Yonsei University and the Korean Association for Policy Studies (KAPS), with sponsorship from Google, successfully concluded the 2025 Asia Impact Hackathon on May 9 at Yonsei University.
The hackathon was designed as an educational initiative to uncover creative, student-driven ideas for solving social problems using AI and digital technologies. It aimed to encourage university students across Asia to engage more deeply with public issues and take action toward solving them.
The first edition of the hackathon, held in 2024 under the name Yonsei–KAPS Hackathon for Social Good, focused on Korean university students and received enthusiastic responses. Building on its success, the event was scaled up in 2025 into the Asia Impact Hackathon, welcoming participation from across the Asia-Pacific region.
This year, more than 300 student teams from 12 countries applied to take part. After two months of regional preliminaries and final-round selections, six teams advanced to the grand final: two teams from Korea, two from Vietnam, one from Singapore, and one from Malaysia.
The final round was conducted in a hybrid format, combining in-person and online participation. Finalist teams presented digital solutions to a wide range of societal issues, including AI-powered translation, scam prevention, waste management, and fake news detection.
The event was co-organized by two BK21 education-research groups at Yonsei University the Department of Public Policy & Management and the Department of Computational Science and Engineering. A distinguishing feature of this hackathon was its interdisciplinary approach to evaluation, integrating perspectives from both the humanities and engineering, setting it apart from typical tech competitions.
Professor Sounman Hong, Director of the BK21 Program in Public Policy & Management at Yonsei University, commented, "This hackathon offered a unique educational experience where university students from across Asia could reflect on pressing regional issues, engage in meaningful exchange, and compete in a spirit of collaboration. I was especially impressed by their creativity, problem-solving skills, and strong commitment to advancing public value. We are also grateful to Google for their invaluable support, through their generous contributions and active participation."
Among the finalists was Team ScamSniper from Singapore, which was honored with one of the top awards for its project that uses AI to raise awareness and prevent online scams. The team included students from the Singapore University of Technology and Design Ong Xuan, Nguyen Quoc Dung, and Ng Zhao Hui as well as Gan Ren Yick from the National University of Singapore. Their solution stood out for its practical application of technology to address a growing digital threat faced by many societies today.
Reflecting on the experience, Ong Xuan from the Singapore University of Technology and Design shared, "The hackathon pushed us to think beyond technical solutions and consider the real-world impact of our ideas."
Yonsei University's Department of Public Policy & Management, which led this initiative, recently demonstrated its global leadership in education and research by ranking 6th worldwide in the 2025 QS World University Rankings by Subject.
