The Software That Ran the AI Hackathon Was Written the Same Week

The AI Hackathon in Amman ran on 10 and 11 October at King Hussein Business Park, under the patronage of H.E. Eng. Sami Smeirat, Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship. A hundred and eighty-three builders took part, more than fifty working prototypes were demoed, ten teams reached the final and four won.

What is less visible from the floor is that the software running the event was built in-house by Fikr Ventures’ own technical team, in the days before the doors opened.

Everything the event ran on was ours: the WhatsApp flow that invited people, took their replies, held their seats and issued their day passes; the check-in application with QR scanning at the door, staff sign-in and a live operations view; the team roster; and the tool mentors used on the second day to score teams and produce the shortlist for the final.

None of it was bought, and very little of it existed a week earlier. It was still being improved while the hall was full — adapting to teams that formed on the morning, to rules the organisers refined as the judging went on, and to the ordinary surprises of a live event.

We are noting it because it says something about how the team works, and because it fits what the event was asking of everyone else. A hackathon asks people to build something real, quickly, under conditions they did not choose. It is a better event when the organisers are doing the same thing at the same time.

Our thanks to everyone who made it possible. To Replit, who brought the platform the participants built on and the team who supported them through it. To our sponsors — Orange Jordan, Madfoatcom, MENA Devs, Yaseer, unirsal, ULA Ventures by JO Academy and BŪN Fellows. To our partners — King Hussein Business Park, who hosted us and are incubating the winners, Al Hussein Technical University, C.XSEED, ARC, and the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship for its patronage.

And to the 183 people who turned up and built.