Three days, over 100 participants, three real-world industry challenges and European high-performance infrastructure put to practical use: the ZERO ONE HACK, held from 29 to 31 May, was the largest on-site hackathon to date at AI Factory Austria’s AI:AT. At the AI:AT Coworking Hub in Vienna, teams comprising developers, students, young talent and AI enthusiasts worked on specific use cases from the fields of industry, insurance and forecasting.
The hackathon was organised by Lumos and delivered in collaboration with partners from the Austrian and European AI ecosystem. AI Factory Austria AI:AT supported the event as a key partner in its conception, preparation and delivery – including by providing the venue, organisational support, the involvement of industry partners, mentors and jury members, and by providing access to European high-performance computing infrastructure.
The focus was on the practical application of artificial intelligence: within 36 hours, teams developed functional prototypes, trained and tested models, and presented their results to a jury comprising representatives from industry, technology, research and the start-up ecosystem.
European computing infrastructure in real-world use
A key element of the hackathon was access to the European supercomputer Leonardo in Bologna. Via AI Factory Austria’s AI:AT, the teams had a total of 25 computing nodes at their disposal, each with four GPUs – meaning 100 GPUs for training, fine-tuning and experiments. In total, more than 800 GPU-hours were utilised during the hackathon. At least 15 teams used more than ten hours of computing time, thereby actively utilising the infrastructure for more demanding fine-tuning and model development tasks.
This clearly demonstrated what European AI Factories are designed to achieve: they make high-performance European AI infrastructure practically accessible to businesses, start-ups, talent and research institutions, and lower the barriers to entry for complex AI applications.
“The ZERO ONE HACK has impressively demonstrated that successful AI innovation arises where high-performance infrastructure meets motivated people. Access to computing power and state-of-the-art technologies is an important prerequisite – but what is crucial is the talent that can harness these opportunities and translate them into concrete solutions. Events such as this bring together businesses, up-and-coming talent and European AI infrastructure, creating an environment in which skills are developed, innovations are fostered and the specialists of tomorrow are trained. Together, we can thus make a significant contribution to strengthening the Austrian and European AI ecosystem.”
Florian Brunner, Managing Director of 42 Vienna & 42 Wels
“At ZERO ONE HACK, our main focus was on nurturing talent. When young developers and students gain access to Europe’s leading infrastructure whilst working on real-world challenges set by companies such as Infineon, UNIQA and Sybilion, this creates precisely the opportunities from which genuine innovation grows. Europe has the talent, the infrastructure and the industry. Our task is to bring these three elements together and create opportunities for the next generation.”
Gerhard Karbeutz, CEO of Lumos
“The hackathon, organised jointly with Lumos and AI Factory Austria, has impressively demonstrated the potential for innovation that lies in regional collaboration between technology companies, partners and talented individuals. At HPE, we are committed to strengthening local ecosystems and creating spaces where new ideas for the practical application of AI and modern IT solutions can emerge. The event highlights the central role of high-performance infrastructure and data platforms as the foundation for digital innovations aimed at enhancing Vienna’s digital competitiveness.”
Manfred Traumüller, Managing Director, HPE Austria
“The ZERO ONE HACK demonstrates in a very concise way what the AI Factory Austria AI:AT was set up to achieve: we bring together companies, talent, research and European AI infrastructure, thereby creating a space where real-world challenges give rise to concrete prototypes. What matters is not just access to computing power, but the integration of infrastructure, expertise, applications and the ecosystem.”
Karl Kugler, Co-Lead, AI Factory Austria AI:AT
Real-world challenges from Infineon, UNIQA and Sybilion
The participating teams worked on three thematic tracks with a clear focus on practical applications. The challenges were set by Infineon Technologies Austria, UNIQA Insurance Group and Sybilion. The focus was therefore on industrial and economic issues that exemplify how artificial intelligence can be used in real-world application contexts.
The challenge set by Infineon Technologies Austria aimed to gain new perspectives on an existing industrial problem and to test alternative solutions outside the usual corporate perspective. The teams worked without direct access to live company data and, within just a few days, developed their own approaches and predictive models. The winning team’s data-driven approach – based on the principle of ‘data before models’ – was particularly praised.
For Infineon Technologies Austria, the hackathon thus provided valuable impetus for further work on the use case and demonstrated how open innovation formats can bring new ideas, methods and talent into industrial AI development.
Talent meets business
The hackathon also had a tangible impact in the area of talent, extending beyond the event itself. A team from 42 Vienna impressed the UNIQA Insurance Group with its solution to the use case centred on targeted and personalised information in the UNIQA online calculator. As UNIQA also aims to attract the best talent, an internship was awarded as part of the hackathon.
This story exemplifies how AI:AT, as an ecosystem platform, brings companies into contact with young AI talent at an early stage and creates concrete career and collaboration opportunities. Hackathons thus become not only formats for innovation, but also entry points into the Austrian and European AI ecosystem.
AI:AT as an enabler for industrial AI innovation talent
Although the hackathon was held under the Lumos brand, AI Factory Austria AI:AT was a key partner in its preparation and delivery. AI Factory Austria AI:AT provided the physical venue, supported the organisational planning, brought partners together, assisted industry partners in defining use cases, and facilitated access to computing resources on Leonardo in cooperation with CINECA.
Furthermore, AI:AT brought in mentors, jury members and specialist staff, and helped shape parts of the supporting programme. This meant that almost all of the initiative’s core tasks were showcased in a single format: access to infrastructure, industrial application, talent development, ecosystem connectivity and European collaboration.
“High-performance computing becomes relevant when it becomes accessible for specific applications. At the ZERO ONE HACK, teams were able to make immediate use of European infrastructure, train models and test their ideas under realistic conditions. This is precisely the bridge we want to build with AI Factory Austria AI:AT – from Europe’s computing power to practical AI development in business, research and society.”
Markus Stöhr, Co-Lead, AI Factory Austria AI:AT
Strategic dialogue on AI in Europe
To accompany the hackathon, a high-profile panel discussion took place on the topic of ‘AI in Europe – Innovation, Infrastructure and Regulation’. The discussion was moderated by Simeon Harrison from AI Factory Austria AI:AT. The panellists included Peter Tutsch, Founder & CEO of Entrovy Law; Jose Antonio Alatorre, CEO of Main Sequence; and Iveta Lohovska, CTO AI & HPC at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).
The discussion brought together perspectives from the fields of regulation, technology, infrastructure, entrepreneurship and European innovation policy. It highlighted the role of AI Factory Austria AI:AT as a hub where not only AI applications are developed, but also where strategic dialogue on Europe’s technological sovereignty and competitiveness takes place.
From idea to application
The ZERO ONE HACK served as a prime example of how AI Factory Austria AI:AT acts as an interface between industry, talent and European infrastructure. Within a single event, real-world use cases were addressed, companies were connected with young talent, European HPC resources were utilised, and new impetus for innovation was generated.
The positive feedback from the participating partners and the interest in continuing similar formats confirm the added value of this approach: AI becomes effective when infrastructure, expertise, application and community come together.
About AI Factory Austria AI:AT
AIFactoryAustria AI:AT is Austria’s national AI Factory within the framework of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. It is jointly led by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and Advanced Computing Austria (ACA) and implemented by an Austria-wide consortium.
The partners in the consortium are: Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), University of Vienna, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), University of Innsbruck, Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU), the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), INiTS – Vienna’s High-Tech Incubator, and EODC – Earth Observation Data Centre for Water Resources Monitoring GmbH.
AI:AT combines AI-optimised high-performance infrastructure with a physical hub and supports organisations from industry, public administration and applied research as a market-neutral, independent access point throughout the AI journey – from the first use case to practical implementation.
Funding Acknowledgement
AI Factory Austria (AI:AT) is co-funded by the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No. 101253078. The Joint Undertaking is supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme and by Austria (BMIMI/FFG).