UN hackathon winners on finding purpose through AI

The student team behind Beacon says hackathons became a way to solve humanitarian challenges, not just build résumés.

Team Valor 2.0 / Handout

The student developers behind Beacon, the AI-powered disaster response platform that claimed top honours at UN Tech Over 2026 during UN Open Source Week, did not set out to build award-winning technology.

Instead, they were driven by a simple idea: use artificial intelligence to solve problems that matter.

Also Read: Why Reena Gupta wants to rebuild civic engagement

For Akhil Mattaparthi and Aidan Yap, AI has never been about chasing the next industry trend or securing prestigious jobs.

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Comments

B

B.surya

2026-07-31 00:00:00

Congratulations... Akhil
BP

B.s. prakash

2026-08-01 00:00:00

Congratulations. Akhil
D

Devie

2026-08-01 00:00:00

Congrats Akhil
D

Devie

2026-08-01 00:00:00

Congrats Akhil
BNM

Bhagavan narayana mattaparthi

2026-08-01 00:00:00

Congratulations my dear son akhil
VM

Vishnu M

2026-08-01 00:00:00

Congratulations
2026-08-03 00:00:00

Congratulations Akhil
2026-08-03 00:00:00

Congratulations Akhil
KSRAM

K S R A MURTHY

2026-08-03 00:00:00

Congratulations Akhil
MNVSS

M N V SATYA SRINIVAS

2026-08-04 00:00:00

Congratulations Akil Mattapathi
SS

Satya Srinivas

2026-08-04 00:00:00

Congrats Akhil Mattapathi
HL

Hema latha

2026-08-04 00:00:00

Congrats Akhil Mattapathi
A

Aditya

2026-08-04 00:00:00

Congrats Akhil Mattapathi
V

Vaishnavi

2026-08-04 00:00:00

Congrats Akhil Mattapathi