A 2-day student hackathon at Birmingham City University. Tackle real industry challenges from AutoReviver, AquaSense AI, and Centauri — then pitch to judges for summer internships.
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The Unihack Innovation Fest hackathon is a 2-day in-person hackathon where university students work in teams to solve real-world industry problems. Design, build, and pitch your solution to a panel of judges.
Part of Innovation Fest 2026 at Birmingham City University, with live challenges set by AutoReviver, AquaSense AI, and Centauri.
Three real-world challenges from industry partners. Pick one and build something that matters.
Every day, industrial facilities discharge wastewater into the environment — and most have no real-time visibility into whether it's safe. Section 82 of the Water Industry Act sets strict limits on pollutants like pH, COD, BOD, and suspended solids, but compliance is still managed through manual testing, spreadsheets, and delayed lab reports. By the time a violation is detected, the damage is already done — environmental harm, regulatory fines, and operational shutdowns follow. AquaSense AI is building the platform to change this: continuous monitoring, predictive alerts, and automated reporting that moves industry from reactive damage control to proactive environmental protection.
Build a platform that continuously analyses IoT sensor data for pH, COD, BOD, TSS, temperature, and toxic contaminants — detecting abnormal discharge in real time.
Use AI to predict Section 82 compliance breaches before they occur, shifting facilities from reactive to proactive environmental management.
Automate reporting and alerting so compliance teams are notified instantly and documentation is generated without manual effort.
In the UK, thousands of young people from underserved communities are being locked out of the tech industry before they even get started. No laptop. No reliable broadband. No one in their network working in tech. While digital skills are now essential for almost every career, access to those skills remains deeply unequal. Centauri works at the intersection of technology, education, and community — and they want builders who can design solutions that genuinely reach young people who've been left behind. This isn't about building another coding course. It's about removing the real barriers: access, confidence, and connection.
Build a platform where young people can access donated or refurbished laptops, tablets, and learning resources matched to their location and needs.
Create a learning platform for skills in coding, design, marketing, video editing, AI, and web development — structured for all starting points.
Connect young people with tech professionals, businesses, and Centauri mentors for career advice, guidance, and project support.
The UK's used car parts market is worth £2.8 billion — but it's stuck in the past. Buyers waste hours scrolling through eBay and Facebook Marketplace, often purchasing the wrong part due to poor listings and no compatibility checks. Scrapyards and independent dismantlers are sitting on thousands of parts with no efficient way to reach buyers. The result: frustrated customers, lost revenue, and a market that lacks trust. AutoReviver is building the digital infrastructure to fix this — and they need student builders to solve the hardest technical problems standing in their way.
Buyers don't know if a part will fit their car. Design a system using VIN decoding, DVLA/TecDoc APIs, image recognition, or AI-powered matching — even when sellers provide incomplete data.
Build a tool that auto-generates professional listings from a photo and part number using AI. Instant, accurate, scalable.
Build an AI chatbot or semantic search engine using NLP, LLMs, or vector search to return exact matches from natural language queries.
Design trust mechanisms: seller reputation scoring, HMRC verification, escrow payments, or part authenticity checks using blockchain or image hashing.
All challenges are marked equally. Picking one challenge is not more beneficial than another — judges will assess every submission against the same criteria regardless of which problem statement your team chose.
You don't need to start from scratch. Here's what experienced builders reach for — and how to move fast without getting stuck.
Write code, debug errors, generate synthetic datasets, draft pitch scripts, and brainstorm ideas. One of the fastest ways to unblock yourself during the build.
Go from idea to working web app in minutes. Describe what you want and Lovable generates a full frontend — ideal if your team doesn't have a frontend developer.
Design your UI, map out user flows, or build a clickable prototype for your pitch. Judges respond well to teams that have thought about the user experience.
Search thousands of real-world datasets relevant to your challenge — water quality, vehicle data, education, and more. Also great for running ML experiments fast.
Code, run, and deploy in the browser — no setup required. Great for teams sharing code in real time or demoing a live backend during the pitch.
Deploy your web app for free in under a minute. Having a live URL to show judges is far more impressive than running localhost during your pitch.
If you can't find a real dataset, use Claude or ChatGPT to generate realistic synthetic data — sensor readings, vehicle listings, user profiles. It's a legitimate and common approach at hackathons. Just be transparent about it in your pitch.
The biggest mistake at hackathons is trying to build everything. Pick one sub-challenge, solve it well, and demo it confidently. A focused prototype beats a half-built platform every time.
Research the problem space, define user personas, design the UI in Figma, write the pitch, and own the presentation. The best hackathon teams have a mix of skills — not just developers.
Free APIs exist for vehicle data (DVLA), maps (Google Maps), AI (OpenAI, Claude), and more. Time is short — plug in what exists rather than rebuilding it. Your README should list every API and library you used.
Start with the problem, not the technology. Judges want to understand the real-world impact before they care about your tech stack. Keep it to: problem → solution → demo → impact → what's next.
Push to GitHub regularly throughout both days — not just at the end. If something breaks before the deadline, you'll want a stable version to fall back on. Your commit history also shows judges the work put in.
Two days of building, mentoring, and pitching.
The winning team takes home summer internship placements with our partner organisations.
A summer internship with Centauri — Birmingham's creative + technical agency working across Solutions, Media, Events, and Community.
A summer internship with AquaSense AI — working on intelligent water monitoring and environmental compliance technology.
Two summer internship placements with AFJ Travel — award-winning travel specialists offering tailored global experiences.
A summer internship placement with Birmingham City University — one of the UK's largest and most diverse universities.
Unihack 2026 is made possible by our challenge partners, prize partners, and host institution.
Birmingham creative + technical agency. Solutions, Media, Events, Community.
Transforming water management from reactive to predictive using AI and IoT.
Award-winning travel specialists offering tailored travel experiences worldwide.
Host institution and proud supporter of student innovation across the West Midlands.
Judging runs in two stages — every team gets in front of the judges, and the best move through to a live final.
Every team sets up at a table and demos their project. Judges rotate around the room in pairs, spending a few minutes with each team. No slides required — just show your product working and explain what you built.
Judges select the top teams from each challenge track. Finalists present to the full room — 3 minutes each. This is your chance to make the case for why your solution deserves to win.
Applied across both stages. Build with all five in mind.
Yes. Solo participants are welcome. You can also find teammates during team formation on Day 1.
No. Teams benefit from a mix of skills — designers, researchers, business thinkers, and developers are all valuable.
Yes. Students from other universities are welcome to attend.
External students (not from BCU) must bring a valid student ID to gain access to the building.
Yes. Lunch is served at STEAMhouse on both days and is included for all participants.
Up to 5 people. You can also participate solo or in smaller groups.
Judging runs in two stages. Stage 1 is a demo expo — every team sets up at a table and judges rotate around the room to see your project. Judges then shortlist finalists from each challenge track. Stage 2 is a live final where shortlisted teams pitch to the full room for 5 minutes each. Winners are announced at 2:10 PM.
A GitHub repository submitted via Devpost by 11:30 AM on Tuesday 19 May. You must also pitch your solution to the judges on the day. Both are required to be eligible for prizes.
No — all three challenges are revealed at the opening briefing on Day 1. You then pick one and build around it.
Submit a GitHub repo via Devpost and pitch to the judges on the day. Both are required to be eligible for prizes.