This year鈥檚 event saw entries from 13 different teams, most of them from Australia and New Zealand, as well as India, Japan and Indonesia. Each team was tasked with building an intelligent but practical solution to challenges the world is facing. The theme of the hackathon, 鈥淭he Evolution of Work鈥�, focused on the changing working landscape not only off the back of the COVID pandemic. It was also about how technology (AI/ML and Automation to name a few) is changing the working landscape, how we reskill people and how people will interact with technology and colleagues in the ever-evolving workplace of the future.

Teams also had to work and collaborate digitally, stretching the Hackathon鈥檚 duration to a two-week sprint that saw members of the partner ecosystem work together to solve real-world challenges faced by 麻豆原创 and Microsoft customers 鈥� particularly as both brands are committed to simplifying and streamlining the customer journey through .

And the winner is鈥�

Third place went to Team Still Viral from DXC Technology with their solution, Parkman, which used artificial intelligence and machine learning to help drivers park more efficiently while assisting parking rangers in their work.

A vehicle鈥檚 onboard camera is used to capture real-time data of license plates, sending this information to Azure for further processing. Azure Cognitive Services, Azure Event Grid, Azure Block Storage, and Azure Functions process the license plate data to send a text-based event to (BTP),聽 with being used to check the records for the same vehicles from previous patrols submitted by different parking rangers.

Combining this data with location-based parking rules, Parkman can detect differences and issues (such as overparking), sending a message directly to the vehicle’s stereo and heads up display, which is powered by 麻豆原创鈥檚 BTP web application. This feature can also be used for drivers trying to understand the parking rules of a specific area or spot.

Parkman can also connect with other public services, such as finding a license plate being looked for by Crime Stoppers, and automatically forwards a message to them with the relevant data. Further assistance for parking rangers is provided through voice activation supported by , which can communicate to them the parking rules and incidents in their vicinity, either via in-car stereo or smart device.

Thomas Yuan from team 鈥楽till Viral鈥� explained that how the first version of Parkman was developed in 2013. However, he found it was too expensive to upload mobile video data back then. He was thrilled to revisit this idea today with a dramatically different outcome as 麻豆原创 and Microsoft allowed him and his team to explore its potential through intelligent technology solutions.

Second place was awarded to Team BourneHack from Bourne Digital for TakeOff 鈥� an onboarding system that was demonstrated through a video of animated character 鈥楬olly鈥� starting her first day at a hybrid workplace.

Holly immediately received her company device with all software downloaded and ready for use, which included all account logins autogenerated by Azure. The focus of TakeOff is to guide and support new workers through the onboarding process, particularly as new-starts handle the challenges of beginning a new role remotely.

New employees, like Holly, are automatically guided through the onboarding process with simple steps that are also accessible via mobile app. TakeOff also includes an interactive organisation chart so Holly can navigate the team structure, understanding the names and roles of her new colleagues.

If faced with any issues or questions, TakeOff provides employees with a support centre and chatbot. This chatbot also acts as a tour guide in TakeOff鈥檚 virtual office AR induction, which is powered by Microsoft HoloLens. This intelligent function means employees can familiarise themselves with the office layout and explore it in a 3D-rendered environment so they鈥檙e comfortable with the layout once they get to the physical office.

According to Team BourneHack representative, Julia Leong, the whole team are passionate about the onboarding experience particularly as businesses strive to create a good first impression that helps attract and retain new talent during the challenges of the pandemic.

The winner of the 2021 麻豆原创 and Microsoft ANZ Hackathon was Team Aztecs from Capgemini, who produced an Upskilling Kiosk to assist those whose jobs were lost or rendered obsolete during the pandemic outbreak.

Operating in India, Team Aztecs understood first-hand how AI and the global pandemic are greatly impacting on employment and redundancies. The team highlighted studies that show the value in upskilling and reskilling staff compared to rehiring, seeing this as an opportunity to provide more resources and support to vulnerable workers.

Team Aztec noted two key upskilling challenges 鈥� skill development programs rarely direct focus on outcomes while training is generally through reading or video lectures, leading to trainees missing out on real world experience. The focus of Team Aztec was to bridge this gap with intelligent technology.

Using the digital Upskilling Kiosk, users answered a series of questions through an AI-powered chatbot. The kiosk then recommended a relevant learning journey based on each employee鈥檚 answers and experience. The platform can also show trainees what kinds of internal jobs they can apply for in the future.

The chatbot acts like a program manager, calculating utilisations, booking meetings, and offering guidance to trainees. Not only are they provided with scenario-based testing through AI, but trainees can access dashboards, reports, and analytics to closely monitor their learning journey and understand what skills are valued in the job market.

Team Aztec representative, Sayan Pal said the motivation behind this development was the common challenge many faced during COVID 鈥� upskill or be made redundant. Sayan noted that the project wasn鈥檛 just about reskilling people but offering them visibility around their training and development, which can lead to new opportunities and prevent employees from losing their jobs in an ever-changing talent marketplace.

A special thanks to all our participants, judges, and mentors. Your efforts made 麻豆原创 and Microsoft Innovation Hackathon #2聽 an exciting competition that brought real-world solutions to the common challenges many businesses and individuals face.

To learn more about the Hackathon, this year鈥檚 winners, or to register your interest in upcoming Hackathons, reach out to on Linkedin.

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This event was a way to build on an existing partnership, product innovation and to tackle shared challenges at a time when many were feeling isolated, uncertain, and our mutual customers and end users were ever-more dependent on technology.

The winner of the first hackathon in 2020 was Team Gone Viral from , which comprised of Analytics Practice Lead, Martin Green, and Principal Consultants, Thomas Yuan, and Galvin Gunawan. The team developed BusIntelligence 鈥� an app providing real-time insights and solutions for bus passengers and operators alike.

鈥淲e wanted to focus on something relevant to the COVID pandemic we were in,鈥� Martin explained. 鈥淟ooking at a technology solution that would benefit communities on different levels, particularly within the transport industry. We recognised that COVID had shifted not only usage patterns through remote working, but capacity changes due to social distancing.

鈥淭he way we saw the application supporting that was during COVID and as life normalises, this will give bus operators the means to respond quickly, aligning the bus network and routes, optimising for commuters as a key driver. The app essentially supports the analysis of real time and historical data around bus routes 鈥� such as common causes of delays or average travel speed of an area 鈥� a lot of information to support the optimisation of routes and timetables.鈥�

According to Thomas, the key was to address traditional issues in the hopes of setting reference architecture for future developments. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the app 鈥� but it doesn鈥檛 stop as a single app. In the future, people can also continue with their own innovations to extend this application into endless possibilities.鈥�

Thomas noted that one common challenge within this area is disparate datasets, noting that the process for converting large multi-source systems and multi-form datasets is very complicated. This issue is compounded by public-facing data and internal systems 鈥� such as HR, rostering, and financial data 鈥� struggling to match or integrate seamlessly.

鈥淲e wanted to showcase how to balance long-term trend analysis and a dashboard, Thomas said. 鈥淲e also wanted to address something we call, non-intrusive real-time analyses. Going to the industry and talking to our clients about real-time analysis, the first question we get from operational-system architects is, 鈥榳ill it impact my system performance?鈥� Our response to that, in this case, is we source our data from a public API, which means the data ingest site is safe, optimised, and won鈥檛 affect operational performance.鈥�

Thomas expressed the value in having access to two open-data sets from Transport NSW and TransLink Queensland. Since both follow the universal standard of GTFS, this helped ensure consistency and accuracy while setting a template for architecting potential extensions into other public and private sector applications.

鈥淲e architected our solution to five high-level layers,鈥� explained Galvin. 鈥淔irst, the source layer, then the ingestion, storage, data processing in the data warehouse layer, and finally the presentation layer. In the ingestion layer, we utilised Azure Functions, which is a python friendly tool for retrieving GFTS files from Transport NSW. And then we used that to ingest it into Azure Data Lake gen 2 surface.

鈥淒ata is then picked up Azure Stream Analytics for the real time dashboard, and we use Azure Data Factory to aggregate many of the file storage in Azure Data Lake. We then utilise 麻豆原创 Data Warehouse within the data processing layer, as the high-performance platform to harmonise, further transform, and aggregate the data into a meaningful format for analytic purposes.鈥�

In supporting the various development teams preparing , 麻豆原创 and Microsoft experts provided training sessions to address questions and offer guidance. 鈥淭hose mentor-training half-hour sessions have become collectibles for me. Whenever I need information about certain products, I just watch back those videos. The mentors were very knowledgeable and all our understood questions, coming up with clear and creative solutions 鈥� often able to predict our next move.鈥�

Everyone at Team Gone Viral were excited about future applications for BusIntelligence and hope to continue showcasing its possibilities to wider audiences, such as local councils, town planners, and other public transport operators. They noted how this hackathon has demonstrated the value of combining different datasets, solutions, and development skills to create flexible and scalable solution that address common challenges we all face.

Furthermore, the ability to connect and collaborate with different experts from 麻豆原创 and Microsoft isn鈥檛 just breaking down traditional silos but furthering the possibility to innovate and provide more hybrid solutions to market. To learn more about the next 麻豆原创 and Microsoft hackathon in May 2021,

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As technology remains critical in keeping people safe and connected, the key focus for all hackathon teams was addressing the impact of COVID in real-world scenarios. Runners-up of the event, Team , presented the judges with CovidSafe Building Access Management Solution 鈥� a cross-industry resource for managing employee OH&S.

, Microsoft Practice Lead and Solutions Architect for Bourne Digital, explained, 鈥淚n the initial stage of hackathon, the whole team came together to come up with a lot of ideas, but the main challenge facing a lot of organisations was around COVID. We interviewed some of our clients and those in the company, their main concern was how to help employees return to work while keeping things safe and secure, implementing the COVID-safe protocols.

鈥淎t the time, all businesses were operating ats a risk with COVID and needed to implement control measures to manage those risks. They also needed to assess any new changes that arrived because of COVID, for example, customer aggression, the unusually high work demands at the time, and also the difficulties in work isolation.鈥�

Bourne Digital鈥檚 CovidSafe Building Access Management Solution uses thermal-screening technology to support facial recognition and temperature checks. This identification data passes through authentication via Face API and a backend ECC system to determine whether employees can be permitted into the office.

鈥淥n the Microsoft side, we used a series of servers hosting in the MSN Azure Cloud,鈥� Barry explained. 鈥淎ltogether, the servers provided the functionality around facial recognition, which was a key function of the system. The key server, a real in-demand prototype, is something that we call Face API, which is part of the collective service 鈥� it鈥檚 the AI surface service in the Azure Cloud. It can do a lot of things, like image recognition, voice recognition, and facial recognition as parts of its function.

鈥淭hat server is built together with other services also hosted in Azure, like Azure AD, which is the world鈥檚 most popular identity management service and stores all the user information, such as name, ID, and password. It can also be used as an identification portal for external services. All this together with Face API as a strong backbone, provides a solid solution to these safety challenges.鈥�

According to Barry, thermal screening provides two primary functions. 鈥淭he first function was to collect the photo of the user for other applications 鈥� it鈥檚 the same as when you go through customs at the airport. This also saves your facial information to the backend and sends this information to Face API, which will match your identity from Azure AD.

鈥淭he thermal screening is also responsible for capturing the temperature from the user without the user having to actually contact anything themselves 鈥� no need for a fingerprint or to enter a password. It鈥檚 just through the thermal screening.鈥�

Ben Kemal, General Manager of Southern Region at Bourne Digital noted that the team used their hackathon entry to develop a solution for internal use. 鈥淯sing the Microsoft Power Apps platform, they created a desk-booking solution that they鈥檙e using to managed desk space in our office 鈥� especially with the restrictions around Australia in terms of how much capacity you can use. I was proud that the team could take a solution from the hackathon, build upon it, and convert that to a solution that we could implement for ourselves and potentially for our clients.鈥�

Barry believes this kind of solution will have numerous applications across different organisations and industries, providing more intelligence and convenience to accessibility. 鈥淚 think traditional security, such as physical access cards and passwords will be replaced with biometric security assets like facial recognition 鈥� it鈥檚 just a matter of time.

鈥淐OVID has sped up that evolution. From a business perspective, it鈥檚 given much stronger justification for organisations to fund these kinds of changes. And there are really good values that can be provided through this project as this kind of accessibility has gone from something good to have to almost an essential requirement.鈥�

Last year鈥檚 麻豆原创 and Microsoft hackathon not only helped developer teams become more familiar with the latest technologies and techniques available; but it also provided them with real-world experience in addressing critical challenges that we all face through this pandemic. The event encouraged more collaboration between 麻豆原创 and Microsoft experts from across different organisations and functions, all working to improve the way we work and live.

To understand more about the innovations presented at previous hackathons or to learn about the upcoming

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