Presenting the First of Many MEA Hackathons
MEA Hackathon powered by MEA Innovation Portal, TCS Pace Port™ Amsterdam, and AWS
- Overview Press tab for submenu items
TCS is here to make a difference through technology.
Leading the way in innovation for over 55 years, we build greater futures for businesses across multiple industries and 55 countries.
-
Industries
-
Services
-
Products and Platforms
- Overview Press tab for submenu items
We deliver excellence and create value for customers and communities.
Our expert, committed team put our shared values into action – every day. With the best talent and the latest technology we help customers turn complexity into opportunities and create meaningful change.
-
About Us
-
Research & Innovation
-
Our Brand
- Overview Press tab for submenu items
Extraordinary expertise leads to remarkable results.
We share news, insights, analysis and research – tailored to your unique interests – to help you deepen your knowledge and impact.
-
Customer Stories
-
Perspectives
-
Global studies
-
Topics
- Overview Press tab for submenu items
Want to be a global change-maker? Join our team.
At TCS, we believe exceptional work begins with hiring, celebrating and nurturing the best people — from all walks of life.
-
India
-
Americas
-
Asia Pacific
-
Europe and UK
-
Middle East and Africa
Overview
India
expand here
Americas
expand here
Asia Pacific
expand here
Europe and UK
expand here
Middle East and Africa
expand here
- Overview Press tab for submenu items
Find the latest news about TCS in our Newsroom
Get access to a catalog of the latest news stories from across TCS. Discover our press releases, reports, and company announcements.
-
Press releases
-
News alerts
-
Analyst recognition
Recent recognitions
View all -
Events
Upcoming events
16 Jun 2025 TCS at International Paris Air Show 2025View all11 Jun 2025 TCS at UK’s Future of Utilities Summit 2025 -
Media kit
- Overview Press tab for submenu items
TCS works hand in hand with world-leading investors.
Tata Consultancy Services LimitedNSE:TCSINR -
Management Commentary
-
Financials
-
News and Events
-
ESG
-
Resources
Overview
Management Commentary
expand here
Financials
expand here
News and Events
expand here
ESG
expand here
Resources
expand here
Top Results
Showing
10
01 - 07
-
FEATURED STORY
You have these already downloaded
We have sent you a copy of the report to your email again.
In December 2020, TCS’ Middle East and Africa geography saw the launch of its first hackathon. It focused on Middle Eastern countries with a challenge to build an Arabic Conversational System leveraging TCS Knadia (TCS Chatbot) and Votek – an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system, and a TCS COIN™ partner. Over 67 associates from product, development, R&D, and the enterprise joined forces, forming 24 teams with the challenge of building and creating an innovative product to provide hands-on experience with TCS IP and COIN partner assets.
Setting It Up
Multiple units from the TCS ecosystem came together to integrate and build this entire process in order that participants could register, and juries could evaluate seamlessly. TCS iON™ was integrated with AWS to support the participants in coding and developing the conversational system.
TCS Pace Port™ Amsterdam and the TCS AWS business unit played key roles in making available infrastructure for the hackathon. Furthermore, all the necessary open-source software and IP assets required for development were made available with APIs in the MEA innovation portal. Each participant worked and collaborated via a virtual machine.
The Days of the Contest
The five-day hackathon brought together a diverse group of people of varied nationalities from across TCS, with 35% of these being women. The participants had to build a conversation system over the first four days and submit it to the jury on the final day.
Long hours were spent designing the front-end UI, integrating the chatbot and ASR, training the bot in two languages (English and Arabic), creating the capability for it to accept requests in two formats (text and voice), and customizing the software for the use case chosen.
The jury, comprising two panels from TCS worldwide, assessed the solutions produced in two streams on the fifth day and selected teams advanced to the final evaluation stage, where finalists and winners were chosen.
Enriching Takeaway
What the participants gained via the exercise was a unique experience to build and deliver in a competitive and time-bound environment, assets and use cases specific to the MEA region. Following the hackathon, participants delivered two live customer proofs of concept.
“Apart from promoting collaborative problem solving and skill-building, hackathons have become an important aspect of product development. I was happy to see associates thoroughly enjoying themselves in understanding our IP and COIN assets and working with them creatively. A good initiative launched by MEA in collaboration with Pace Port Amsterdam. I hope we can replicate this across regions,” TCS CTO K Ananth Krishnan said, acknowledging the success of the event.
Click for more on TCS Innovation
What’s on your mind?
We’re here to help! Tell us what you’re looking for and we’ll get you connected to the right people.
Looking for something else?