Access to Technology:

Participants can explore Gemini through two main options - both include free access:

🌐 Google AI Studio: A free, browser-based IDE for experimenting with Gemini. You can write prompts, test outputs, tweak parameters, and prototype without needing to set up billing or any API keys. Perfect for prototyping and rapid iteration during the hackathon.

πŸ’» Gemini API: For developers ready to integrate Gemini directly into their apps. The free tier includes a monthly allowance of tokens for text and multimodal inputs/outputs, letting you test and build with Gemini’s core models at no cost. Paid usage only applies for higher-volume or production-level apps.

πŸŽ™οΈ Live API: The Gemini Live API enables real-time, low-latency multimodal interactions with Gemini models using WebSockets. It supports streaming audio, video, and screen input for building live voice agents, interactive assistants, and real-time AI experiences.


πŸ”“ Google Cloud Credits:
New Google Cloud accounts receive $300 in free Google Cloud credits, valid for 90 days.
These credits can be used across eligible Google Cloud services, including Gemini API usage, subject to Google Cloud’s standard terms and regional availability.


πŸ‘‰ Learn more about Google Cloud’s free tier


Note: After the free credits are used or expire, continued usage of billable services requires enabling billing on your Google Cloud account. Charges only apply if you choose to continue using paid services.

πŸš€ How to Get Started

1. Visit the Gemini docs
2. Follow the Quickstart Guide to explore Gemini in AI Studio
3. Experiment with text, code, images, video, or audio prompts 

4. Build and test your multimodal agents or workflows


πŸ“˜ Resources:

β€’ Gemini API models

β€’ Gemini 3 Developer Guide

β€’ Gemini API pricing & models docs

β€’ Gemini API billing FAQ & limits

β€’ Live API reference (Vertex AI)

β€’ Google AI Studio official overview

β€’ Google AI Studio quickstart

Vultr powers the backend infrastructure for this hackathon. While projects can use any infrastructure, teams that deploy on Vultr and use it as the central system of record for planning, coordination, and execution will be eligible for the Vultr Awards.

Build a Web-Based Enterprise Agent Deployed on Vultr 
Participants will design and develop a web-based AI agent purpose-built to support enterprise teamsβ€”from marketing to sales, operations, and beyond. Your mission: create a smart, agentic tool that simplifies, accelerates, or transforms workflows for today’s (and tomorrow’s) knowledge workers. Teams aiming for the Vultr Awards should deploy their core app on Vultr and optimize it for real-world business use cases.


Projects should demonstrate multi-step, agentic or rule-based workflows, realistic future-of-work use cases, and a production-style web application.

What We’re Looking For

β€’ Enterprise-Ready: Your agent should address pain points or opportunities within marketing, sales, customer success, HR, or other enterprise functions.

β€’ Agentic & Autonomous: Move beyond simple prompts. Build workflows where the agent can reason, plan, and act with minimal human input. Think multi-step tasks, decision trees, and feedback loops.

β€’ Future-of-Work Focused: Help teams save time, make smarter decisions, or enhance collaborationβ€”through the lens of what future employee experience could look like.

β€’ Web-Based & Deployable: Your project should be a deployable web app. Teams aiming for the Vultr Awards should deploy it on Vultr, but you can use any stack, language, or framework. Apps should be cloud-hosted and publicly accessible (Vultr credits will be provided for eligible teams).

β€’ Scalable Tooling: We encourageβ€”but don’t requireβ€”use of technologies like vector databases, model context protocol (MCP), or other modular, scalable AI components.


Key Positioning

β€’ Vultr is the central backend powering your system

β€’ Your application coordinates planning, workflows, and operations

β€’ Focus on platform thinking, not just a one-off demo


Developer Expectations

Each team must provide:

βœ… GitHub repository with setup and documentation

βœ… Vultr VM backend deployment

βœ… Public demo URL

βœ… Recorded demo video

β€’ Clear explanation of architecture and use case


Technology

β€’ Use any programming language or framework.

β€’ Use open-source LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation. (Also available via Vultr Serverless Inference)


⚠️ Note: Vultr GPUs are not available for this event.


Resources
:

β€’ Product Documentation

β€’ Platform Documentation

β€’ Support Documentation

β€’ Reference Documentation
β€’ Vultr Serverless Inference Documentation
β€’ How to Deploy Claude Code Projects on Vultr Using Coolify

β€’ Vultr API Endpoints


⚠️ Important Note on Vultr Credits

Vultr credits will be provided for 30 days as part of this hackathon. Teams that wish to continue using their Vultr infrastructure beyond the credit period must link a valid payment method to keep their resources active.

πŸŽ“ Workshops


Get inspired and boost your skills with exclusive sessions from our partners and experts. Watch them anytime!

Vultr

Speaker: Sanskriti Harmukh - Junior Developer Relations

Topic: Vultr Serverless Inference
πŸ‘‰ Read more about Vultr Serverless Inference

▢️ Watch Video
Vultr

Speaker: Sanskriti Harmukh - Junior Developer Relations

Topic: Supabase
πŸ‘‰ Read more about Supabase


▢️ Watch Video
Vultr

Speaker: Sanskriti Harmukh - Junior Developer Relations

Topic: Coolify 
πŸ‘‰ Read more about Coolify


▢️ Watch Video
Prizes

πŸ†Best use of Gemini

πŸ₯‡ 1st place☁️ $25,000 in GCP credits

πŸ₯ˆ2nd place
☁️ $15,000 in GCP credits

πŸ₯‰3rd place
-  ☁️ $10,000 in GCP credits

πŸ†Best use of Vultr

πŸ₯‡1st place - $5,000 Cash & $1,000 in API credits 

πŸ₯ˆ2nd place - 
$3,000 Cash & $1,000 in API credits 

πŸ₯‰3rd place 
-  $1,000 Cash & $1,000 in API credits 
Please note: Participation in lablab.ai hackathons is voluntary. Prizes and opportunities depend on eligibility, availability, and third-party sponsors, for whom lablab.ai is not responsible. Hackathon rules, prizes, and terms may change or be canceled at our discretion. Submissions must be original and MIT-compliant. Prize distribution may take up to 90 days.

What to submit?

πŸ“‹ Basic Information

β€’ Project Title

β€’ Short Description

β€’ Long Description

β€’ Technology & Category Tags

πŸ“Έ Cover Image and Presentation

β€’ Cover Image

β€’ Video Presentation

β€’ Slide Presentation

πŸ’» App Hosting & Code Repository

β€’ Public GitHub Repository

β€’ Demo Application Platform

β€’ Application URL

For further details and guidance, please visit Submission Guidelines


lablab.ai

Topic: Hackathon Submissions Process

▢️ Watch Video
Judging Criteria
Application of Technology
How effectively the chosen model(s) are integrated into the solution.
Presentation
The clarity and effectiveness of the project presentation.
Business Value
The impact and practical value, considering how well it fits into business areas.
Originality
The uniqueness & creativity of the solution, highlighting approaches and ability to demonstrate  behaviors.

Hackathon Details

Join lablab.ai hackathon and innovate using the latest models in the market. Discover all the relevant details below.

πŸ—“οΈ Where and when


The start date of the hackathon is mentionedaccording to the date specified on the hackathon page, cover and schedule. The hackathon will take place on the lablab.ai platform and lablab.ai Discord server.

πŸ¦ΈπŸΌβ€β™‚οΈ Who can join?


Everyone is welcome to participate, regardless of previous AI or coding experience! We encourage anyone with a passion for AI or an interest in exploring how it can be used in their field to join.

πŸ˜… What about teams?


If you don't have a team, don't worry! You can connect with other participants from all over the world on our dashboard or Discord server. We also recommend checking out our Discord server to find teammates and bounce around ideas. You can join the server here.

πŸ› οΈ How to participate


The hackathon will take place online on lablab.ai platform and lablab.ai Discord Server. Please register for both in order to participate. To participate click the "Sign up" button at the bottom of the page and read ouHackathon Guidelines and Getting Started Guide.

🧠 Get prepared / Use Lablab.ai to Learn About AI


To get ready for the hackathon, visit our AI Tech pages and read up on all the available technologies. You can also check out our tutorials page for more information on how to use them. Get a head start on your project by using the resources on lablab.ai!

Speakers, Mentors & Judges

Andrea Marazzi
Andrea Marazzi
Founder & CCO
NativelyAI
Mirdul Swarup
Mirdul Swarup
Developer Relations Advocate
Vultr
Pawel Czech
Pawel Czech
CEO
NativelyAI
Sanskriti Harmukh
Sanskriti Harmukh
Junior Developer Relations
Vultr
Amit Vadi
Amit Vadi
Head of Community, Developer Experience (DevX)
Google
Kartikey Gaur
Kartikey Gaur
Engineer Manager, Developer Relations
Vultr
Pawel Czech
Pawel Czech
Co-Founder
New Native
Andrea Marazzi
Andrea Marazzi
CCO
New Native
Pawel Czech
Pawel Czech
Founder
NativelyAI
Victoria Neiman
Victoria Neiman
Co-founder & COO
AI/ML API
Sergey Nuzhnyy
Sergey Nuzhnyy
Head of Developer Relations
AI/ML API
Sergey Nuzhnyy
Sergey Nuzhnyy
Head of Developer Relations
AI/ML API
Addy Crezee
Addy Crezee
Founder & CEO
/function1
Sergey Nuzhnyy
Sergey Nuzhnyy
Head of Developer Relations
AI/ML API
Junnan Li
Junnan Li
Research Lead
Rhymes.ai
Gus Martins
Gus Martins
Staff Developer Relations Engineer
Google
Philippe BrulΓ©
Philippe BrulΓ©
CTO
Restack
Pawel Czech
Pawel Czech
Co-Founder
New Native
Andrea Marazzi
Andrea Marazzi
CCO
New Native
Andrea Marazzi
Andrea Marazzi
Founder and CCO
NativelyAI

Event Schedule

  • To be announced