The 2025 Presidential Hackathon Awards Ceremony was held at the Presidential Office Building today (14th). President Lai Ching-te met with and presented awards in person to five domestic Teams of Excellence, one AI Application Public Service Innovation Award winner, and two international teams in the International Track. The competition this year is hosted by the Executive Yuan and co-organized by the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) and the Ministry of Environment (MOENV). The domestic theme is Dual Transformation for Green Growth, whereas, the international theme is Digital Innovation for Resilience and Sustainability. Both themes aim to inject vitality into Taiwan's sustainable development and build a more resilient and sustainable digital nation through public-private partnerships and cross-domain innovation.

The domestic Hackathon proposal entries showcased the diverse and cross-disciplinary capabilities of the participants. Five Teams of Excellence were selected: the ReSchool team integrates population projections, campus information, and cases of revitalizing discontinued schools to help county and city governments improve the efficiency of campus revitalization policy planning; the AI-Powered Green Chemistry Diagnostic Advisor team has developed an independent green alternative diagnostic tool for SMEs, which is able to accurately provide warnings and alternative recommendations for high-risk chemicals; the Decarbon Strivers team tracks the carbon footprint of construction projects, covering from materials, design, construction to demolition and reuse to achieve full life-cycle carbon emission management; the Zha Nan team addresses the challenges of coffee waste recycling, logistics, and reuse via waste weight reduction and transportation carbon reduction to achieve a circular economy; the Strivers team uses smart refrigerators and AIoT to improve the efficiency of blood product supply, ensuring that even remote areas have access to life-saving blood products in a timely manner during disasters, thus strengthening medical resilience. In addition, the CivicWorks Guardian team was selected as the winner of this year's AI Application Public Service Innovation Award for using AI systems to detect safety anomalies at construction sites, assist in construction inspections, and monitor project progress in real time in hopes of improving safety and efficiency in public works projects.

In the International Track, two teams stood out. The CropNow team from India integrates IoT sensors and AI technology. Using the NEST system to monitor soil and crop conditions in real time, and CropDesk to provide irrigation and disease prediction recommendations, the CropNow team seeks to help farmers increase yields and resource efficiency, thereby strengthening the resilience of sustainable agriculture in the face of climate challenges. Comprising members from Taiwan and France, the Beyond Hearing team, integrates AI and AR technologies to transform sound into visual cues. This helps hearing-impaired individuals instantly identify the source and type of sound, enhancing their spatial awareness and communication efficiency, and creating a more inclusive and innovative future.

The Presidential Hackathon is the highest honor hackathon competition in Taiwan. MODA pointed out that this competition is not only about exchanging ideas on the application of information technology, but also an important arena for initiating government policy optimization and accelerating the digital transformation of society. By combining data and innovative thinking with experts from home and abroad, we will continue to transform these award-winning proposals into concrete and feasible policy outcomes, laying a solid foundation for Taiwan's future digital blueprint.