Sysco LABS powers SLIIT CODEFEST 2024: AI Sprint

Contestants competed in a shark tank style pitching contest at the finale

Sysco LABS recently partnered with the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) as the Platinum Sponsor of SLIIT CODEFEST 2024: AI Sprint. 

The event offered students a platform to demonstrate their artificial intelligence (AI) competencies and engage with complex, industry-relevant challenges. For the first time in the event’s history, Sysco LABS introduced an AI-theme to proceedings, requiring teams to resolve real-world problems within the trillion-dollar, global foodservice industry using AI. 

The finale event, held on the SLIIT university premises, brought together a total of almost 200 participants, who competed in teams of 10, with 19 teams out of 156 registered teams making it to the finals. Seven teams from the University of Moratuwa, five teams from the SLIIT, three teams from the University of Ruhuna, two teams from IIT, one team from the University of Colombo and one team from NSBM battled it out for the win in a hackathon-based setting mentored by the Sysco LABS experts. Sysco LABS Managing Director Rasika Karunatilake said, “The tech sector in Sri Lanka is emerging as a key source of foreign exchange and talent is at the heart of the industry’s push to be established as a global innovation hub. Our decision to focus on an AI-centred competition at the SLIIT CODEFEST event was based on the direction that technology is moving in, with the use of AI rapidly spreading across every domain.”

At the finale, after a shark tank themed pitching contest, adjudicated by a six-person panel of senior Sysco LABS experts, Team CTRL from NSBM won the first place, with Team Inception from the University of Ruhuna placing the second and Team AI Alchemists from IIT and Team Data Wizards from SLIIT sharing a joint third place.

Sysco LABS Director Engineering and Architecture Nishantha Hettiarachchi commented, “We are proud of the effort all the participants put into the competition. SLIIT CODEFEST 2024 AI Sprint powered by Sysco LABS was designed to provide contestants with the opportunity to not just learn about and utilise AI in developing solutions but also spend quality time with Sysco LABS technologists, who work day-to-day using AI to solve real-world problems in the trillion-dollar, global foodservice industry.”