Hackathon promotes financial literacy and skills of the future

If you had a few days to brainstorm solutions to our country’s retirement savings crisis, what would you focus on, and how would you leverage the power of generative AI in your solution?

That was the challenge facing students at Arizona State University (ASU) during the recent Fintech Collab Hackathon developed in collaboration with TIAA Client Tech Labs and the AZNext Digital Workforce Apprenticeship Partnership (DWAP). The two-day event challenged participants to create solutions promoting financial literacy, while providing them with an opportunity to develop new skills essential for a modern workforce.

The TIAA Client Tech Labs cloud platform and APIs (application programming interfaces) were the foundation of the hackathon, providing participants with a technological blank canvas to express their creativity. All hackers were onboarded to the Client Tech Labs AWS platform and received an overview of the power of generative AI before the start of the hack. They also received training in AWS cloud computing and Google's generative AI tools.

On day one of the hackathon, 38 finalist hackers came together in teams to develop comprehensive, engaging and interactive solutions to engage users on the essentials of retirement savings.

After an intense 48 hours of hacking, teams gathered on Nov. 5 before a panel of distinguished judges that included John Almasan, Raghu Santanam, Mina Johnson and Amanda Federico for a lightning round of team presentations and demos.

“I was impressed with the innovation the students from ASU brought to the hackathon and Client Tech Labs looks forward to seeing their ideas come to fruition.” John Almasan, Head of Client Tech Labs and AI Center of Excellence at TIAA.

Team NKPS — which is made up on the first initial for each of the four students — were awarded the top prize for their solution, Investify. The dynamic avatar-based app transforms retirement saving into a rewarding financial journey that builds the habit of making small investments over time. Congrats to ASU students Nikhil M. Kasyap R., Pranav N. and Sameer B. for their innovative idea.

They won a fully funded summer internship to make gamified apps for education with TIAA and housing in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Collaboration help drive impact at scale

In addition to TIAA and ASU Enterprise Technology, the hackathon was supported by ASU's W. P. Carey School of Business and AZNext.