Middlesex University Mauritius hosted a “Build with Gemma” 24-hour hackathon, powered by Google and hosted on the Kaggle data science platform. Launched on Wednesday, July 29 at the Flic-en-Flac campus that garnered strong interest from higher education students across the island, with 75 participants shortlisted out of 120 applicants.
Initiated in collaboration with the Google Developer Expert and alumnus of Middlesex University Mauritius, Noor Yadallee, this tech marathon urged talented young minds from higher education institutions to design practical applications based on Google’s Gemma artificial intelligence models. The participants addressed strategic challenges deemed key to the country’s development, focusing on the blue economy, smart industry, food security, and civic innovation.
At the end of the 24 hours of hands-on work, the teams presented their prototypes before an expert panel of judges comprising major figures from the local tech ecosystem, notably co-founders of Inpleo, DTG Labs, Oduo, devs, as well as Google Developer Experts.
The Multimodal Track was awarded to Team Athena hailing from the University of Mauritius (UoM), comprising Manvi Khushi Dabydoyal, Bhoovana Dinoo, Alexandra Leung Dat Wan, Shruti Devi Seewoogoolam, and Suhaasinee Sanjana Sookaul.
The Autonomous Agent Track was won by Team Slytherin, also from the UoM, featuring Devesh Dhunookdharee, Kritanandsingh Jaunky, Muhammad Muhsin Khan Codabaccus, Roma Rishi Sharma Murugun, and Ourvashi Ruggee.
Meanwhile, Team Dhruv and friends from Middlesex University Mauritius, composed of Caellum Buys, Dhruv Bisht, Joshua Wang, and Oleg Narainen, bagged the Coup-de-Coeur Winner award.
“The quality of the prototypes presented over these two days bears testament to the great potential of our students. Beyond the competition, this event helped strengthen the practical skills of our youth in cutting-edge technologies. By combining Google’s technological power with the academic guidance of Middlesex University Mauritius, we are preparing our future graduates to become key players in digital transformation in Mauritius and to tackle the major challenges facing our island through AI,” commented Provost and Campus Director of Middlesex University Mauritius, Professor Mari Jansen Van Rensburg,.The event culminated with an awards ceremony held on Thursday, July 30, highlighting the ingenuity, inter-university collaboration, and dynamism of the local tech community—an inspiring glimpse into the future of higher education on the island, where admissions for Middlesex University Mauritius are currently open for the September 2026 intake.
