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The Future of Busan Dreamed by Youth: The 2nd Busan Global Hub City Youth Hackathon Successfully Concluded

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon), together with KNN Co., Ltd., announced that the “2nd Busan Global Hub City Youth Hackathon” was held at the Busan Contents Korea Lab over a two-day, overnight schedule from August 20 to 21.

This competition, held for the second consecutive year, was organized to share the vision of building Busan into a Global Hub City—recognized as a southern regional innovation hub and a new growth engine of Korea in the era of Arctic shipping routes—with young people, and to go beyond a simple idea contest by providing opportunities for them to take the lead in participating in policymaking.

During the event, a total of 15 teams comprising about 60 young participants from diverse majors and interests were selected and joined the main competition.

The participating teams presented creative policy proposals across five fields: global logistics, global finance, global digital advanced industries, global culture and tourism, and the open category.

Meanwhile, in the earlier online application period, which closed on August 3, a total of 51 teams with about 200 applicants registered, demonstrating the strong interest and willingness of the young generation to participate in shaping Busan as a Global Hub City.

The hackathon consisted of lectures on the vision of Busan as a Global Hub City, mentoring programs by subject area, and educational workshops. Participants engaged in team-based planning and networking, followed by three rounds of intensive marathon discussions (hackathon) to refine their policy ideas.

Planning Officer Lee Kyung-deok personally introduced the vision for Busan as a Global Hub City, and expert mentors by field guided the participants, adding depth and practical insights to the youths’ fresh ideas and helping to develop high-quality policy proposals.

On the second day, each team presented their designed policies, and through judging, seven winning teams were selected and awarded a total of 7 million KRW in prize money.

The Grand Prize (200 million KRW) went to Team Haeiro (海二路) in the open category, for their proposal to establish Busan as a Global Digital Nomad Hub.
The Excellence Prize (150 million KRW) was awarded to Team Operation Name: Beyond Busan (beyondbusan) in the digital advanced industries category, for their proposal on tokenization of real-world ship assets (RWA).
Additionally, two teams won the Merit Prize (100 million KRW each): Team GLUB in the culture and tourism category, for creating a media cultural town utilizing vacant spaces in the old downtown, and Team Sail To Zero in the finance category, for proposing a new structure for carbon credit trading.
Three teams received Encouragement Prizes (50 million KRW each): Team OPTURN in the culture and tourism category, for an integrated platform to promote medical tourism in Busan; Team Glo-Port in the logistics category, for a comprehensive seafood tracking system; and Team Bu+finder in the finance category, for a KPI proposal on Busan’s first local economy initiative.

Busan Metropolitan City announced that the ideas proposed during the competition will be shared with relevant departments and institutions, and will be actively considered for policy development to further enhance the city’s future competitiveness as a Global Hub City.

Lee Kyung-deok, Planning Officer of Busan Metropolitan City, stated,
“Hearing and communicating with young people about their creative ideas is of utmost importance in shaping Busan as a Global Hub City. We will continue to create various platforms where not only youth but also citizens can envision the future of Busan and propose policy ideas.”

He further emphasized, “We will do our utmost to ensure the prompt enactment of the Busan Global Hub City Special Act, and we ask for the continued participation and interest of citizens.”