AI for Connectivity Hackathon II: Building Resilient Networks

Join a Global Hackathon to Revolutionize Public Sector Networks with AI!

🔍Create AI-driven, open-source solutions to optimize public sector network management in critical areas like predictive maintenance, total cost optimization (TOC), and energy efficiency—enhancing public sector networks' scalability, efficiency, and sustainability in underserved regions.

📅 Join us February 28–March 2, 2025: Participate online or in person in vibrant Barcelona at NTT DATA Living Lab, on the sidelines of MWC 2025, to collaborate with peers worldwide and shape the future of public sector connectivity.

👨‍🏫 Work alongside experienced industry mentors who will provide guidance and insights to elevate your solutions.

🏆 Compete for a chance to join the lablab NEXT incubator program!

🧑🏻‍💻 Don’t wait! Sign up now to secure your spot before the Kick-Off!

Join our Hackathon Discord channel to stay updated with the latest announcements, receive support, and collaborate with mentors and the community.

Join Discord Channel

Hackathon overview

The AI for Connectivity Hackathon builds on the transformative mission of Giga, an initiative by UNICEF and ITU that aims to connect every school worldwide to the internet and every young person to opportunities and knowledge. This hackathon invites participants to use open-source AI technologies to address the pressing challenges of managing public sector networks—ensuring efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable operations for critical institutions like schools and health centers in underserved regions.

Public sector connectivity networks are digital infrastructures providing internet and communication services to institutions such as schools and healthcare facilities. These networks are essential for enabling equitable access to education, healthcare, and governance, particularly in remote areas. Optimizing their management is crucial to bridging the digital divide and advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This challenge is the second edition of a global series designed to bring together AI developers, educators, and innovators to co-create impactful solutions. Winning teams will gain access to an incubation program that provides mentorship, resources, and technical credits to transform their prototypes into impactful, real-world tools.

Join the on-site event in Barcelona, Spain

For those joining the hackathon on-site, we’re thrilled to welcome you to the NTT DATA Living Lab in Barcelona, Spain! Here you’ll gain exclusive access to top mentors, collaborate with a passionate community, and access on-site support to bring your AI ideas to life.

The AI for Connectivity Hackathon on-site event is co-hosted with NTT DATA, which aims to create, share and promote knowledge on innovation and cross-sector partnerships in the Barcelona ecosystem.

Don’t miss out - apply for a seat to secure your spot and join in person or online! ✨

Apply to take a seat!

To participate in our hackathon, you must complete the application process. This applies to both online and onsite participants.

🌐 Online Participation

- Apply for a seat to enroll in the Hackathon

- Fill out the registration form

- Participate remotely from anywhere

🌉 Onsite Participation in Barcelona

- Must be present in Barcelona during the event

- Individual applications welcome

- Option for onsite matchmaking

Selected individuals may be eligible to have their travel and accommodation expenses covered

⚠️ Important Note for All Participants

Whether you're joining us online or onsite, all participants must complete these steps:

1. "Apply for a seat" on the lablab.ai event page and wait for approved.

2. Fill out registration form for Online or/and Onsite event.
3. Create or join a team
4. Submit your project through the lablab.ai platform

Participate in this hackathon to develop open-source AI-driven solutions that tackle complex challenges in designing and maintaining resilient, efficient, and sustainable public sector networks for underserved regions.

Public sector connectivity networks are digital infrastructures that provide internet and communication services to public institutions such as schools, healthcare facilities, and government offices. These networks enable equitable access to essential services, fostering education, healthcare, governance, and economic development, particularly in underserved or remote areas. They are essential to bring connectivity, in our increasingly digitized world, to every corner of the globe.

This hackathon challenges participants to address pressing global issues by leveraging advanced AI technologies to improve the planning, procurement, operations, and maintenance of public sector networks (click here for more context). Innovators are encouraged to design creative solutions that enhance the efficiency and sustainability of these networks, improve access to critical services, and empower communities.

The topics listed below are examples of areas your project could explore, and you are welcome to develop solutions that span multiple topics or address new challenges beyond this list.

Optimizing Public Sector Networks: Public sector networks are critical infrastructures supporting schools, healthcare facilities, and other essential services. However, these networks face challenges such as unexpected failures, high operational costs, and excessive energy consumption. Addressing these issues through Predictive Maintenance, Total Cost Optimization (TOC), and Energy Efficiency is essential to ensure sustainable and reliable connectivity for underserved regions.

Challenge: Develop AI tools to enhance Predictive Maintenance by identifying and addressing potential network issues before they disrupt services.

Example Projects:

• Fault Prediction System: Use AI to monitor and predict equipment failures, enabling proactive repairs and reducing downtime

• Maintenance Scheduling Assistant: Design tools to automate maintenance schedules, improving efficiency and minimizing service interruptions.

Challenge: Create AI solutions to enhance Energy Efficiency, reducing environmental impact while maintaining high network performance.

Example Projects:

• Energy Monitoring Dashboard: Use AI to track and analyze energy consumption, identifying opportunities for reduction.

• Sustainable Performance Optimizer: Build tools that balance energy savings with optimal network functionality for greener operations.

Challenge: Build open-source solutions to optimize costs through Total Cost Optimization (TOC) for procurement, operations, and maintenance.

Example Projects:

• Cost Simulation Tool: Create AI-powered models to forecast and manage costs across the network lifecycle.

• Dynamic Resource Allocator: Develop tools to optimize resource distribution and minimize unnecessary expenses while maintaining performance.

Build with your favourite technology

Select your preferred technology for app development.

Use any open-source technology to develop an innovative solution that addresses the challenge. Submissions must comply with the open-source requirements, ensuring transparency and accessibility of your project.

👉 Visit our AI Tech pages to discover available technologies.
👉 Check out our tutorials for detailed guidance on implementation. Start your project with Lablab.ai resources!

🔍 Note: While we encourage using tools listed on AI Tech, participants can also utilize any open-source technology not mentioned there, provided it aligns with the hackathon’s goals.

*AI Generated Imagery

Prizes

🏆Acceleration Opportunity

The top teams from this hackathon will secure a spot in the exclusive 6-week GIGA & lablab NEXT incubator program.

Please be aware that participation in lablab.ai hackathons is voluntary and subject to the specific rules and conditions outlined for each event. While we strive to provide a fair and rewarding experience for all participants, we cannot guarantee entry or success in securing prizes. All prizes and opportunities are subject to availability and participants must meet the established criteria to qualify. lablab.ai is not responsible nor held liable for any commitments or offers - including programs, giveaways, or prizes - made by third-party sponsors or partners of the hackathon. The availability and delivery of third-party prizes or benefits are solely at the discretion of the respective sponsors and are not guaranteed by lablab.ai. We reserve the right to make amendments, modifications, or cancellations to any part of the hackathon (including full cancellation of the event itself), including prizes and terms of participation, at our sole discretion. Whenever possible, we will endeavor to notify participants of significant changes within a reasonable timeframe. All submissions by participants must be original work, open source, and compliant with the MIT License unless specified otherwise. By participating, you agree to these terms, the overall event terms, and the lablab.ai general terms and are encouraged to review all event-related information carefully. Prize Distribution: lablab.ai and its partners reserve the right to distribute all prizes within a 90-day period following the end date of the hackathon. This period allows for the proper processing and verification needed to award prizes appropriately.

What to submit?

📋 Basic Information

• Project Title

• Short Description

• Long Description

• Technology & Category Tags

📸 Cover Image and Presentation

• Cover Image

• Video Presentation

• Slide Presentation

💻 App Hosting & Code Repository

• Public GitHub Repository

• Demo Application Platform

• Application URL

For further details and guidance, please visit Submission Guidelines

Judging Criteria

Application of Technology

How effectively the solution integrates open-source AI tools and technologies, ensuring the ability to perform tasks autonomously, streamline processes, and enhance productivity while adhering to open-source transparency standards.

Presentation

The clarity and effectiveness of the project presentation, including how well the solution’s technical details, practical impact, and alignment with open-source principles are communicated.

Impact

The solution’s practical value and impact will be assessed based on how effectively it addresses public sector challenges, improves operational efficiency, and fosters collaboration between AI tools and human decision-makers to deliver meaningful outcomes.

Originality

The creativity and uniqueness of the solution, highlighting innovative approaches and the use of open-source technologies to demonstrate distinctive and imaginative problem-solving.

🔍 Note: To qualify for judging, submissions must not only utilize open-source technologies but also have their final project code open-sourced. This ensures transparency, collaboration, and alignment with the hackathon’s open-source ethos.

Hackathon Details

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

🗓️ Where and when

The start date of the hackathon is mentioned according 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 , or join us in person in Barcelona to experience the event live.

🦸🏼‍♂️ 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.

😅 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.

🛠️ 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 "Enroll" button at the bottom of the page and read our Hackathon Guidelines and Getting Started Guide.