How Zaizi’s AI sandbox hackathon with NayaOne proved we can build faster and safer
In the world of Digital Government, “innovation” is a word that gets thrown around a lot. But often, the gap between talking about innovation and actually doing it is defined by one thing: the ability to experiment safely.
At Zaizi, we’ve always believed that building a better UK means equipping our teams with the right tools to solve complex problems at pace. That’s why we recently partnered with NayaOne for a dedicated hackathon — a day focused not just on building prototypes but on testing a new way of working.
Here’s a look at what happened when we brought our engineers, designers, and strategists together with NayaOne’s cutting-edge AI tools.
The challenge: Moving from “what if” to “what works”
Public sector organisations often face a difficult trade-off. They need to modernise services and leverage new technologies but without risking sensitive data or disrupting critical systems. This “safety first” culture is necessary but can sometimes act as a brake on creativity.
We wanted to prove that you don’t have to choose between speed and security.
NayaOne’s Digital Sandbox provided us with a secure, isolated environment pre-loaded with synthetic data and third-party tools. This meant our teams could bypass the usual weeks of procurement, data cleansing, and environment setup. Instead of spending the morning configuring servers, they spent it building solutions.
The day: A culture of experimentation
From the moment the kickoff briefing ended, the energy in the room was palpable. We split into cross-functional teams, mixing roles that might not traditionally work side by side on a daily basis — i.e. bid managers, HR people and backend developers sat with service designers; user researchers collaborated with data architects.
The goal wasn’t just to write code; it was to explore the “art of the possible.”
Removing the barriers to entry shifted the atmosphere from cautious planning to rapid experimentation. Teams were able to pull in Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), developer environments, the latest AI and low code tools and datasets from the NayaOne marketplace instantly, allowing them to test hypotheses in real-time. If an idea didn’t work, they knew within an hour, not a month. This “fail fast” mentality is crucial for digital government, where cost-efficiency and user impact are paramount.
The approach: Collaboration without constraints
What stood out most was how the technology facilitated human collaboration. The sandbox environment acted as a neutral ground where technical constraints were minimised.
- Rapid prototyping: Teams moved from whiteboard sketches to working code in a matter of hours.
- Synthetic data: By using realistic but non-sensitive data, we removed the GDPR headaches that usually stall hackathons. This allowed us to treat the problems as “real” without any of the associated risk.
- Cross-pollination: We saw senior architects mentoring junior developers, and non-technical staff getting hands-on with the logic of the solutions. It reinforced a core Zaizi value: good ideas can come from anywhere.
The outcome: It’s about more than the code
By the time the final presentations rolled around, the results were impressive. We saw working prototypes that addressed complex user journeys and demonstrated the potential for smarter, data-driven decision-making in government.
But the real outcome wasn’t the code itself — it was the validation of the approach.
This hackathon demonstrated that when you provide the right environment, you can dramatically compress the innovation cycle. We proved that it is possible to experiment with emerging tech in a way that is safe, compliant, and incredibly fast.
As our partners NayaOne reflected on the collaboration:
“Innovation and the use of AI offers the potential to solve key challenges for government and the public sector, from cutting costs, transforming procurement to improving public services,” said Karan Jain, the Founder and CEO of NayaOne.
“We’ve seen this with our public sector partners in the US, UK, EU, Middle East and around the world.
What teams need is secure infrastructure to rapidly experiment with technology and bring ideas to life without risking systems or data. This hackathon showed what is possible when teams with ideas are given the right tools — things can move from talking to results and solutions in a single day.”
For our clients in the public sector, this is a game-changer. It means we can de-risk projects before they start, validate vendors without lengthy procurement processes, and show working value in days rather than months.
Looking ahead
As we look ahead, this collaboration serves as a blueprint for how we want to tackle the future challenges of the UK public sector. It’s not just about having the best engineers; it’s about giving them the best ecosystem to work in.
The day was a reminder that when we remove the friction of “getting started,” we unlock the full potential of our people to build a better, more digital UK.
This day was done with a small, beautiful subset of the company focusing on real world challenges.
We’d like to do more in 2026 and have codified our learnings for better results next time.
What next?
- If you would like to come and test them out and know more about our hackathons, reach out to speak to me.
- WATCH our recent AI in government webinar series featuring digital leaders from the Department for Business and Trade, Home Office, Cabinet Office and Zaizi as they share how they’re laying the foundations for AI.
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