October 11, 2024
Our Weekend of Innovation: Factory Network AI Hackathon
Over the course of a sunny autumn weekend at the end of September, tech enthusiasts, developers, and entrepreneurs from all corners of the globe descended on Berlin. The goal: to transform ideas into AI-driven realities. The teams were tasked with creating end-to-end AI solutions, with the challenge of building working features entirely within the hackathon timeframe. This year’s Factory Network x {Tech: Berlin} AI Hackathon hosted over 100 participants, grouped into 26 teams, each striving to push the boundaries of AI. And, strive they did. Participants traveled far and wide to work around the clock—some even sleeping on campus—all to deliver the best submissions possible.
A Diverse Array of Projects
The projects showcased during the hackathon were impressively diverse. Teams presented AI-powered dev tools, consumer apps, and even a unique project on beauty standards, “Not So Doll”, where participants engaged in conversations with an AI about societal ideals. Another standout project brought historic photos to life, animating them with AI.
Several projects also focused on AI-generated video, utilizing used service providers like Luma’s Dream Machine. Content accessibility through AI was a key theme. Many of the most successful projects used scraping techniques to unlock valuable information from online platforms. The teams leveraged foundational AI services like OpenAI, Mistra as well as Luma’s Dream Machine, reflecting a broader market trend of third-party model usage.
After 32 Hours, The Winner is…
Following an intense 32-hour sprint, the teams presented their demos to a panel of high-profile judges. After a stomach-turning wait, the winning team was Mapfluence. Their tool scraped Instagram for influencer content, analyzed food videos with AI, and plotted them on a dynamic map. The project creatively combined social media data with geospatial technology to offer a user-friendly experience.
This made us hungry. Luckily, there was pizza. Lots of pizza.
Of course, the competition was fierce, and there were several impressive submissions. Here are the top three teams:
- 🥇 GenY: Noorvir Aulakh, Philipp Eisen, Gorm Labenz
GenY built a brilliant product that analyzes influencer videos with AI and places the content on a map.
- 🥈 Professor Dr. Scientist: Marcel Claus-Ahrens, Max Tkacz
This team developed a tool to automatically analyze Posthog data using AI. They even documented the entire event in a vlog, which you can check out here.
- 🥉 LLM Studios: Leonard Off, Leo Schoberwalter, Matteo von Haxthausen
LLM Studios created a tool that automatically generates backend endpoints from user-provided documentation.
The Esteemed Jury
The panel of judges featured a diverse range of industry leaders. One of them, Katarzyna Stoltmann (Kasia), Head of Data Science & AI at AstraZeneca and Founder of Women in Big Data Berlin, praised the participants’ commitment, highlighting the need for more female representation in these types of events. Fresh off the plane, she implored her female LinkedIn followers to participate in future hackathons. Kasia is deeply passionate about bringing more women into tech, and Factory Network plans to host a future event together focused on this mission.
Other notable judges included:
– Lenny, who flew in from New York to join the panel.
– Mish, a brilliant 23-year-old hacker making waves in the open-source community.
– Ege, a tech founder himself.
– Azer, the head of Factory Network’s AI circle.
Global Expertise, Brought Together
Partnering with {Tech: Berlin} and powered by the community’s energy, this event demonstrated the sheer potential of what can be achieved when tech innovators are given the right platform and an opportunity to shine. As co-organiser Nima Sadeghifard said, “It was truly inspiring to see ambitious entrepreneurs and builders come together, pushing the boundaries of AI innovation.” The diversity of ideas and the speed at which they were developed is a testament to the talent and thriving AI ecosystem that Factory Network currently fosters.
Looking to the Future
We’re excited about the future of AI. Built on the momentum of September’s event, another AI Hackathon is being planned for early next year. So, if you missed this one, don’t worry! There will be many more opportunities to join this inspiring community and to get involved in exciting events with partners like {Tech: Berlin}. Watch this space – the next AI revolution could be yours to shape.