The QNX office in Hyderabad is incredibly open and inspiring, making it the perfect setting to host the teams for the weekend. The participants had direct access to multiple QNX experts and employee engineers, which was invaluable for their project development. In the three months leading up to the Grand Finale, students spent their time in QNX workshops, effectively going from QNX tinkerers to prototype creators in a matter of weeks.

All of the teams were working with a Raspberry Pi 5 with QNX 8. Some of them integrated motors and servos, while others integrated sensors. Some also did remote communication with microcontrollers to create a multi-zonal architecture for their projects. The top teams present in the finale earned their spot by winning regional and school-based hackathons over the spring.

With about ten teams of three students—and yes, temperatures outside reaching a sizzling thirty-eight to forty degrees Celsius—the innovative ideas were heating up inside right along with the weather, making it an incredibly memorable weekend. Seeing the final products was a tough choice, as everything was excellent, but we ultimately selected a winner and runners-up for the cash prizes.

As the first time we’ve hosted a QNX hackathon with participants trained specifically in QNX, this event showed us what is possible in one weekend if you have some QNX experience. We’re used to hackathon projects made by students who were first introduced to QNX concepts that very weekend, so it was a positive surprise to see how much more scope and depth these projects brought to the table.

This event was part of the global QNX Everywhere initiative, which is seeing great success around the world, particularly with the initiatives underway in India. Congratulations to all the hard-working teams, employees, and mentors who made this event a huge success!