Interview with Anton Björkman: Behind the scenes of Sweden’s largest AI Hackathon .

On June 3rd, Epical will participate in the Google Cloud AI Hackathon 2025, held at the Technical Museum in Stockholm. As Sweden’s largest AI-focused hackathon, the event brings together innovators from across the country to solve real-world challenges using AI.

We caught up with Anton Björkman, one of our key team members, to hear more about the event, the challenge his team is taking on, and what he's most looking forward to.

Hi Anton! First off, can you tell us a bit about the Google Cloud AI Hackathon and what it means to be part of it?

It means that Epical will be part of Sweden’s largest AI hackathon, the Google Cloud Sweden Region Launch 2025. Our team, trust-makers, will compete in the Production Planning track, where we’ll tackle real challenges in the manufacturing sector.

Your team is taking on the “Revolutionize Production Planning” track presented by Atlas Copco. What drew you to this particular challenge?

It’s a real-world, high-impact challenge where AI and optimization can truly make a difference. We’re addressing a critical aspect of production, keeping everything running smoothly.

Without giving away too much, can you share a glimpse into the kind of solution your team is working on?

We’re building an AI-powered troubleshooting tool that helps technicians solve problems faster by capturing real-world problem descriptions from alarms, errors, and symptoms. These issues are then linked to verified solutions sourced from internal documentation or previously resolved cases.

What are you personally most looking forward to during the hackathon, technically, professionally, or just the atmosphere?

I’m looking forward to exploring Google’s latest AI technology and building something meaningful together as a team. There’s also a special energy at hackathons that is just hard to beat!

Hackathons are intense and collaborative. How is your team preparing ahead of the event?

We’re finalizing our tech stack and project structure, prepping our presentation materials, and making sure we’re ready to hit the ground running when the event starts.

Why do you think it’s important for companies like ours to participate in events like this?

It’s a great way to experiment with new ideas, learn new technologies, and get inspired. Hackathons also open new opportunities, including innovation, collaboration, and connecting with others in the industry.

Any advice for someone considering joining an AI hackathon for the first time?

Scope it down! Focus on making the core features work really well. Don’t waste time on unnecessary extras. Also, divide roles clearly — maybe someone’s great at design, another at backend logic. A successful hackathon needs different perspectives!

When the dust settles, what would a successful hackathon look like for you?

A working MVP and a demo of the application. And of course, learning new tools and technologies, and enjoying the process of building something cool with my team!

Best of luck to Anton and the trust-makers team at the hackathon! We’re excited to follow your journey and can’t wait to see the end result.

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