Responsible AI IGNITION Startup Hackathon Wraps with Bold AI Solutions
A social impact-focused initiative, Responsible AI UK (RAI UK) organised the IGNITION Startup Hackathon, a three-week online sprint of creativity, problem-solving, and collaborative innovation with a dynamic final live pitch on 12 June 2025 at IDEALondon.
Delivered in partnership with the UCL Centre for Digital Innovation (CDI) and Future Worlds, the hackathon drew 135 participants from across the UK and beyond. Following a highly competitive round of ideation, eight standout teams were selected to pitch their ideas live to a distinguished panel of judges: Graça Carvalho, Director of UCL CDI; Prof Ben Clark, Director of Future Worlds; Emily Campbell-Ratcliffe, Head of AI Assurance at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; Prof Sana Khareghani, AI Policy Lead at Responsible AI UK and Professor of Practice at King’s College London; Prof Henry Tse, Global Head of Products and Services at BAE Systems Digital Intelligence; Prof Gopal Ramchurn, CEO of Responsible AI UK and Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Southampton; Dr Alice Iles, Head of Tech Acceleration at Future Worlds; and Kumi Thiruchelvam, Chief Commercial Officer at My Voice AI and investor at the Lankan Angel Network.
Prof Gopal Ramchurn said, “The AI Innovation IGNITION Hackathon is more than a competition, it’s a launchpad for purpose-driven innovation. Our goal is to empower researchers and aspiring entrepreneurs to build AI ventures that tackle real-world societal challenges.”
The winning teams of the hackathon are:
- First Place: Epiblink – Emily Barker, Ali Shakiba, William Hughes for their AI-powered solution to manage photosensitive epilepsy.
- Second Place: Zig Zag Technology: Narrative Intelligence – Stephen Anning, Marie Thirlwall, Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone, James Luke, Rich Gwilliam, Cate Gwilliam, using NLP to analyse narratives of harm.
- Third Place: BatteryGuard AI – Benyamin Ebrahimpour for developing predictive AI to improve the safety of second-life lithium-ion batteries.
- Best Presentation: Fairdoc AI – Tamoghna Das and Yalini Sadasivam for their solution to democratise healthcare access through responsible AI.
Emily Campbell-Ratcliffe said, “It was a real pleasure to be a judge at the IGNITION startup hackathon and get to see some incredible ideas from the next generation of start-up founders and leaders. I hope all of the teams continue to nurture their promising ideas and think creatively about how to bring them to life. Well done to RAI for unearthing some future gems.”
Prof Henry Tse said, “It was inspiring to witness the innovative and purpose-driven AI solutions developed at the IGNITION Start-up Hackathon. I strongly believe that collaboration through initiatives like this are key to nurturing AI innovation for the future. Our involvement, from mentorship to judging, reflects BAE Systems Digital Intelligence’s deep commitment to fostering the responsible development of AI solutions. It was a privilege to see so many promising ideas at the hackathon, each poised to make a real-world difference.”
We thank our judging panel for their insights were key to recognising and encouraging responsible AI excellence. We also appreciate the support of our sponsors, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and BAE Systems, for their contributions to the prize and mentorship.
All eight finalist teams will now join a post-hackathon accelerator to further shape their ideas into scalable, socially impactful ventures. The IGNITION Hackathon is a powerful reminder of what’s possible when bold ideas meet ethical ambition. Stay tuned for what comes next!
About RAi UK
With a £35 million UKRI investment, RAi UK is a program dedicated to delivering interdisciplinary research and fostering an international ecosystem for Responsible AI research and innovation. Through extensive consultations across the UK, RAi UK has identified emerging challenges in responsible AI and has deployed over £17 million into projects aimed at accelerating the adoption of responsible AI practices and technologies. RAi UK brings research-based expertise that is connective, adaptive, and world-leading through field-building, and engagement with communities, publics, industries, and governments. RAi UK is led from the University of Southampton and backed by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), through the UKRI Technology Missions Fund and EPSRC. For more information or to get involved, please visit rai.ac.uk.
Contact:
Kavita Mittal
K.Mittal@soton.ac.uk