In June I was a technical judge at Air Hack Iași , a 48-hour hackathon dedicated to aviation innovation, held at Iași Airport. Organized by Fab Lab Iași in partnership with Iași Airport and Orange România, the event brought together 17 teams of developers, designers, entrepreneurs and students to build solutions for real challenges in the airport industry.
Participants chose from three challenge tracks: Defence & Security, Infrastructure & Operations, and Passenger Experience. On Sunday morning I had the pleasure of judging all the teams during the technical evaluation, assessing the quality of their solutions before the final pitches in the afternoon. AWS was a sponsor of the event, offering $1,000 in AWS credits to the first place finalists and $500 in credits to the second place teams across all three tracks.
The winning projects were impressive. In the Defence & Security track, team Spectrum Hive built an airspace protection system against unauthorized drones combining radio sensors, AI-based image recognition and acoustic sensors. The Infrastructure & Operations prize went to team FOGORA with their Fog Disruption Copilot – a system that analyzes weather data to warn passengers about fog-related delays and offers alternatives for accommodation and transport. The Passenger Experience winner was team FII XR, who created an augmented reality indoor navigation app to help travelers find their way through the terminal.
It was great to see the energy and creativity of the teams, and to contribute as a judge to an event that connects the local tech community with real-world aviation challenges. Looking forward to the next edition!
