ENT AI Hackathon: From innovative ideas to business solutions

More than 80 participants, 17 teams and many innovative AI projects have marked ENT AI Hackathon 2026, the closing ceremony of which was held in Ericsson Nikola Tesla’s headquarters in Zagreb. During Hackathon, the participants explored the possibilities of artificial intelligence, developed new concepts and created prototypes with potential application in real business scenarios.

This year’s edition was special, as it was built on ENT Innovation Challenge, which generated ideas that the teams further developed during the competition. This further strengthened the connection between innovations, technology and concrete business needs, with the aim to design projects that can bring real value to the company and end-users.

Siniša Krajnović, President of ENT’s Management Board addressed the participants of the closing ceremony, highlighting the importance of artificial intelligence and the development of new competencies for the company’s future. He highlighted that hackathon is not only an opportunity to develop new ideas and prototypes, but also an important contribution to creating a culture of collaboration, experimenting and continuous learning, as well as developing competencies which are necessary for future technological step forward.

During intense work, the teams developed AI projects by using various tools and platforms, with the focus on innovation, business application and creation of concrete value. Within a short time frame, series of creative and quality projects were created, based on knowledge, cooperation and dedication of all participants.

Prior to the final round, five top projects were selected by experienced experts from the company’s various organizational units. Technical jury consisting of Dario Primorac, Mladen Vasarević, Igor Cipar, Andrea Budin, Katarina Bošnjak, Hrvoje Hadžić, Ivan Lujo, Višnja Šimunović Bašić and Hrvoje Kolarić, selected the most prominent projects according to the criteria of functionalities of the developed solutions, technical complexity and the level of innovation and creativity.

The winners of the competition were selected by an expert jury consisting of: Siniša Krajnović, President of the Management Board, Drago Holub, Director of R&D, Jelena Jurišić, the Group’s Chief Technology Officer, Damir Bušić, Director of Finance and Business Operations, Antonia Kujundžić Velimirović, Director of IT&Security, and Hrvoje Benčić, Director of Customer Solutions and Services. When selecting the winner, the expert jury evaluated the presentation, business value and efficiency in presenting the project.

The winner of ENT AI Hackathona 2026 was the team Teranino with the project ComplianceOS, developed by Mislav Hager and Adrian Lokner Lađević. This is a project focused on compliance process automation and intelligent support in AI regulation.

Second place was awarded to the team Free WIFI with the project XR4R Vision, developed by Josip Miloš, Luka Žmak, Ena Maria Maruševec and Filip Posavec.
The team Refactonauts secured the 3rd place with the project CodeRewrite, developed by Darko Blagojević, Bojan Surma, Luka Omrčen and Ivan Smiljanić.

This year’s ENT AI Hackathon once again confirmed the level of knowledge, creativity and innovative potential the company has, and showed that artificial intelligence is not only a technology of the future, but also a tool that can already bring concrete and useful changes to business.