Hack the Gap x BLACKBOX.AI | Pitch Finalists | Celebratory Cocktail | Paris Edition
Hack the Gap | Finals & Awards Ceremony
Come watch the best builders in Paris!
About Event
🏆 The Final Test: Did They Build Products People Want?
After three days of intensive building and user acquisition, teams present their solutions to our jury and compete for prizes.
Unlike traditional hackathons where the event ends with a demo, our teams spent the weekend building AND getting real users. They've worked on challenges documented by UNESCO and the Institute for Human Rights and Business - from ethical labor migration to social conflicts in renewable energy.
Now they prove their work matters: real traction, real users, real impact.
Join us for an evening of pitches, deliberation, and celebration as we discover which teams created products worth using.
⏱️ Schedule
6:45 PM - Doors open
7:15 PM - Opening remarks and meet our jury
7:30 PM - BLACKBOX presentation
7:40 PM - First pitch session
8:20 PM - Break / Interactive exercise
8:30 PM - Second pitch session
9:00 PM - Jury deliberation
9:30 PM - Awards ceremony and closing remarks from BLACKBOX
9:45 PM - Celebratory cocktail
🧠 Jury
Rob Rizk - CEO & Co-Founder, BLACKBOX AI
Richard Rizk - CTO & Co-Founder, BLACKBOX AI
Joffrey Thomas - Developer Relations Engineer, Mistral AI
Alexis Deprez - Team Lead, H Company
Nikolay Tchakarov - CTO & Co-Founder, Asteria
Maxime Arnulf - Founder & CEO, Pioneers
Capucine Marteau - Product Manager, Datadog | Lecturer, CentraleSupélec & ESSEC
Sonakshi Nathak - Director of Product, Blue Yonder | Co-founder, Just Build It
Carmen Pedraza - Communications & Regional Coordinator, Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB)
🏆 Awards
Four winning teams will be selected based on adoption, problem understanding, product craft, and technical execution.
The first 3 prizes will be decided by the jury tomorrow afternoon. The 4th prize will be an Audience Prize!
Prizes include:
💰 Cash prizes
🤝 Introductions to VCs and. NGOs
🎁 AI tool credits from our partners
👥 The Teams
Builders from Europe's leading institutions:
École Polytechnique
CentraleSupélec
ESSEC, ESCP
École 42
EPITECH
PSL
All working on real challenges in human rights, migration, and social impact.
📍 Event Details
Location: École 42 - NOC - BESS, Paris
Address: 89 Bd Bessières, 75017 Paris
Date: Wednesday, November 19th, 2025
Time: 6:45pm - 10:00pm
Format: In-person only
More Info: hackthegap.xyz
Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/hackthegap-event