The 2026 WFEO Hackathon was concluded successfully on 4th March 2026 at Balai Kartini in Jakarta as part of the World Engineering Day celebrations held annually on 4th March 2026.
This international event focuses on young people engaging young engineers and engineering students from every continent around the world in what is now the largest international competition for young engineering students.
“Sentinel Innovators” – from Chinhoyi University of Technology and Masvingo Polytech – Zimbabwe, was Highly Commended.
They tackled Challenge: Resilient Cities, developing a sustainable, chemical-free agricultural solution that addresses the urgent need for food security in farming, developing “RoboSoil ZW”, an autonomous, solar-powered mobile soil testing robot designed to provide real-time, in-field soil health analysis and moisture prediction for smallholder farmers.
Team Sentinel Innovators – Highly Commended, 2026 WFEO Hackathon
In addition to SDG 9 (Innovation), it strongly supports SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) by reducing fertilizer use, and SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and SDG 15 (Life on Land). The judges thought this entry demonstrated the team’s electrical/electronic engineering skills combined with knowledge of using robotics devices to develop a system that can improve the productivity of farmers.
Team Urban LPG from Kenya was among the top 11 Finalists. They also tackled the Challenge – Resilient Cities addressing the safety issues related to domestic gas cylinder leaks and explosions. The deigned Community Shield, a low-cost, retrofittable IoT system that transforms standard gas cylinders into intelligent, active defence nodes enabling detection of gas leaks or thermal runaway providing warning to users and aggregated data to city officials for real-time visualization of “Leak Hotspots”.
Michelle Gichamba presents on behalf of Team Urban LPG, Kenya
In addition to SDG 9 (Innovation), the solution also supports SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities). The judges thought this entry demonstrated the team’s understanding of gas safety and applied their engineering skills to develop an IoT sensor as well as a data capture and aggregation system for informed policy and decision making.
The theme of the WFEO Hackathon aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2026, the Hackathon aligned with the theme for the 2026 World Engineering Day Smart engineering for a sustainable future through innovation and digitalisation – with a focus on UN SDG -9. The WFEO Hackathon challenged teams to demonstrate how engineering and digital technologies can build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation that benefits both people and the planet.
WFEO Hackathon teams had to also choose one of three challenges and develop an innovative engineering solution. These were:
- Circular Innovation – Reimagine how we produce, use, and reuse resources.
- Resilient Cities – Design smarter urban systems for a liveable future.
- Blue and Green Planet – solutions that restore, regenerate and protect life on land and below water.
The judging criteria for the WFEO Hackathon are based on the International Engineering Alliance Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies and enabled participating young engineers and engineering students to demonstrate their abilities to produce sustainable solutions and outcomes in alignment with these Graduate Attributes.
Presentation of the 2026 WFEO Hackathon Winners in Jakarta on 4th March 2026
The 2026 WFEO Hackathon received over 3000 individual registrations and more than 270 team entries from more than 20 countries around the world and from every continent – Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and the Americas.
The 2026 WFEO Hackathon Working Group comprised Chair, Mr Firas Bou Diab, WFEO Executive Vice President; President Elect Dr Guna Gunalan; Mr Youslan Nur, Head of Engineering and Innovation Programme, UNESCO; Ms Katie Creswell-Maynard, International Director Engineers Without Borders; Dr Marlene Kanga, WFEO Past President; Dr Moez Chakchouk, WFEO Executive Director and the WFEO Secretariat.
The preliminary judging panel consisted of over 70 volunteers from around the globe, who dedicated their time and expertise to evaluate the submissions and our finalist judges – a great effort for our international competition. All judges have been acknowledged on the World Engineering Day 2026 WFEO Hackathon webpage. All participants are acknowledged with a certificate of participation from WFEO.
Dr Marlene Kanga, WFEO Past President, presenting the 2026 WFEO Hackathon Winners, 4th March 2026
The winners were chosen form the top 11 Finalists who, listed in alphabetical order, were:
- AeroMax from Batangas State University, the Phillippines
- Algaboard from Ewha Womans University. South Korea
- Digital Guardians Of The Bio-Frontier from SRM Institute of Science and Technology, India
- GreenCore Sustainable Data Center from Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- MethanoGenZ from Batangas State University. Phillippines
- Microguard from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang
- Project Ionyx Batangas State University, the Philippines
- Sentinel Innovators from Chinhoyi University Of Technology and Masvingo Polytech, Zimbabwe
- Team Echo Logic from Technological Institute of the Philippines
- Team Urban LPG from Strathmore University, Kenya
- Think³ from American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
A combined video presentation of all finalists is available below
Article contributed by Dr Marlene Kanga, Former WFEO President (2017-2019).
For more information:
World Engineering Day main event website
MAR
2026