National AI Build-a-thon Nurtures Next-Gen Innovators
The National AI Build-a-thon was held across five categories—Agriculture, Health, Education, E-commerce, and Fintech—bringing together young innovators from across Bangladesh. In the Agritech category, two teams emerged as joint winners.
One of the winning projects, “Goru Seba,” provides a range of automation services for cattle farms. The project was developed by Team “Aprium,” comprising second-year Computer Science students from Daffodil International Academy, and was adjudged the best project in the competition.
The other winning Agritech team, “Ginger,” presented a project titled “AgriSense.” The technology delivers real-time information on weather conditions and soil status through SMS and voice calls, aiming to support farmers with timely agricultural insights.
In the Health Tech category, Ninja AI secured first place. The EdTech category saw two winners: “Shikkha AI” from Daffodil International University, and “Learnify,” developed by Sabiha Akter, a seventh-grade student of Rajshahi Cantonment Board School.
The National AI Build-a-thon was organised by MillionX Bangladesh and held on Friday, 16 January, at Daffodil Plaza in Sobhanbag, Dhaka. According to a press release, although 384 teams from across the country initially registered for the competition, 62 teams comprising 172 innovators advanced to the final round after preliminary screening.
Each winning team in the final round received a laptop and Tk 50,000 in cash as prize money.
The closing ceremony was attended by Daffodil Group Chairman Md Sabur Khan and Abubakar Hanif, Chancellor and Chairman of Washington University of Science and Technology. Also present were founding members of MillionX Bangladesh—technologist Junaid Kazi, Anis Rahman, Munir Hasan, Mohammad Mahdi-uz-Zaman, and Ariful Hasan.
Addressing the audience, Md Sabur Khan said,
“Our time in life is very limited. Everyone must use this time wisely. One must move forward with a clear goal in life and remain focused. Trying to do many things at once does not work. If one’s purpose and objectives are clear, success will follow.”
Abubakar Hanif described the initiative as timely and praised the organisers.
“We have an incubation centre at our university. From there, we will support today’s winners in connecting with potential investors,” he said.
Organisers stated that they plan to work on the winning projects on a larger scale in the future.
Sharing their experience, the Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (RUET) team “NOOB101” said they did not want to miss any opportunity during the final phase of their university life.
“We saw the announcement on LinkedIn and decided to come together. This offline programme gave us exposure to many new ideas and valuable networking opportunities,” the team noted.
Meanwhile, the Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) team “CUET Mongolchari” expressed their excitement at being part of an initiative that connects Bangladesh with the global AI revolution.
At the event, seventh-grade student Sabiha Akter showcased her self-developed project “AI Tutor.” Explaining its potential impact, she said,
“Many students have to spend a lot of time on coaching or private tutoring. Often, it is not possible to repeatedly clarify a lesson when needed. In such situations, AI can be a great help. This idea inspired me to develop the project.”
DBTech/MUM/EK/OR
