Microsoft kicked off its inaugural Hackfest, a four-day event – and the first of its kind in the Gulf region – where customers from both, public and private sector were invited to work with Microsoft’s engineers and data scientists to solve real-world problems using AI tools.
Taking place at the Address Boulevard hotel, downtown in Dubai, the Hackfest falls in line with UAE’s strategy for Artificial intelligence and the Gulf region’s aim to use an integrated smart digital system that can overcome challenges and provide quick efficient solutions.
The event will demonstrate the power of AI technologies to leading IT decision makers and give them an opportunity to experience capabilities such as machine-learning, advanced analytics, and natural-language processing – all hosted by Microsoft Azure cloud platform. During the event, attendees will present business problems and challenges to Microsoft’s experts, who will collaborate with the delegates on solutions that use a combination of cloud-based AI tools.
Sayed Hashish, General Manager at Microsoft Gulf said “This Hackfest is our way of demonstrating the potential of AI to solve real world problems – to the extent that we are bringing our best engineers to collaborate with the regional tech community and solve their business challenges with real solutions. This is our ‘AI challenge’; bring us your most daunting digital transformation issues and watch the intelligent cloud show you how to achieve more: engage customers, empower employees, optimise operations and revitalise business models.”
Organisations attending the Microsoft AI Hackfest include Dubai Municipality, DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre), MBC Group, The United Arab Emirates University, du – from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, Al Jaber Engineering & Contracting (ALEC) and the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, Masdar.