Leading digital transformation solutions company UST has announced winners of its fourth edition of D3CODE, a hackathon event for participants and held in five countries - India, the US, the UK, Mexico, and Malaysia. The event witnessed over 7,000 registrations while 800 ideas were submitted across locations, a company spokesman said. D3CODE is one of many events for D3, a week-long conference with a technology expo. 

‘Scale,’ this year’s theme

This year’s theme, ‘Scale,’ called for scalable solutions to create a positive impact by addressing issues of social impact such as education, health, poverty, and environmental sustainability. Each country held individual hackathons, with winning teams being sent out to compete in the Grand Finale. A rigorous judging process evaluated the entries based on their originality, potential social impact, scalability of the solution, and user experience, among others. Each region qualified five winning teams for the final round, from which a global winner and regional winners were selected.

Winners get $10,000 in cash prize

The winning team received $10,000, while regional hackathon winners will win $5,000. UST awarded $2,400 each to teams that received honorary mentions. UST will felicitate the global hackathon winner at its annual global technology conference, D3 (Dream, Develop, and Disrupt) to be held in India. The winners may also qualify for seed funding to help bring their ideas to the market, backed by UST’s extensive expertise and network.

Real-world problems

Manu Gopinath, Chief Operating Officer, UST, said the purpose of D3CODE is to serve as a platform for innovators in technology to showcase forward-thinking ideas in groundbreaking solutions to address real-world problems with scalable solutions. “This year’s hackathon focused not just on the technical prowess of the participants but also on cultivating social responsibility and creating meaningful impacts on society. Events like D3CODE remind us of the limitless potential of young minds and their role in shaping a better, more sustainable future,” he added.

The following teams were declared winners of the D3CODE Hackathon 2024:

Global winner: Leon Kipkoech from Florida National University, Miami, Florida, for ‘Dynamic ASL transcription for Video Platforms’.

India Region winners:

First Prize: Khusbu Rai and teamfrom Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University New Delhi for ‘Recycle Radar: Turning Waste into Opportunity’.

Second Prize: Akash Jadhav and team fromSavitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtrafor ‘AI-Driven Crop Disease Prediction and Management System’.

Third Prize: Roshin R and team from College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala for ‘Employment Portal and Marketplace for Unorganided Workers and Small-Scale Producers’.

Honorary mention: Omkar Deshpande and Team from Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra, for ‘Camera-Based Navigation of Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs)’.

UK Region winners:

First Prize: Salman Fatahillah and Sainsna Demizike from the University of Birmingham, London, for ‘SMS-based AI and Behavioral Science-Informed Messaging for Underserved Communities’.

Mexico Region winners:

First Prize: Pablo Esteban Murillo Mata and team from Universidad Tecnológica de León, León, Guanajuato, México for ‘AquaHub’.

Second Prize: Alan Arana Carrillo and team from Universidad La Salle Bajio for ‘QuantumSim’.

Third Prize: Uriel Mendoza Rodríguez and Ttam from La Salle Bajío for ‘EcoCity’.

Malaysia Region winners:

First Prize: Muhammad Shahril Nizam Bin Abdullah and team from Multimedia University, Kuala Lumpur, for ‘Sentinel AI: Real-Time Violence Detection for Safer Community’.

Second Prize: Muhammad Zul Iman Bin Zul Wizaratain from University Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abddullah, Tasek Gelugor, Penang, for ‘Smart Waste Sorting System with Capacity Monitoring’.

Third Prize: Nawal Izzah Binti Azhar and team from Universiti teknikal malaysia melaka, George Town, Penang for ‘Razzbotics RetroBot: A versatile retrofit kit that transforms any trolley or cart into an autonomous solution’.