ABOUT THE CHALLENGE

Enactus Melbourne and CISSA are teaming up with Affinda, a Melbourne-based AI transformation partner to organisations around the world, for a four-day AI build challenge. 🤖

Every team gets the same real-world business case and builds an AI-powered product for it. No coding experience needed: no-code tools, AI coding tools and vibe coding are all welcome. We judge the product and the thinking, not the code.

THE CHALLENGE

Fieldday Events, a five-person events company, has just won the contract to run Riverside: a three-day riverfront festival for up to 15,000 people a day. They have ten weeks and five staff.

Your challenge: Build an AI-powered product that helps Fieldday successfully deliver Riverside at a scale they've never operated before.

Choose one of three tracks, each built around a different person at the festival:

  • 🎤 Track 1: Backstage - for the production team managing 60 artists and 40 food vendors
  • 🎟️ Track 2: Front Row - for festival-goers, up to 15,000 a day
  • 🦺 Track 3: Ground Control - for the safety lead and 300 volunteers

Full brief, track guides and judging rubric: https://groovy-prune-775.notion.site/Affinda-AI-Innovation-Challenge-Track-Guide-3ef1e973de588137b302fd544dfc1a76

SCHEDULE

  • Opening Night: Tue 6 Oct, 5:30–7:30pm · Laby Theatre, David Caro Building
  • Build Day 1: Wed 7 Oct, 9:00am–2:30pm · L1-107, 100 Leicester St (Building 278)
  • Team Registrations and Track Selections close: Wed 7 Oct, 5:00pm (AEDT) via Google Forms
  • Build Day 2: Thu 8 Oct, 9:00am–2:30pm · G20 Collaborative Learning Space, Old Howard Florey Laboratories (Building 183)
  • Submissions close: Thu 8 Oct, 5:00pm (AEDT) on Devpost
  • Finalists announced: Fri 9 Oct, 2:00pm on Discord
  • Closing Night: Fri 9 Oct, 6:00–9:00pm · Singapore Theatre, Glyn Davis Building

Build days are optional drop-in rooms. You can build from anywhere, but finalists must attend Closing Night in person.

👥 Teams of 3–4 · 🎓 Open to all current Australian university students, any degree

Requirements

How to Submit on Devpost

First time using Devpost? It takes about 5 minutes to set up.

1. Join this hackathon (every team member)

  • Click Join hackathon and make sure you're logged in.

2. Start your project and add your team (one person per team)

  • On this page, click Enter a submission (or Start project).
  • Give your project a name. You can change it later.
  • Use Manage team to invite your teammates by email or Devpost username. They need to accept the invite.
  • Every member must be on the project before the deadline.

3. Fill in your submission. Your project saves as a draft, so you can come back and edit it until the deadline. Fill in every field listed under "What to Submit" below.

4. Submit before the deadline

  • Click Submit at the end of the form. A draft isn't a submission!
  • You'll see your project on the Project gallery once it's submitted.

Stuck? Ask in the Discord help channel.

What to Build

A working prototype of an AI-powered product that helps Fieldday deliver Riverside, built for the user in one of the three tracks. Any tools are fine, including no-code tools and AI coding tools. It doesn't need to be production-ready, but it must work: mock-ups alone won't be enough. AI should do meaningful work in the product, not just sit on top of it.

What to Submit

All submissions are due on Devpost by Thursday 8 October, 5:00pm (AEDT). Late submissions won't be accepted. ONE submission per team, with every team member added to the project on Devpost.

  1. Project name and tagline: your product's name plus one line on what it does.
  2. Your track: Backstage, Front Row, or Ground Control.
  3. A working prototype: a link to try it, or clear steps to run it.
  4. A demo video, up to 5 minutes: show the product working for its user, with commentary. Upload it somewhere publicly viewable (YouTube unlisted, Google Drive, Loom, etc.) and paste the link.
  5. A project description (in the "About the project" field) covering:
    • the problem and the user you chose;
    • what you built;
    • how AI is used: what it does, and where a person stays in control;
    • the ideas you considered and why you chose this one;
    • the tools you used, including AI tools.
  6. Optional: a public GitHub repo and slides to help with storytelling for both your pitch video and your finalist pitch, if you are selected.

Finalists (announced Fri 9 Oct, 2:00pm) present a live 5-minute pitch and demo at Closing Night, followed by questions from the judges. Slides are encouraged. Finalists must attend in person to be eligible for prizes.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$1,000 in prizes
Best Overall
$300 in cash
1 winner

Priority interviews for upcoming Affinda Summer Internship for all members of winning team

Best Track 1
$100 in cash
1 winner

Second Overall
$300 in cash
1 winner

Best Track 2
$100 in cash
1 winner

Third Overall
$100 in cash
1 winner

Best Track 3
$100 in cash
1 winner

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

TBC

Judging Criteria

  • Problem understanding [15 pts]
    Did you find a real, specific problem for a clear user, including the parts that aren't obvious?
  • Product thinking [15 pts]
    Did you make deliberate choices about what to build and what to leave out? Can you explain the ideas you considered and why you chose this one?
  • Use of AI [25 pts]
    Does AI do meaningful work that makes the product better? Is it clear what the AI decides and where a person steps in, and have you thought about how it could fail or be misused?
  • User experience [15 pts]
    Would the intended user actually use this, in their real situation? Is it clear and trustworthy?
  • Originality [15 pts]
    Did you go beyond the obvious first idea?
  • Execution and communication [15 pts]
    Does it work, and does the demo show it on realistic examples? Do the video and pitch clearly explain the problem, your thinking and the result?

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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Hackathon sponsors

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