Hosted by ATLAS Future Leaders-TBS

On February the 16^th and 17^th, ATLAS Future Leaders-TBS Chapter hosted a 24-hour challenge called “Hackathon and Tech Talks”,in which students were asked to come up with solutions to some business-related tech problems and build prototypes to finally pitch their ideas in front of a selected jury.

The ATLAS bureau had too many thoughts in mind, but they decided to go for “Artificial Intelligence andits Role in Economy” as the theme for the competition, which was suggested by ATLAS TBS’s president Jamil Zammouri. He thought it was a topic we had to dive more into after he came back from his trip to the USA, where he said to notice quite a difference between the start-ups based there and ours.

“In this country we are lucky because we have so many problems to solve!”, said SalehHannechi President of ATLAS Tunisia; a funny line within his speech that gives hope to those who carry bright expectations for the future.

MrHannechi appreciated the event and considered it a chance for students to connect with the business world since many guest speakers from different companies and start-ups were invited. Among the speakers,Sadok Ghannouchi CEO of E-TAXI, Xavier Bresnu CEO of FTARTCHI, RiadhBouslema from Level1 and Ines Cheniour from COMMIT were present to talk about their start-ups that have helped solve many of the problems we face in our daily lives. For example, E-Taxi enabled people to find and contact taxi-drivers beforehand which is very time-saving and convenient, while LEVEL1 can be described as a collective space that offers entrepreneurs and even students a place to meet, study, work and connect.

During the Tech Talks each speaker has had their chance to give their speech, and they each gave out tips and hints to help the participants recognize the topic of the competition.

The participants were formed into 9 groups, each composed of 2 to 5 members excluding their mentors. Each team spent the night working on one of the problems that the guest speakers encounter with their start-ups at the TBS library. After long hours of perseverance and struggles, the competitors presented their projects and displayed their prototypes on the afternoon of the 17^th.

The jury decided that only one winner could be pronounced, and the first-place holder was Team Cup O’JAVA led by Shames EddineMnasri: they created a platform that finds individuals with the same needs (location, time, destination) and facilitates the communication process between E-taxi customers which will help the company expand and reach more clients. However, as for the teams that did not win, all the hard work these students have invested into these projects will not go in vain: they can,in fact, be tweaked by the start-uppers or the judges if they will and utilize them in future investments.

The highlight of this event was when Judge Adrian L.Beaulieu -founder of ‘The creative way’- announced that he contacted some schools in Tokyo to collaborate with TBS and provide scholarships to some students. He also recommended ATLAS TBS to help organize the big event of HACKATHON 2020 which will be held in Paris, Tokyo and Tunis. Furthermore, Mr Beaulieu told the ATLAS TBS president that he is searching for IT students to work with him in Japan, so this is going to be a great opportunity for TBSers who are majoring in IT and are interested in blockchain technology.

Overall, the Hackathon was a huge success and it was a great opportunity for our fellow students to showcase their skills and capabilities.