Middlesex University (MDX) Dubai achieved a significant milestone at the MENA Digital Forum & Hackathon 2025, where eight undergraduate and postgraduate student teams represented the university and emerged as overall winners, competing against 18 teams from across the MENA region. The prestigious event, powered by META as the main sponsor and hosted by Starbucks at Alshaya Group, brought together academia and industry to foster innovation and creativity on an international platform.
The hackathon theme, ‘Create the Future Starbucks Digital Experience for Dubai,’ challenged participants to design innovative digital solutions that enhance customer experience using emerging technologies. Student teams developed concepts incorporating AI-powered chatbots, intelligent data analysis, personalised AI recommendations, augmented reality (AR) experiences, and multilingual support, including Arabic, to address the needs of Dubai’s diverse and multicultural community.
The participation from MDX Dubai was led by Dr Chinnu Mary George from the Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, with support from Dr Engie Bashir, Undergraduate Campus Programme Coordinator of Computer Engineering and Informatics (CEI).
Dr Engie Bashir, Associate Professor in Computer Engineering and Informatics at Middlesex University Dubai, said: “We were honoured to participate in an event that offers young people a platform to demonstrate their skills in technology and digital disciplines. Taking part in the MENA Digital Hackathon 2025 enabled our students to develop the future-focused capabilities they learn at university, enhancing their opportunities in the working world.”
MDX Dubai had faculty mentoring across eight teams, including Dr Chinnu Mary George, Jaspreet Sethi, Madhumita Das, Dr Sumitra Kotipalli, and Kashfi Rahman. The winning team, Nova Nexus, was mentored by Dr Sumitra Kotipalli and comprised Dua-E-Nusrat (BSc Business Computing and Data Analytics, Year 3), Nafisa Rahman Chowdhury (BSc Information Technology, Year 3), Rajavi Mhatre (BSc Information Technology, Year 3), Michelle Haguma Paula (BSc Business Computing and Data Analytics, Year 3), and Grace Eliud Makweba (BSc Business Computing and Data Analytics, Year 3). This achievement reflects the exceptional technical expertise, creativity, teamwork, and strong mentorship that underpin Middlesex University Dubai’s commitment to innovation and excellence on a regional stage.
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