The Grand Finale of Hack for Humanity: Hack to Protect the Environment was held on Thursday, 29 October 2026 at American International University–Bangladesh (AIUB), Dhaka. Twelve finalist teams from universities and startups across the country presented their Software and AI-powered solutions to a panel of nine judges. The event was organized by The AI Collective Bangladesh Chapter and hosted by AIUB University.
A six-weeks journey to the Final
The event is part of Hack for Humanity, a global initiative by The AI Collective, USA which is bringing together 130 chapters across more than 50 countries in September and October 2026. As the program directed for each chapter to organize Hackathon addressing civic challenges of its own community, Bangladesh Chapter’s participants would identify real environmental problems and develop software and AI-powered solutions. Inline to this theme, the goal was set to point young talent at real-life environmental problems and build/develop workable solutions those can solve environmental challenges. A total of 179 teams registered in the ideation phase and where short-listed 30 teams built working prototypes or demos of solutions under the mentorship of industry professionals and academicians. Out of 30, finally 12 teams were selected for the Grand Finale.
Innovative Projects on Environment in the Final Round
The Grand Finale program began with a welcome to the teams, judges, mentors, sponsors and partners, and participants, followed by a short overview of the Hackathon journey by Mr. Mohammed Asif, Chapter Lead of The AI Collective Bangladesh. Afterwards twelve teams presented their webpage/demo /Application while each team had to answer multiple questions from the judges.
The Hackathon projects covered a wide range of innovative ideas and solutions addressing to our various environmental problems. Team Aqua from East West University showed HaorShield, a flash-flood risk and agricultural exposure system. Team Astral from the Islamic University of Technology (IUT) presented Dhoa, which uses satellite data to help check brick kilns for compliance. AstroForge from RUET brought Sundarban Sentinel, an offline edge-AI platform for mangrove conservation. Notun Alo from ULAB built a reward-based recycling platform. Skippers from KUET joined online with NagarShield AI, a drone-assisted system for inspecting urban drainage, footpaths and mosquito risk. The other finalists presented projects were ResQRoute, AkashShathi, BillToGreen, Together, ReliefAI, Reroute Agro and JolRekha: The Water Line. Most of the projects were showcased in the ezAssist, an AI-powered project building and showcasing platform.
In the Grand Finale, judging panel had nine members from industry, academia and the public sector. Led by the Chief Judge Prof. Dr. Syed Akhter Hossain, Dean, Faculty of Computer Science and Digital Innovation, UCSI University Bangladesh Branch and Mr. Shah Ali Newaj Topu Chief Technology Advisor as principal judge from BRAC IT Services. Other judges are Mr. Radi Chowdhury, CEO, Bitspearhead, Professor Rezaul Roni, Dept. of Geography & Environment, Jahangirnagar University, Mr. Mohammad Yeasbir Choudhury, Deputy Director (ICT), Bangladesh Bank, Mr. Md. Arif Istiake Sunny, Lead Software Engineer (AI/ML), Brain Station 23, Mr. Tanvir Ahmed and Mr. Rifath Mahmud, Assistant Professors, CSE department from AIUB.
Recognition of Winners in Award Ceremony
On same day, the award ceremony was held at afternoon glorified by Senior level Executives from Industry, Government and Academia. Chaired by Dr. A. N. M. Bazlur Rashid, Secretary, Health Services Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as chief guest, in his speech, acknowledging the gap of skill resources in AI, he emphasized to enhance our skill and collaboration in AI adoption model. One of the priority public service delivery domains of this govt is health sector. Secretary recommended academia, IT Experts and relevant specialist to come forward with ideas in health sector to introduce AI in this solution framework. He also assured that Health Ministry can collaborate with any such initiative by the industry experts and academia to explore AI in health service delivery. Among other special guests Professor Dr. Khandaker Tabin Hasan, Associate Dean, Faculty of Science and Technology, AIUB, Mr. Tapan Kanti Sarker, President of CTO Forum Bangladesh, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Firoz Mridha (Head – UG Program), Dept. of Computer Science, AIUB, Mr. Md. Arfe Elahi Manik, Intl’ Digital Transformation Specialist and Mr. Firoze M Zahidur Rahman, Chief Executive Officer, LooselyCoupled Technology in their addresses, emphasized on nurturing AI-technology for building such innovative solutions not only for environmental problems but for other sectors too while developing skilled workforce in AI remain important area.
At the end the results of Hack for Humanity were announced and the prizes were given to the three winning teams. The Champion award BDT25,000 was taken home by the team Notun Alo from University of Liberal Arts, for building an AI-driven reward-based waste recycling platform. Two other winners got runner-up prizes (each prizes worth BDT.15,000/=) for the project JolRekha: The water Line by Neuroflight Lab and the Second Runner-up Social Catalyst from American International University–Bangladesh for Reroute Agro project, an AI-Powered Market Routing solution for Perishable Vegetables. All 12-teams has received Certificates from The AI Collective, USA to recognize their achievements. The AI Collective wishes all the team future success with their innovative projects to build a sustainable greener environment for our people and society.
The Grand Finale and Award ceremony was wrapped-up by handing over token of appreciation to the Chief Guest, Special Guests, partners, judges and mentors for their remarkable supports. Hack for Humanity, Bangladesh event was supported by Brain Station 23, BRAC IT Services, LooselyCoupled Technology, Prime Now (Digital Bank), Bitspearhead and the community partner Farhana's Brainstation.