1. What it is
Build with AI is an education hackathon in two phases. It is organized by Epoha Online, GDG Plovdiv and TU Sofia, Plovdiv Branch, with the support of Google for Education. The idea is simple: students, teachers and university students build working and secure solutions with the tools of Google and Gemini, without needing deep programming experience. The topics connect technology with the Bulgarian language, history, culture and education.
2. When and how it runs
The hackathon is in a hybrid format and unfolds over two months.
- Kick-off on from 11:00 in person in the Aula hall of TU Sofia, Plovdiv Branch. You will hear a short briefing on the rules and we will announce the challenges.
- From October 1 to 31 a one-month incubator runs: teams develop their ideas together with mentors and go through online training in Google Gemini Academy, Google Cloud and Vertex AI.
- The final, demo day, is on , a Thursday, in person at TU Sofia, Plovdiv Branch. The best teams defend their projects before an expert jury.
3. Who can take part
The competition is open to participants from Plovdiv, the region and the whole country in two categories.
Schools
- Each school can enter up to 2 teams.
- A team consists of 1 lead teacher and 3 to 5 students.
- Students must be over 13 years old.
- Because minors take part, at registration parents must fill in a consent form.
Universities
This category is open to university teams and to young developers from the IT community. A team is 3 to 5 people.
4. What each team gets
Throughout October the registered teams use, completely free of charge:
- access to education platforms and Google Skills;
- licenses and free credits for Google Cloud and Vertex AI;
- tools for working with the Gemini API, Flutter and Firebase AI Logic.
5. The topics
Your project should offer a ready technology solution in one of three directions.
- Digital conscience and ethics: security, information filtering, copyright and the ethical use of AI in everyday life and at school.
- Education innovation: interactive AI assistants, platforms and tools that make learning easier in Google Workspace for Education.
- Humanities innovation and culture: computer vision and language models in service of the Bulgarian language, history and cultural heritage.
6. How it is judged
A mixed expert jury scores the projects on a 10-point scale. The four criteria carry equal weight, 25% each.
- Technical execution: does the solution work reliably as a prototype and how skillfully are the Gemini API, Vertex AI and Google Cloud woven in.
- Innovation and vision: how original the idea is and how it answers the theme of the season.
- Social and humanities value: is the solution applicable in the Bulgarian school, in culture or the urban environment and is it ready for real deployment.
- Presentation and defense: a 3-minute live pitch on demo day on November 5 and convincing answers to the jury's questions.
7. Prizes and certificates
- Every student, teacher and university student who goes through the incubator receives an official education certificate from Google.
- The winners in the separate categories win technology prizes with the Google brand and special recognition from the business partners and sponsors of the event.
- Business partners can choose an idea or a team to support for delivery and growth even after the hackathon ends.
8. Fair play and copyright
- The code and the intellectual property of the projects stay with the teams that created them.
- Using someone else's code without attribution and any form of plagiarism lead to disqualification.
- The organizers may show visuals and demonstrations of the projects to share good practices with the community.