Alkhidmat Karachi Youth Win Multiple Awards at National AI Hackathon

Karachi participants secure third place overall as teams win awards across AI, healthcare, agriculture and innovation categories.

Young participants from Alkhidmat Karachi Region have achieved notable success at a national Grand AI Hackathon organised by Alibaba Cloud in collaboration with Alkhidmat, winning awards across several technology and innovation categories.

A total of 258 young men and women from Alkhidmat Karachi Region participated in the competition and returned to Karachi from Islamabad on Monday, according to the organisation.

The hackathon attracted 16,000 registrations from across Pakistan. Organisers selected 12,000 projects for the competition, including 430 from Karachi. Alkhidmat Karachi Region secured third place overall in the national finals, while its participants also earned top positions and special awards in several tracks.

Karachi Teams Win Awards Across Multiple Categories

Participants from Karachi received recognition for projects covering artificial intelligence, healthcare, agriculture, economic resilience and open innovation.

The winning teams and participants included:

• Muhafiz AI Project: Muhammad Shafiullah Khan, Aman Khan Lodhi and Sagar Kumar secured third place and won US$2,000.
• Open Innovation: Riyaz Mahmood and Mahmood Younus won US$2,000.
• Mashwara AI Project: Muhammad Haris Awan became champion in the Urdu and Regional Languages track, receiving US$2,000.
• Smart Agriculture: Sheikh Muhammad Ahmed and Muhammad Mustafa Shehzad secured the runner-up position and won US$500.
• Economic Resilience Project: Muhammad Ahmed Rayan, Sameer Ahmed and Syed Fawad Haider Chaudhry received a special award worth US$1,000.
• NetFlow.AI: Qamar-uz-Zaman, Moez Ahmed and Muhammad Khalid won the Young Innovator Special Award and US$1,000.
• Healthcare — Medinova AI: Abdul Rafi and Muhammad Irfan secured the runner-up position, winning US$500.
• Sehat Saath Project: Arun Kumar won US$2,000.

These results highlighted the range of ideas developed by young participants from Karachi across different technology-driven fields.

Alkhidmat Leadership Congratulates Young Innovators

Alkhidmat Karachi CEO Naveed Ali Baig and Executive Director Rashid Qureshi congratulated the participants on their achievements.

Baig said Karachi’s youth had considerable talent and the ability to demonstrate their skills through innovative projects. He also described the competition as a major opportunity for young people to showcase their capabilities in artificial intelligence and related technologies.

According to Baig, Alibaba Cloud has organised AI hackathons in different parts of the world, while its collaboration with Alkhidmat brought what he described as Pakistan’s first and largest AI hackathon to the country.

AI and Cloud Computing Training Centres Planned

Baig also announced that Alibaba Learning Centres were being established in collaboration with Alkhidmat. He said centres had already been set up in Karachi and Lahore.

Formal training in cloud computing and artificial intelligence is expected to begin at these centres, providing young people with opportunities to develop technical skills.

The initiative could help expand access to emerging technology education and support young people seeking to build careers in digital industries. The hackathon results also underline the potential of local talent to develop solutions in areas ranging from healthcare and agriculture to economic resilience.

The competition figures, awards and training-centre details are based on information provided by Alkhidmat Karachi Region.