UNILORIN student wins A1 competition in Spain

A 100-level Geology and Mineral Sciences student at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) Abdulsalam Olamide Suleiman has emerged one of the winners of an international AI competition in Spain.

OdiseIA4Good is an international competition supported by google with creatives around the world who have innovative ideas, which can impact and change the world, using Artificial Intelligence on display.

Suleiman won recognition with GeoGuard, an artificial intelligence-powered environmental intelligence platform designed to monitor and forecast coastal erosion and flooding.

The project uses satellite imagery to monitor changes along coastlines and applies Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) to improve environmental predictions.

Suleiman developed the idea after identifying the limitations of conventional coastal monitoring methods, which can depend on expensive physical sensors and may detect environmental changes only after they have occurred.

GeoGuard is designed to provide earlier information on potential coastal hazards, which could help vulnerable communities and authorities better prepare for flooding and land loss.

Despite financial limitations that prevented him from travelling to Spain, Suleiman participated virtually from Nigeria and emerged as one of the competition’s winners.

He is expected to receive mentorship from Frank Eskadell, Head of Corporate Accounts at OdiseIA, to help transform GeoGuard into a viable enterprise.

The 2026 competition attracted applications from more than 100 teams and brought together participants developing artificial intelligence solutions to social and environmental challenges.

Suleiman said he has a passion for coding and burnt the midnight candle overtime, out of curiosity trying to improve his knowledge of Physics, Mathematics and Advanced Artificial Intelligence tools using materials available online.