Open Data Hackathon 2025 Grand Final — A Resounding Success

This year, our INSPIRE team was once again honored to serve as adjudicators for the Open Data Hackathon 2025, witnessing how a new generation of students turns bold ideas into real, workable solutions using data and technology. After two months of hard work, the finalist teams completed their Grand Final at Ricoh Hong Kong on Saturday, January 24, 2025.

From the Judging Table: The Energy of a New Generation

What inspired us most this year was seeing more and more teams aggressively adopting Vibe Coding and AI technology to transform their concepts into working prototypes within a short time. For this generation of students, ideas are no longer confined to paper — they can genuinely make it happen, and may even build their own startups at an early age.

Teams incorporated feedback from the preliminary round and refined their solutions with the guidance of their mentors — a spirit of continuous improvement that impressed every judge. This ability to bring ideas to life is exactly the quality we most hope to nurture in young innovators.

Judging as a Chance to Validate Our Teaching

Serving as adjudicators is not only an honor — it is a valuable opportunity to understand our target students and listen to the ideas of a new generation. By observing students' work and thinking up close, we are able to validate INSPIRE's teaching philosophy and gain a clearer picture of what today's students truly need.

Through the judging process, we also identified real gaps in students' prompting skills, Information Systems (IS), and practical IT knowledge. These are precisely the areas our guest tutor team — professionals with real product-development experience from corporates and tech companies — are equipped to fill. We turn these first-hand insights into INSPIRE's unique and valuable teaching content, keeping our curriculum genuinely aligned with what the industry demands.

The Grand Final welcomed 22 distinguished professional judges who gave up their weekend, spanning Smart Tourism, FinTech, Smart Economy, and LawTech, to provide invaluable feedback to each competing team. Special thanks to Ricoh Hong Kong for sponsoring the venue and arranging an exclusive Office Tour for our judges.

Being both adjudicators and educators allows us to contribute our expertise while continuously listening, learning, and improving. A heartfelt thank you to all teachers, parents, students, and partners for your unwavering support. See you at the Award Ceremony!