For the first time, the international livestock trade show SPACE (16–18 September 2025) will host an artificial intelligence hackathon focused 100% on the agri-livestock sector. The objective: for companies within the agricultural ecosystem to leave the event with a functional prototype (POC) developed in two days by mixed teams of technical specialists and field professionals.
What is an AI hackathon and what does it aim to achieve?
An AI hackathon is an exercise in collective intelligence (both human and artificial): data scientists, developers and agri-food professionals work together to turn real-world problems into AI-based solutions. In 48 hours, a POC is designed and validated with the support of experts and open databases. Topics range from precision livestock farming and animal welfare to health monitoring (early disease detection), administrative simplification, decision support, financing and subsidies, commercial value creation and environmental management.
For the poultry sector, this translates into very concrete examples: intelligent flock monitoring (cameras/sound for detecting lameness or heat stress), early warnings of respiratory issues, automation of treatment records and antibiotic registers, carbon footprint calculation by house, and return-on-investment simulators for sensing and ventilation upgrades.
Who can participate and what does it cost?
- Companies (from the agri-livestock sector or others): they bring their challenge and work with a technical team to obtain a bespoke POC. The registration fee is €4,500 + VAT and includes mentoring, prototype development, visibility at the show and up to three passes for SPACE. Registration deadline: 31 July 2025.
- Developers and AI or agriculture specialists (including students): free registration to join teams and accelerate real-world projects.
Schedule and format
The hackathon kicks off at SPACE on 17 September 2025 at 09:30 and concludes with the public presentation of prototypes on 18 September (16:00, Espace Jeunes). The SPACE show takes place from 16 to 18 September at the Parc-Expo in Rennes.
Tools and data
Teams will have access to a wide range of platforms and models (Mistral, Anthropic, OpenAI, Hugging Face, Poe, Perplexity and other open-source tools), as well as datasets provided according to theme (e.g. climate data).
Intellectual property: open source and real technology transfer
A key point for CEOs and innovation managers: all developments must be based on open-source technology (MIT licence) and are published under that same licence. Participants are co-authors and partner companies receive full access to the code and deliverables to continue the project after SPACE. There are no rankings or prizes; the focus is on practical value and post-event continuity.
Reference cases
To illustrate the type of results achieved, AGREEN DÉFI highlights solutions from previous editions:
- PEARL: a symptom-based pre-diagnosis app designed to help address the shortage of veterinarians.
- Bovine performance prediction: a portal that, upon entering the animal’s ID, predicts adult weight, quality and price, and even estimated offspring performance.
- ROBOTDETECT: a techno-economic simulator for evaluating epidemio-surveillance robots versus manual operations.
Why this matters for the poultry industry
- Health and biosecurity: early detection (vision/sound) of respiratory problems, enteritis or heat stress; prioritisation of flocks for veterinary visits.
- Productivity and welfare: algorithms for fine-tuning ventilation, lighting and stocking density, with a direct impact on FCR and mortality.
- Regulatory compliance and traceability: automating treatment records, antibiotic registers and audits.
- Sustainability: rapid calculation of carbon footprint per kg of carcass/egg and mitigation simulators (energy, litter, management).
- Commercialisation: transparency tools (flocks, origin, welfare attributes) for retail and industry.
How to register
Companies register as a “partner” (limited places available) and developers register free of charge; the organising team confirms teams and challenges prior to the event. Details, rules and contact information are available on the official SPACE website and in the hackathon regulations.
Note: SPACE 2025 brings together all farm species, including poultry, making Rennes the leading European meeting point in mid-September. If you are considering an AI pilot on-farm, this format compresses months of R&D into a 48-hour sprint with full code and team transfer.
For more information:
-. Worldwide POULTRY EVENTS calendar (updated weekly by NeXusAvicultura)
-. Contact: Stéphanie PILLET – s.pillet@space.fr
-. AGREEN DEFI: Le premier Hackathon IA du SPACE