From immersive city exploration to AI-powered costume cataloguing, this year’s winning projects showcase how artificial intelligence is opening up new possibilities for the cultural and creative industries.
After nine days of intensive coding, the Idiap Research Institute has announced the winners of the 15th edition of the Idiap Create Challenge (ICC), its annual hackathon dedicated to innovation in artificial intelligence. Organized in partnership with The Ark Foundation, the event brought together participants from around the world from 20 to 28 August at Idiap and Ideark in the heart of Martigny.
This year’s challenge focused on how AI can help rethink the cultural and creative industries, bringing together technology, creativity and new ways of engaging with culture.
The projects developed during the hackathon reflected the breadth of this emerging field. Teams explored applications ranging from platforms for discovering cities and cultural sites to digital catalogues for theatre costume collections. Other projects transformed passages from books into virtual reality experiences, developed editorial and typography assistants, or explored AI frameworks for reconstructing damaged cultural and decorative artefacts. Participants also developed intelligent museum and cultural heritage guides, platforms connecting authors and publishers, and interactive digital twins that bring cultural sites and their history to life through AI.
“The ICC is always a great opportunity to discover, exchange ideas and find inspiration. The teams stand out for their commitment and motivation. This year, it was particularly encouraging to see such strong engagement with the creative sector. A real success!” says Joël Dumoulin, Head of Technology Transfer Office and member of Idiap’s Interim Management team.
“This 15th edition once again demonstrated the wealth of opportunities that can emerge when technological innovation meets the cultural and creative industries. The projects covered fields as diverse as journalism, literature, museums, cultural heritage and digital creation, illustrating the wide range of challenges where innovation can provide new answers. Seeing teams from around the world collaborate on these topics was particularly inspiring,” says Bertrand Fournier, Project Leader and Business Coach at CimArk.
Three awards were presented at the end of the challenge. The Innovation Award, worth CHF 10,000, was shared between two teams whose projects particularly impressed the jury:
- The Volumen team, composed of Ünsal Öztürk and Vidit Vidit, received CHF 2,000 for a project that turns passages from books into visual scenes. Their creative approach explores new ways of bringing written texts to life and enhancing the reading experience.
- The CostumeNet AI team, comprising Cinzia Fossati and Raphaël Raynouard, received CHF 8,000 for an AI-powered cataloguing assistant designed for costume collections in the performing arts and audiovisual sectors.
The People’s Choice Award, worth CHF 500, went to Roami, developed by Sarah Delporte, Imen Ben Mahmoud and Samuel Michel. Their mobile application reimagines the discovery of cities, monuments and cultural sites through an immersive and personalized experience.
The winning projects illustrate the creative energy at the heart of the Idiap Create Challenge and highlight the growing potential of AI and digital technologies to transform the way cultural and creative organizations work, preserve heritage and engage with audiences
Source : Press Release