When & Where

  • Aug 23 (Fri) Opening Ceremony｜WTC Elite Club (World Trade Center Melbourne)
  • Aug 24–29 Hackathon Week｜WTC Biz Hub (Coworking)
  • Aug 30 (Sat) Demo Day & Closing Ceremony｜World Trade Center Melbourne (WTC)

This wasn’t a “show-off contest” — it was a Solution Marketplace.


The NextGen 2025 AI Hackathon turned real industry problems into practical, testable prototypes, emphasizing the full loop of problem → solution → validation → deployment. The Opening Ceremony was hosted at World Trade Center Melbourne (WTC), and teams worked throughout the week from WTC Biz Hub coworking to sprint and demo.

Highlights

Riverside Venue: By the Yarra River, easy access and high-density networking at WTC.

Keynote Talks: Frontline perspectives and methods that shaped each track.

Cross-disciplinary Teams: Developers × designers × researchers × business talent collaborating efficiently.

Track Onboarding: Problem owners answered questions, clarified targets and evaluation criteria.

Mentors & Advisors

Opening Keynotes

  • Dr. Sam Donegan｜Founder, SupportSorted — MD & AI Engineer
  • Dr. Lukas Wesemann｜Co-founder, MLAI — AI Researcher

Mentor Panel

Yifei Wang (CEO, AIBUILD) ｜ Chunhua Liu (NLP Researcher, University of Melbourne) ｜ Julius Kerstien (Frontend Engineer) ｜
Donna Spencer (Product/Service Designer, MakerX) ｜ Donghao Zhang (Data Science & ML) ｜
Vick Tahil (AI/Software Strategy) ｜ Tick Jiang (Angel Investor, NUVC.ai) ｜ Duan (Co-founder, NUVC.ai; UI/UX & AI Transformation)

They brought industry insight and engineering experience to help teams calibrate direction, break down execution paths, and accelerate delivery.

7 Real-World Challenge Tracks

Alibaba Cloud｜AI-Powered Innovation — A$800 cash

Antler｜Surfacing Emerging AI Founders in Australia — 1:1 mentoring + incubation residency

StartPlan｜AI-Powered Resume Creation & Job Matching — A$640 cash + internship

HeartBloomAI｜Empathy & Growth Companion — A$200 cash

Heidi Health｜Designing Smart Voice Agents in Healthcare — A$800 cash + full-time role

NUVC.ai｜Legacy Guardians (Teen Wealth Education) — A$800 cash + full-time role

NexusMD.ai｜AutoMBS — AI-Powered Medicare Benefits Schedule Coding Assistant — A$800 cash + full-time role

Grand Prizes & Perks

  • A$3,000 Grand Prize (Top AI Team)
  • ~A$500 cash for the best solution in each track
  • A$500 Alibaba Cloud compute credits
  • Trae (ByteDance) one-year subscription (track winners)
  • Fableration Community technical and founder support

Cash awards and benefits were allocated by track and overall results; selected tracks also included internship/full-time/incubation opportunities.

WTC Biz Hub — Official Coworking Space

Location: Melbourne CBD riverside, near Southern Cross and Flinders Street stations; at the City Free Tram Zone.
Spaces: Hot desks｜private team rooms｜meeting rooms; flexible combinations ideal for sprints and demo rehearsals.
Amenities: High-speed internet, printing & screen casting, tea/coffee, reception & security — plug in and collaborate.
Services: Event support, business connections, and startup enablement.

Looking for a short-term team room or meeting space? Book a tour & trial at WTC Biz Hub.

What Participants Gained

  • Frontier Insights: Practitioners and researchers shared the latest AI trends and methods.
  • Zero-to-One Training Ground: Iterate prototypes with mentor guidance and user feedback to validate feasibility and value.
  • High-Quality Network: Connect with research leaders, founders, and investors for cross-domain collaboration.
  • Career & Venture Pathways: Direct access to hiring, internships, incubation, and cloud resources to accelerate growth.

This page is an event archive. The NextGen 2025 AI Hackathon concluded on 30 August 2025. WTC Biz Hub remains open for tours and membership enquiries.

About WTC

Located on the banks of the Yarra and within walking distance of the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre and the Southern Cross transport hub, WTC Melbourne offers premium office leasing at its core, complemented by flexible, multi-purpose business event spaces. We provide a professional stage for investor roadshows, product launches, and cross-border business matchmaking. Beyond workspace, WTC is a gathering place for innovation and collaboration.

WTC Melbourne
For leasing and event enquiries, contact us directly ↓

Phone: +61 439 819 653

Email: udmadmin@udmau.com