VAM! Build Your AI Idea in Six Weeks
Program Overview
Join Vancouver AI Space (Season 2)
A 6-week online program (with optional in-person sessions) hosted by Vancouver AI Meetup (VAM!) featuring:
Runs from Feb 22nd to April 4, 2025
Guidance to bring your AI idea to life
Support from a passionate community
$500 prize pool for the top 3 demos
$25 prizes for weekly challenges
What You'll Get to Learn
🤖 Agentic LLMs
🔍 Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
⚡ Prompt Engineering
🛠️ Full Stack Implemenation of an AI App
Program Highlights
Work at your own pace online with a team
Learn from research and industry experts
Connect with new people in the field
No mandatory in-person attendance required
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How does it work?
🚀 AI Idea & Team Formation:
💡In the first week, be prepared to propose or join an existing project that you are excited about.
🎯 See Example Projects:
AI Essay Grader: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9I7SuuPctk
Fake News Detector: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG24uUtCHR4
Blend your moments into captivating reels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1N5obByhB8
💬 Communication:
Get access to a Discord community for regular teachings, personalized feedback, and support from facilitators and the community when you apply.
📅 Agenda:
Program runs from Feb 22nd to April 4th, 2025
🎯 Orientation Day
Feb 22nd, 1:00-3:30pm (PST)
Available both online and in-person at Northeastern University 410 W Georgia St #1400 Vancouver
🎉 Demo Day
April 4th, Friday, 5:30-8:00pm (PST)
Available both online and in-person at Northeastern University 410 W Georgia St #1400 Vancouver
Each week includes (all optional)
📚 Online lectures
Mondays & Wednesdays, 5:30-6:30pm (PST)
Join either one, if you can't, the session will be recorded
🎯 Online office hours
Saturdays, 11:00-12:15pm (PST)
To get support with anything that is needed
👥 Online (and in-person) co-working spaces
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 5:30-8:00pm (PST)
For people to work together and network
🎉 In-person social events
Saturdays, 5:30pm-8:00pm(PST)
⏰ Deadlines:
✅ Weekly assignments due Sunday midnight
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Who's this For?
👥 Developers, entrepreneurs, or students passionate about building an AI-driven project.
📅 Flexible schedule: Works well for those with full-time jobs or full time studies
Work at your own pace, online, during nights and weekends.
🧠 Skills needed: Some grasp of Python (or the willingness to read some Python Code)
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Roadmap
🧠 Week 0: Setup
Join the discord to introduce yourself, and connect with others in the community
⚡ Week 1: Build a Basic Agentic AI App
We’ll guide you to build a simple example of an Agentic AI app as a warm up.
👥 Week 2: Share Your Idea
Submit your AI idea and get feedback to refine it.
💬 Week 3: Build a Prototype
Turn your idea into a basic working model for a specific usecase.
🤝 Week 4: Create a User Interface
Design an interface, like a website or app, for users to interact with your App.
🌐 Week 5: Test Your App
Run your app through different use cases to ensure it works effectively.
📅 Week 6: Submit and Present
Submit your demo and showcase your app to an audience.
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What You Get
⚡ Weekly lectures, labs and assignments covering cutting-edge AI topics
👥 Office hours and co-working spaces (both in-person & Online)
💬 Active Discord Channels with support from expert devs and professors
🤝 Dedicated accountability partner for motivation
🌐 Network with industry developers and AI experts in the field
🎯 Final demo day to showcase your work to a worldwide audience
🎓 Certificate of Achievement upon successful program completion
🍽️ Enjoy food and refreshments during events
🏆 Win prizes from challenges and best demos
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What Our Participants Say
"As we wrap up an incredible 6 weeks of hard work, learning, and collaboration, I’m thrilled to share that my AI project is nearing completion! These past weeks have been filled with challenges, tight deadlines, new skills, and so much fun. A huge shoutout to Vancouver AI Space and our amazing instructors and facilitators, Issam Laradji and Kosay Jabre, for making this journey possible. Your guidance and the vibrant virtual and physical spaces you’ve provided have been invaluable for learning, socializing, and supporting one another."
- Tijana Sretenović
"I am deeply grateful to the organizers of the Vancouver AI Space program @Issam Laradji and @Kosay as well as all the participants for fostering such an inspiring and creative environment that stimulated meaningful discussions and ideas. The experience has been incredibly helpful in advancing the development of my app, DiabetesAI. I am proud to be part of this vibrant Vancouver AI community and look forward to contributing further to its growth and innovation."
- Igor Putrenko
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Main Facilitator
Issam Laradji LinkedIn
Adjunct Professor, UBC, Research Scientist, ServiceNow
Research Scientist at ServiceNow and an Adjunct Professor at University of British Columbia. He has a postdoc from McGill and a PhD from the University of British Columbia, and his research interests include natural language processing, computer vision, and large-scale optimization.
Dylan Nihte LinkedIn
AI Staffing Expert
Experienced entrepreneur focused on AI staffing. I build tailored AI Staffing models for business growth and client nurturing. Fully automating your human resource requirements, empowering hard-working entrepreneurs to better focus on leading their business.
Eric Laycock LinkedIn
ML Engineer
I'm overseeing finetuning of hundreds of large language models and overseeing the scaling of AI provider API traffic, as well as building user-satisfying agentic AI.
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Our Sponsors
Proudly Supported by AI Alliance