【Article by CICII】

NCCU’s Center for Industry Collaboration and Innovation Incubation (CICII) successfully hosted the “2026 NCCU Creative Ideas Hackathon: Shaping a Sustainable World” on 16 and 17 May, welcoming nearly 200 students from 16 universities and 15 countries to collaborate on innovative solutions for global sustainability challenges.

Building on the success of the first edition, this year’s hackathon attracted broader international participation and further strengthened collaboration between academia, industry, and the public sector. Organized jointly by NCCU’s Center for Industry Collaboration and Innovation Incubation, Center for Creativity and Innovation Studies, and the event was co-hosted with Office of Higher Education Sprout Project, Department for Youth of Taipei City Government, Spatial Big Data Technology Ltd., Kinpo Electronics Inc., and National Central University Center for Academia and Industry Collaboration.

Centred around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the competition focused on three key themes: Inclusive and Resilient Societies, Healthy and Sustainable Living, and Smart and Sustainable Future Cities. Over the course of 36 intensive hours, participating teams developed and pitched their ideas entirely in English, demonstrating not only creativity and problem-solving skills, but also teamwork, business model development, and international presentation abilities.

To help students strengthen the quality and competitiveness of their proposals, CICII also organized a series of pre-event workshops covering Design Thinking, Business Models, Marketing Plans, and SDG Presentation Preparation. Through this combination of workshops, mentorship, hands-on collaboration, and final presentations, the hackathon became more than a competition. It evolved into a complete innovation learning journey connecting ideation, experimentation, pitching, and feedback.

The opening ceremony featured remarks from NCCU President Tsai-Yen Li, who welcomed participants from Taiwan and abroad and encouraged students to tackle global sustainability challenges through interdisciplinary collaboration and innovative action. Commissioner of Department for Youth of Taipei City Government Yi-Hsi Chou and Director of Sustainable Development Office at Kinpo Electronics Eric Wu also attended the event to offer encouragement to all participants.

The first day of the hackathon began with an SDGs-themed icebreaker activity held at Research and Innovation-Incubation Center (RIIC). Designed with the support of CICII important partner山中猴子創意行銷有限公司, the activity encouraged participants to build teamwork while deepening their understanding of sustainability issues. Students later joined a Pitching Deck Workshop delivered by KSBridge Startup Academy, where they learned practical pitching techniques. NCCU teams Momentum and Mariblu, who were among the top six finalists in the 2026 Hult Prize Taiwan regional competition, were invited to share their competition experiences and pitching tips.

To further support participants, total 16 entrepreneurs and industry mentors from a wide range of professional backgrounds were invited to provide one-on-one consultation sessions. Mentors guided teams in refining their problem definitions, strengthening business models, evaluating sustainability impact, and improving implementation feasibility. Students worked late into the night at the RIIC, where every corner of the building was filled with lively team discussions, brainstorming sessions, and final presentation preparations.

After the preliminary round, nine teams advanced to the final pitching session. The championship was awarded to team “SDGeez” for its proposal “PHresh,” a plant-based smart food preservation wrap designed to reduce food waste through the reuse of agricultural waste and smart freshness indicators. Second place went to team “從缺” for its proposal “PestAway,” an AI-powered urban vector management solution addressing rodent infestations and public safety challenges linked to climate change through smarter urban governance strategies. Third place was awarded to team “Bunbaehue” for its proposal “VieBroker,” an information platform aimed at improving transparency and legitimacy in migrant worker recruitment, helping reduce excessive agency fees and information inequality while promoting the SDGs values of inclusive and resilient societies. The Merit Award was presented to team “台灣之光” for its proposal “Merrigold,” a social networking app for the elderly. The team believed that the best remedy for loneliness in later life is having something meaningful to do and someone willing to share the journey. Through social events and a matching system, the app aims to create an interactive platform that encourages connection and companionship among the elderly.

The Center for Industry Collaboration and Innovation Incubation stated that the Hackathon successfully encouraged sustainable innovation, international collaboration, and hands-on learning, while demonstrating NCCU’s ongoing efforts in entrepreneurship education and industry-academia collaboration. Moving forward, the university will continue strengthening partnerships with industry and global organizations to provide students with more opportunities to develop practical and innovative solutions for real-world challenges and sustainable development.