A student team from the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology at King Abdulaziz University has won first place at the Saudi OpenSource Hackathon 2025, organized by the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) in collaboration with the Digital Government Authority (DGA). The team’s winning project, titled “Sahabi”, was showcased at the Riyadh Digital Technical College for Girls, under the supervision of the Digital Transformation Department.

“Sahabi” is an AI-powered tool designed to optimize and streamline the migration of government applications to the cloud. The tool analyzes source code using machine learning techniques to recommend the most suitable migration strategy based on the 6 R’s model, while ensuring compliance with national regulations issued by the Digital Government Authority (DGA) and National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA).

The tool also features an intelligent chatbot that allows government employees to interact with it, ask questions, and gain a simplified understanding of their application’s status, associated risks, and recommended migration paths. Additionally, a visually organized dashboard provides comprehensive analysis of code readiness and risk levels, accelerating decision-making, reducing costs and risks, and contributing to the development of national capabilities in open source AI solutions.

The winning team includes students Noura Ali Al-Qahtani, Aisha Hadi Al-Ajmi, Najoud Ahmad Al-Jugathmi, and Ma’ther Mu’id Al-Razqi, under the supervision of Dr. Hind bint Suleiman Al-Kushi.

The Saudi OpenSource Hackathon 2025 is the first of its kind focused on the development of open source government solutions. The three-day competition featured two tracks: developing alternative open source products and creating open source tools for government use, following a four-day virtual training bootcamp.