Cathay Group’s seventh annual Cathay Hackathon concluded successfully over the weekend in the Greater Bay Area’s globally renowned high-tech centre Shenzhen.
Cathay’s flagship tech event for young innovators again gave talented, tech-savvy, and entrepreneurial participants from Hong Kong, the Chinese Mainland and overseas a platform on which to showcase their forward-looking and inventive spirit.
With the final event held at Qianhai Kerry Centre on 16 November, the Cathay Hackathon 2024 marked its first expansion into the wider Greater Bay Area since its launch in 2016.
A platform for thinkers
The programme’s Final Pitch event brought together young tech enthusiasts as they developed and presented their innovative ideas and solutions designed to enhance the travel experience for Cathay Pacific’s customers, elevate Cathay’s lifestyle offerings, innovate Cathay Cargo’s operations, and increase HK Express’ operational efficiency.
This year’s Cathay Hackathon attracted an overwhelming 1,500+ applications from university students in Hong Kong, the Chinese Mainland and overseas.
Following a rigorous selection process, 74 teams involving some 300 students were invited to participate in a 24-hour online Development Day, where participants created, refined, and prototyped their ideas before presenting them to a panel of industry experts during the First Pitch.
Ten teams were shortlisted to enter the final round, with the opportunity to showcase their concepts to Cathay’s senior management as well as other judges.
Recycling for the win
This year’s winning team, GingTrip, was made up of students from various universities in Hong Kong.
Their winning idea features a modular trolley on HK Express flights to automate recycling and waste sorting.
The waste data collected is processed automatically and loaded onto a dashboard, which helps inform and enhance data driven decision-making.
GingTrip member Andy Ng said, “It’s great to be back at the Cathay Hackathon. We took part last year and learnt a great deal from the guidance and feedback provided by our coaches, subject matter experts and the judges. This year, with the Hackathon expanding into the wider GBA, we gained valuable insights into the region’s growing tech landscape and were honoured to come out on top. We would like to thank the Cathay Hackathon team for creating such a unique experience for all of us.”
GingTrip took home the top prize, with round-trip Business class tickets to any destination in Cathay Pacific’s network as well as a combined 100,000 Asia Miles.
Additionally, they were offered fast-track access to ideation funding from incubation programmes, as well as a fast-track to Cathay’s Digital & IT Summer Internship and Graduate Trainee Programmes.
