Help a local economy officer find, verify and apply the information they need to answer an entrepreneur's question.

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Before you build: Read the officer context and worked example in Examples & Technical Guidance. They explain the problem and show possible approaches. Implementation examples are optional; the three success criteria below remain the basis for judging.

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Choose your own municipality or region inside the Province of Antwerp. You are free to choose your own data sources and tools. The starter materials are optional examples, and RAG is one possible approach.

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Three success criteria ✅

1. Accurate source-backed answers — answer clearly in Dutch with exact supporting passages and clickable source links, use applicable sources, and acknowledge gaps and uncertainty.
2. Officer-controlled workflow — help the officer inspect evidence, correct findings and decide what to communicate in a simple interface. Editable reply drafts are one possible output; keep human approval and no automatic sending.
3. Maintainable, traceable knowledge — let officers update sources without technical help, keep answer and source history traceable, and make the approach reusable.

The jury judges this challenge on the three success criteria above. See Submission & Practical FAQ for submission details.

The problem

Officers answer questions about opening businesses, permits and local rules by searching documents, websites and old emails. The information is spread across sources and can be hard to find when a colleague is away. They need answers they can check and explain. Interviews with local economy officers highlighted concern about AI-generated errors and the effort of checking sources. Officers will be available as mentors and are also represented on the jury; bring focused questions to check whether your workflow helps them verify and use the information.

What to build

Build a back-office assistant for local economy officers. Help them answer questions in plain Dutch by showing relevant findings, exact supporting passages and clickable source links. Make uncertainty and source applicability visible so the officer can check the answer easily. An editable reply draft is one possible output; the officer controls what is communicated. Let the officer control the knowledge sources, and demonstrate how someone can inspect an answer, correct it and reuse the approach elsewhere.

One optional example

“Ik wil een vaste standplaats op de markt in Schoten. Hoe dien ik een aanvraag in?”

The optional starter material includes market regulations for this example. Choose another question or a location inside the Province of Antwerp if it better fits your idea; check the applicability of whichever sources you use.

Examples and starter materials

Find optional datasets, document dates and known limitations in Starter Files & Source Guide. The detailed examples and technical ideas below offer possible starting points, not extra success criteria.

Examples & Technical Guidance

Submit

Upload one 3-minute pitch video in Dutch or English to YouTube, then submit its publicly accessible YouTube link via Google Form by 16:30 Europe/Brussels on 16 September 2026. Judges must be able to watch without signing in or requesting access. Late submissions are not accepted. Explain your officer workflow, how you built it and its limits. A working demo is an optional bonus.