L-R: The Europ Assistance and BMW Motorrad winners
The AI Accelerator for Business programme started in October 2025 with a masterclass followed by intensive lab sessions over 6 months; concluding with opportunities for teams to work on real-world challenges for global brands: BMW Motorrad and Europ Assistance. The teams, which included postgraduate and undergraduate students from Kent Business School and the School of Computing, showcased their presentations during the last week of February.
Announcing the winners, Professor Thomas Hirschmann, lecturer in Innovation and AI at Kent Business School and CEO of Behavioural Economy, commented:
“I want to extend a special THANK YOU to everyone who joined us on this high-energy learning journey. Well done, everyone. You went above and beyond. And tested yourself and your skills in a completely new area; the future of work, working alongside and together with AI. And in AI innovation – an area in which even the big corporates fail most of the time! I am very impressed and very proud of each and every one of you.
“Both BMW Motorrad and Europ Assistance have shared their feedback with me – highlighting the professionalism and high level of expertise applied to the solutions. They are looking forward to discussing the applications with the teams when they visit their offices.”
The BMW Motorrad winners
BMW Motorrad has announced that Team AI UX won for their AI solution which they will present to their technical teams at their Munich Headquarters in April. The team comprises Felix Akomeah Sintim, Mosa Moatshe, George Ratcliffe, Julia-Eunice Bancu, and Juman Mardini.
“Everyone in the group was extremely excited to start, and we had the perfect balance of technical students (computing) and non-technical (business). We had so much support from Thomas and Rebecca and the hackathons during the weekends made progress happen quicker than expected. The challenge helped us experience how businesses work in real life; from presentations to problem-solving in a team, and also how much our knowledge of AI tools has improved and will help us in our careers.” Julia-Eunice Bancu
Highly commended runner-up :
BMW Motorrad also congratulated the Team BetterBike for their unique and impressive AI solution. The team comprises Sasha Sokolovych Ganhao, Anh Thi Hue Tran, Mohammad Ziyadah, Mashael Thinat, and Kabir Ghai.
“I want to express my heartfelt thanks for all your hard work and dedication throughout the AI for Business programme. The experiences and knowledge I gained from this journey are far more valuable than any award. It has given me fresh perspectives on how AI can be applied in business practice, and it has helped me shape my own understanding of how technology and strategy can interact in real-world settings. I’m certain these lessons will be very useful for my research and future career. Thank you once again for your effort, energy, and inspiration.” Anh Tran
The Europ Assistance winners
Team Proactive Orchestrator won for their AI solution which they will present at Europ Assistance’s headquarters in Brussels in April. The team comprises: John Crook, Clarissa Jaiswal, Adesua Odidison, and Shawn Agaba.
“The KBS AI accelerator programme was an invaluable experience, not only did it strengthen my AI skills but it also deepened my commercial awareness in a practical business context. It is a real honour for our team to be selected to present the Proactive Orchestrator solution at Europ Assistance in Brussels. We’re very grateful to KBS for organising such a valuable experience. The programme has been incredibly rewarding, both in exploring practical applications of AI and in developing our solution as a team.” Shawn Agaba
Future-focused learning
Due to the innovative and commercial nature of the team’s work, we can’t reveal details of individual projects. The students, however, rose to the commercial challenge and exceeded client expectations; creating solutions that would improve operational processes, create labour and time-savings and enhance user experience.
The teams utilised many different AI and related tools including: OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, ClaudeCode, Anthropic SDK, Claude API, Google Gemini, Consensus AI, Perplexity, Replit, TIMM (PyTorch) Pillow, and Python.
They also developed their collaboration, prioritisation, time management, communication, and presentation skills; which will serve them well in their future studies and careers.
The teams were all enthusiastic about what they had learned over the programme. Guest speakers Barney Worfolk-Smith, co-founder and CGO, DAIVID, and Frieda Yonzan, Regional Enablement Leader, EMEA, Databricks, brought real world intelligence and expertise. And access to top-line AI tools such as Databrick’s own learning portal.
Impressive results
The Dean of Kent Business School, Vicky Knight, who delivered the initial Masterclass with Professor Hirschmann, attended many of the sessions and was impressed with the comprehensive nature of the programme and the student’s AI solutions:
“Seeing their final presentations was exciting. The students have developed innovative product solutions from client briefs to a highly professional standard. These are the sort of tools you see on leading global brand digital channels. The practical, hands-on approach has had a lasting impact, equipping them with the skills and experience to shape their future careers beyond the University of Kent.”