The National Program for Coders, with Emirates NBD and partners, announces the 2025 winners of InnovAIte
The second edition of InnovAIte, UAE’s largest student-led National AI Hackathon, successfully concluded its second edition with Team ‘Machine Mindset’ from GEMS Wellington Academy – Silicon Oasis being declared the winner.
The second edition of InnovAIte, UAE’s largest student-led National AI Hackathon, organised by Aryav Odhrani, Nirvaan Thawani, Dasuni Gunasekara and Alizeh Alihas successfully concluded its second edition with Team ‘Machine Mindset’ from GEMS Wellington Academy – Silicon Oasis being declared the winner.
The event was held in collaboration with the National Program of Coders, and supported by sponsors such as Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye (MENAT) region, as well as EDGE Group, Hale Education Group and the University of Birmingham, Dubai.
The three-day event culminated with a grand finale on 16 March 2025 at the University of Birmingham and was attended by students, teachers, parents and partners. The event’s theme for this year, ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing’ aligned with the Nation's strategic vision to harness artificial intelligence for societal advancement.
The winning team, ‘Machine Mindset’, presented an AI-powered emotion detection system that analyses students’ emotions in real-time using DeepFace and face recognition. Runner-up teams at the event included ‘Data Minors’ and ‘ModernAItes’, both from GEMS Modern Academy. ‘STEMPALS’ from Dubai International Academy Emirates Hills were adjudged the Best Female-majority team, and ‘Desert Innovators’ from the American Academy for Girls were declared Best Emirati-majority team.
A resounding success, the event showcased the incredible talent and innovative spirit of 289 young AI enthusiasts across 34 Nationalities and 44 registered schools, with participants working tirelessly to develop creative solutions addressing critical aspects of mental and financial wellbeing.
Student presentations, workshops, and speaking sessions were held at the grand finale, where a panel of 25 esteemed judges, including experts from Emirates NBD, the University of Birmingham, EDGE Group, and Hale Education Group, as well as subject experts in various sectors evaluated the projects based on innovation, feasibility, impact and presentation.
