More than 100 participants developed AI prototypes for real-world industry challenges during the ZERO ONE HACK at the AI:AT Coworking Hub. The event leveraged 100 GPUs on the Leonardo supercomputer, while industry partners Infineon Technologies Austria, UNIQA, and Sybilion used the hackathon as an open innovation platform.
Three days, more than 100 participants, three real-world industry challenges, and European high-performance computing infrastructure put into practice: from May 29 to 31, the ZERO ONE HACK became the largest on-site hackathon hosted by AI Factory Austria (AI:AT) to date. At the AI:AT Coworking Hub in Vienna, teams of developers, students, emerging talent, and AI enthusiasts worked on practical use cases in manufacturing, insurance, and forecasting.
Organised by Lumos in collaboration with partners from Austria’s and Europe’s AI ecosystem, the event demonstrated the power of combining talent, industry expertise, and cutting-edge computing infrastructure. AI:AT played a central role in the design and execution of the hackathon by providing facilities, organizational support, industry connections, mentors, jury members, and access to European high-performance computing (HPC) resources.
At the heart of the event was the practical application of artificial intelligence: within just 36 hours, teams developed functional prototypes, trained and tested AI models, and presented their solutions to a jury composed of experts from industry, technology, research, and the startup ecosystem.
European AI Infrastructure in Action
A key feature of the hackathon was access to Leonardo, one of Europe’s leading supercomputers, located in Bologna, Italy. Through AI:AT, participants gained access to 25 compute nodes equipped with four GPUs each, providing a total of 100 GPUs for training, fine-tuning, and experimentation. During the event, teams utilized more than 800 GPU hours, with at least 15 teams logging over ten hours of compute time for advanced model development and fine-tuning.
The event showcased the core mission of Europe’s AI Factories: making advanced AI infrastructure accessible to companies, startups, researchers, and emerging talent while lowering barriers to innovation and experimentation.
“The ZERO ONE HACK clearly demonstrated that successful AI innovation emerges where powerful infrastructure meets motivated people. Access to computing resources and state-of-the-art technologies is an important prerequisite, but ultimately it is talent that makes the difference—people who can harness these opportunities and translate them into practical solutions. Formats like this bring together companies, emerging talent, and European AI infrastructure, creating an environment where skills are developed, innovation is fostered, and the next generation of AI professionals is trained. Together, we can make a meaningful contribution to strengthening both the Austrian and European AI ecosystem.”
Florian Brunner, Managing Director 42 Vienna & 42 Wels
“At ZERO ONE HACK, our primary focus was on fostering talent. When young developers and students gain access to Europe’s leading infrastructure while working on real-world challenges from companies such as Infineon, UNIQA, and Sybilion, the conditions for genuine innovation are created. Europe has the talent, the infrastructure, and the industry. Our task is to bring these three elements together and create opportunities for the next generation.”
Gerhard Karbeutz, Board Member Lumos
“The hackathon, organized in collaboration with Lumos and AI Factory Austria, clearly demonstrated the innovation potential that can be unlocked through regional collaboration between technology companies, partners, and talented individuals. At HPE, we are committed to strengthening local ecosystems and creating spaces where new ideas for the practical application of AI and modern IT solutions can emerge. The event highlighted the critical role of high-performance infrastructure and data platforms as the foundation for digital innovation and for enhancing Vienna’s digital competitiveness.”
Manfred Traumüller, Managing Director HPE Austria
“ZERO ONE HACK is a compact demonstration of what AI Factory Austria (AI) was created to achieve: bringing together companies, talent, researchers, and Europe’s AI infrastructure to create an environment where real-world challenges can be transformed into tangible prototypes. What matters is not only access to computing power, but the combination of infrastructure, expertise, practical application, and a strong ecosystem.”
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Karl Kugler, Co-Lead, AI Factory Austria AI:AT
Real-World Challenges from Industry
The participating teams worked on three thematic tracks centered around real-world applications. The challenges were provided by Infineon Technologies Austria, UNIQA Insurance Group, and Sybilion, placing industrial and business-focused use cases at the forefront. These challenges served as practical examples of how artificial intelligence can be applied to address real-world problems across different sectors
For Infineon Technologies Austria’s challenge, the goal was to gain fresh perspectives on an existing industrial problem and explore alternative solution approaches beyond the company’s conventional way of thinking. Working without direct access to production data, teams developed their own methodologies and predictive models within just a few days. The winning team was particularly praised for its data-centric approach, following the principle of “Data Before Models.”
For Infineon Technologies Austria, the hackathon generated valuable insights for the further development of the use case and demonstrated how open innovation formats can bring fresh ideas, new methodologies, and emerging talent into industrial AI development.
Connecting Talent and Industry
The hackathon also delivered tangible impact beyond the event itself in the area of talent development. A team from 42 Vienna impressed UNIQA Insurance Group with its solution for providing targeted and personalized information within UNIQA’s online insurance calculator. As UNIQA is also committed to attracting top talent, an internship opportunity was awarded during the hackathon.
This example illustrates how AI:AT, as an ecosystem platform, connects companies with emerging AI talent at an early stage and creates tangible opportunities for careers and collaboration. As a result, hackathons serve not only as innovation platforms but also as gateways into the Austrian and broader European AI ecosystem.
AI:AT as an Enabler of Industrial AI Innovation and Talent Development
Although the hackathon was held under the Lumos brand, AI Factory Austria (AI:AT) played a central role in its preparation and execution. AI:AT provided the venue, supported organizational planning, brought together key partners, assisted industry participants in defining their use cases, and enabled access to computing resources on the Leonardo supercomputer in collaboration with CINECA.
In addition, AI:AT contributed mentors, jury members, and technical experts, while also helping to shape parts of the accompanying program. As a result, nearly all core pillars of the initiative were brought together within a single format: access to infrastructure, industrial application, talent development, ecosystem building, and European collaboration.
High-performance computing becomes truly impactful when it is accessible for real-world applications. At ZERO ONE HACK, teams were able to directly leverage European infrastructure, train models, and test their ideas under realistic conditions. This is exactly the bridge we aim to build with AI Factory Austria (AI:AT) — connecting Europe’s computing power with practical AI development for businesses, research, and society.
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Markus Stöhr, Co-Lead, AI Factory Austria AI:AT
Strategic Dialogue on AI in Europe
Alongside the hackathon, a high-profile panel discussion titled “AI in Europe – Innovation, Infrastructure and Regulation” brought together leading voices from across the European AI ecosystem. The session was moderated by Simeon Harrison of AI Factory Austria (AI:AT) and featured Peter Tutsch, Founder & CEO of Entrovy Law; Jose Antonio Alatorre, CEO of Main Sequence; and Iveta Lohovska, CTO for AI & HPC at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).
The discussion brought together perspectives from regulation, technology, infrastructure, entrepreneurship, and European innovation policy. It underscored the role of AI Factory Austria (AI:AT) not only as a hub for the development of AI applications, but also as a platform for strategic dialogue on Europe’s technological sovereignty, innovation capacity, and global competitiveness.
From Idea to Implementation
The ZERO ONE HACK demonstrated how AI Factory Austria (AI:AT) serves as a bridge between industry, emerging talent, and Europe’s AI infrastructure. Within a single event format, participants tackled real-world use cases, connected companies with the next generation of AI professionals, leveraged European high-performance computing resources, and generated new momentum for innovation.
The positive feedback from participating partners and the strong interest in continuing similar formats underscore the value of this approach: AI delivers its greatest impact when infrastructure, expertise, practical application, and community come together.
About the AI Factory Austria AI:AT
The AI Factory Austria AI:AT is Austria’s national AI Factory within the framework of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. It is jointly managed by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and Advanced Computing Austria (ACA) and implemented by an Austria-wide consortium.
The partners in the consortium are: TU Vienna, University of Vienna, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), University of Innsbruck, Graz University of Technology, Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU), Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), INiTS – Vienna’s High-Tech Incubator and EODC – Earth Observation Data Centre for Water Resources Monitoring GmbH.
AI:AT combines AI-optimised high-performance infrastructure with a physical hub and supports organizations from business, public administration and applied research as a market-neutral, independent access point along the AI journey – from the first use case to practical implementation.
Funding Acknowledgement
The AI Factory Austria (AI:AT) is co-funded by the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement no. 101253078. The Joint Undertaking is supported by the Horizon Europe program of the European Union and Austria (BMIMI/FFG).
Contact:
Daniel Pepl, MAS MBA
Head of Marketing & Communications
AI Factory Austria AI:AT
Mobile: +43 664 6207805 I daniel.pepl@ai-at.eu I www.ai-at.eu
