Each semester, student teams compete to build AI-enabled solutions to real business challenges — in a single day, with industry partners as judges.
The Build Sprint explores how artificial intelligence can support the development of products and services — apps, tools, and systems — by rapidly generating code. As AI increasingly handles technical implementation, the event emphasizes strong business ideas, creative design, and compelling use cases that create real value for organizations and society.
Teams are given a real-world business challenge in the morning, spend the day building with AI-enabled tools, and pitch their working prototype to industry judges in the afternoon.
Company partners submit a real business challenge and send representatives to serve as judges. Here's what we ask:
The best challenges are specific enough to guide teams but open enough for creative solutions. They include a real business context, a clear problem statement, and an indication of what success looks like.
A retail bank receives thousands of customer inquiries through its chatbot about various issues, but the chatbot does not always correctly understand customer requests or generate insights about emerging customer needs. Design an AI-enabled system that improves how the chatbot interprets and responds to customer queries while generating useful insights for the bank.
Both undergraduate and graduate students from across all disciplines are welcome. No prior Build Sprint or coding experience required.
With AI handling much of the code generation, the competitive edge is a sharp business idea and creative problem-solving — not programming ability.
Teams use AI-enabled development tools (Lovable, Cursor, v0, and others) to rapidly prototype working products in a single day.
Teams present to judges from real companies who evaluate your business case, working demo, and value creation potential.
We're forming the organizing team for the Build Sprint. No prior experience required — enthusiasm, curiosity, and willingness to contribute are what matter most. Help us plan and run the event from start to finish.