Baker Dearing yesterday supported our first national AI Hackathon in collaboration with Newham Data, Teesside University London, and London Design and Engineering UTC.

Almost 100 learners from schools across the national UTC programme of 44 schools, as well as multiple Newham settings, took part, with many joining remotely.

The challenge saw teams analyse real-world datasets, identify trends and develop practical AI-driven solutions, presenting their work through a 20-second elevator pitch and a detailed presentation.

A huge thanks to Alan Soong, LDE UTC’s digital curriculum lead, for sharing insights with students on AI in everyday devices. Our fulsome thanks also to Zack from Google, who inspired learners with his work in AI, app development and data.

We were immensely pleased to see how quickly learners engaged with the challenge. In just a few hours they transformed unfamiliar datasets into thoughtful, creative solutions, demonstrating impressive teamwork, resilience and problem-solving skills under pressure.

A special thanks to LDE’s James Culley, who designed the event and worked with the partners to ensure its success.

A huge thank you also to all of our partners and everyone who made the event possible, including Teesside University’s Kathryn E. and Heather Nichols and Newham’s Tiersha Wilson and Lyndsay Baker.

Also thanks to the UTCs that attended: Aylesbury UTC, LDE, Energy Coast UTC, Berkeley Green UTC, Silverstone UTC, UTC Swindon, and Thomas Telford UTC, as well as the Newham settings.

We are already looking forward to the next Hackathon.