Maksymilian Krawczak, a first-year Management student at Kozminski University, together with the Viadrus AI team, won the European final of the 11th CASSINI Hackathon – Space for Water. It is the first victory of a team representing Poland in the European final of this prestigious hackathon.
The Viadrus AI team first won the Polish edition of the CASSINI Hackathon and then presented its project during the European Demo Day and Awards Ceremony. The final brought together winners of local editions from 10 European locations. The project representing Poland received the highest score from the international jury and took 1st place in Europe.
This year’s 11th edition of the CASSINI Hackathon was held under the theme “Space for Water” and focused on the use of space data and technologies to protect, monitor, and better manage water resources. Participants worked with data from the Copernicus, Galileo and EGNOS programmes, looking for solutions to challenges related to water access, pollution, droughts, floods, and infrastructure security.
The winning Viadrus AI project is an early warning tool for leaks and failures in water supply networks. The solution uses satellite data to identify signals that may indicate potential infrastructure damage before it becomes visible on the surface. This enables water network operators to respond faster, reduce water losses, lower repair costs and shift from reactive failure management to predictive action.
Maksymilian Krawczak served as Business Analyst in the team, responsible for translating the technological idea into user and business value. The Viadrus AI team also included specialists in data engineering, artificial intelligence, machine learning, geovisualization, front-end development, hydrology, and product development.
Viadrus AI’s European victory is an important success not only for the team, but also for the Polish in novation ecosystem. It shows that projects developed by young creators, technology experts and students can compete at the highest European level while addressing environmental and infrastructure challenges.
Maksymilian Krawczak’s success also demonstrates the importance of combining technological, business, and social competences. It is at the intersection of these areas that solutions with implementation potential are created — solutions that can genuinely support cities, institutions, and critical infrastructure operators.
The victory in the European final of the CASSINI Hackathon is also an example of how students of Kozminski University can bring to interdisciplinary teams the competences needed in projects with high technological and social potential – from business analysis and strategic thinking to understanding the value that innovation should deliver to users and the wider environment.
