North West Teams Excel During Tech Ireland’s National AI Challenge

Mentor Christina McAlinden with Bias Busters team members Oladosu Oladimeji, Nihal El-Fodil & Alan Hernon.

ALPHA Innovation, in association with WiSAR Lab and Technology Gateway & CoLab, was the North West regional innovation location for TechIreland’s National AI Challenge 2024.

From Fri 23 - Sat 31 August, entrepreneurs, social enterprises, corporates, students and AI enthusiasts from across the country worked on building propositions and prototypes inspired by Ireland’s National AI Strategy ‘AI - Here For Good’.

Organised by TechIreland, in collaboration with Enterprise Ireland & Data2Sustain, the challenge consisted of 8 regional innovation locations from across the country hosting 42 teams with 204 participants taking part.

Throughout the week-long hackathon, teams had free access to Google & Open AI’s latest artificial intelligence tools and platforms. A national Slack channel was also set up so teams and mentors could collaborate with each other to answer questions and address roadblocks throughout the challenge.

National AI Challenge Participants at the North West Finalé in CoLab, Letterkenny

ALPHA brought together an eclectic mix of corporate, startup and student teams, mentors and coaches to work on propositions throughout the challenge through in-person workshops in CoLab (on Sat 24 & Sat 31 August) and national remote sessions online.

Two teams of academics from the Atlantic Technological Universities (ATU) Sligo & Letterkenny campuses were joined by a corporate team from Tata Consultancy Services. Two startup teams and Team 300, representing CoLab’s co-working space made up the 6 participating teams from the North West, resulting in ALPHA being named the 3rd busiest regional innovation location in the country in terms of teams, only behind Dogpatch Labs in Dublin and the Portershed in Galway.

After much deliberation from the regional judging panel, Bias Busters, a 5 member team from the ATU were crowned North West winners, having developed a prototype aimed at addressing bias in AI systems, a timely and critical issue that has been the focus of global discussions around ethical AI development.

Having conquered the regional final, the team represented the North West at the National AI Meetup in Galway on Thursday 5 September. The meetup saw 188 delegates from corporates, innovators, enterprise agencies and government attend to hear from some of the brightest minds working in AI across the country. 

The 7 regional winners of the challenge also had the opportunity to showcase their prototypes to delegates. As the day drew to a close, Bias Busters was announced as one of 3 overall national winners, credited for their innovative approach and real-world impact the teams' prototype could have in future.

Speaking on the success, Dr Saritha Unnikrishnan, PhD, team lead and supervisor at ATU, expressed her excitement about the team’s performance:  

Head of Innovation Kevin Sexton with Bias Buster’s Obed Adjei Peprah at the National AI Meet Up in Galway.

“This achievement is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and creativity of each member of Bias Busters. It’s not just about winning; it’s about making a meaningful contribution to the AI community by using AI for societal good. I’m incredibly proud of how the team worked together to develop a prototype that has the potential to create positive change”.   

Obed Adjei Peprah, a team member and PhD researcher at ATU, shared his thoughts about the challenge.  

“Participating in this challenge has been an incredible experience. From concept development to prototype implementation, the entire process taught us the importance of responsible AI development. We are grateful for the opportunity to showcase our work on such a prestigious platform and to contribute towards building ethical AI systems”.

ALPHA would like to recognise and acknowledge the judges, mentors and teams who took part in the National AI Challenge 2024 from the North West and commend the incredible work of organisers TechIreland and other partners who helped to facilitate the challenge and bring it to the national stage.