The Open Data Institute (ODI) recently travelled to the Tec de Monterrey, Mexico City campus, to sponsor a hackathon and champion the adoption of Solid among a new community of developers focused on creating applications for social good in Mexico City. The hackathon was hosted by the DOT network, and the Young AI Leaders Community, Mexico City chapter.
A challenge rooted in real city problems
This hackathon presented a fitting first landing place for Solid in the region, as it brought special focus to the role of technology in addressing real societal problems for the city of Mexico. The event had direct support from Mexico City's Department for Digital Innovation (ADIP), which outlined four key areas of impact and open data sets to focus the team's efforts on using cutting-edge technology to address real problems. The outlined tracks were:
- Security - Teams were invited to consider how the city could offer AI tools to act preventively on citizens' behalf, giving them more confidence as they navigate digital and city spaces.
- Water systems - Teams were pointed towards the issue of urban flooding, and how the fragmentation of data around water systems makes floods hard to predict. This area was outlined as a key space for AI data aggregation and the use of digital twins to bolster city decision-making and urban resilience.
- Transportation - This topic focused on which new tools could be built to support students on their daily journey to and from campus. Teams were encouraged to consider not only how quickly students arrive, but how digital tools could facilitate safer and more sustainable multi-modal transportation for young people in Mexico City.
- Sustainability - This line of work was influenced by the 2026 World Cup, and invited hackers to consider the issue of waste management after mass events - using AI to structure waste flow optimised for environmental impact and in line with public policy.
Teams were randomly assigned one of these four problems and challenged to create applications that, if fully developed and deployed, would deliver real social good for the city of Mexico.
All four areas call for work at the intersection of public interest and personal data, making them ideal showcases for how Solid-based architectures allow for innovative applications while respecting individuals' control of their data.
The ODI at Tec de Monterrey
Two members of the ODI team flew to Mexico to bring Solid into the conversation and support the hackers. Matthieu Bosquet was there to give expert technical advice as the ODI’s head of technology, and Roberto S.K. Breitman helped teams understand Solid and how it might fit into their solutions.
They gave a keynote introducing Solid, its principles, and what it means for the web. To help participants move quickly from concept to code, the team also provided three resources created as part of the ODI’s stewardship of Solid, designed to lower the barrier to entry:
- A tutorial application, purpose-built to teach participants how to code with Solid in a hands-on, practical way.
- A recorded walkthrough of this application’s codebase and principles, allowing teams to revisit the fundamentals at their own pace throughout the hackathon.
- A set of AI skills designed to facilitate "vibe-coding" with Solid, helping participants build with the standard quickly and intuitively with the support of AI coding tools.
The combination of these Solid-specific resources and broader coding tools given to the hackers by IBM gave teams a powerful environment in which to develop their ideas, and underlined the growing intersection between personal data control and AI-assisted development.
Recognising the finalists
The standard of work produced during the hackathon was impressive, and the strongest project in each focus track was selected to give a final pitch to the judging panel.
The first-place winners built a standout application on water management, and earned support from both IBM and ADIP to develop their application, giving them the resources and backing to take their proof of concept beyond the hackathon and towards a solution that could benefit the city.
The second-placed finishers, working on digital security for university students, were awarded a voucher to participate in the ODI's data ethics professional course, giving them the opportunity to deepen their understanding of responsible data practice and build on the foundations laid during the event.
In addition, all four finalist teams were invited to a two-hour online workshop with ODI experts to explore how they might integrate Solid into their solutions. These conversations will help the teams to think through the practical steps involved in adopting the standard, and to consider how Solid could strengthen their applications as they develop them further.
Looking ahead
The hackathon was an encouraging demonstration of the appetite that exists for Solid among students and developers around the world. As the ODI continues to support events of this kind, it looks forward to welcoming more newcomers into the Solid community and to seeing the applications they go on to build.
