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AI Café 2026

  fnrnewlogo     unilu

AI Competition 2026 - 9 June 2026

Dear reader,

Luxembourg has set itself ambitious goals to position itself as a digital pioneer in Europe. In the strategy paper ‘AI – A Strategic Vision for AI’, three main objectives were set by the Luxembourg government. The AI Competition supports this and is intended to serve as a stimulus for the country's residents. Discussion on the one hand, but also practical implementation and the search for creative ideas on the other, are key elements.

See 

https://www.uni.lu/en/events/ai-cafe-2025-competition-final/

 

evening

10 June, A look back

yesterday, 9 June, the AI Competition took place at the Auditoire Cité / Cercle Cité , Place d'Armes, as part of the AI Café, which I organise since 2023. Alongside 5 welcome speakers and 1 guest presentation by Alba Martinez Spínola, a 13-year-old schoolgirl, the finalists / who were selected by a panel of experts on the basis of numerous submissions / presented 8 projects that explored the theme of AI for the Common Good from various perspectives. Dr. phil. Nora Schleich guided through the wonderful evening. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many people without whose commitment, passion, and support the evening could not have taken place:

  • my organising team Prince Yaw Gharbin @AriaNourbakhsh Christophe Friezas Gonçalves Abdelghafour Abou-Kacem Delphine Felly for their excellent support before, during and after the evening event. You are a great team!
  • Dr. phil. Nora Schleich again for her wonderful and confident moderation.
  • the large audience, who continued to enjoy the evening even after nearly three hours :)
  • the jury, consisting of Aida Nazari Andreas Braun Jean Botev Nina Hosseini-Kivanani Salima lamsiyah Siwen Guo, for their hard work in reading, understanding and evaluating the submitted projects as well as the final presentations together with the audience.
  • the welcome speakers Alexandra Tsyliya Charles Lang Georg Mein Philip Treleaven Yolanda Spinola-Elias for their exceptional and so much inspiring expertise in their respective fields
  • all the finalists, who were truly all winners!
  • Alba Martinez Spínola, a 13-year-old schoolgirl, who won the Gold Medal at the 2026 World Robotics Olympiad with her team and who explained the winning project to us with great enthusiasm and charm in a 10-minute video.

The Top3 prizes went to:

  • First prize (2k Euro): AgroTwin: a digital twin framework for a sustainable and autonomous agriculture (Risheek Chummun),
  • Second prize (1.5k Euro): Agent AI Café: a ‘Vibe-Coded’ Sandbox for the Art of Human-AI Collaboration (Olivier Koos)
  • Third prize (1k Euro): LogophonIA, speech therapy brick by brick (Sarah Ricard, Alessio Buscemi).

Finally, an event like this is also a chance to rekindle friendships and connections plus to find new connections. Personally, I was very delighted to catch up with friends, mentors and alumni.

Thank you!