Cathay Group holds its seventh Cathay Hackathon in Shenzhen

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.