HacX! 2025 participants pitted their talent and creativity against one another. (Photo: HTX/Dorcas Yang)
The toasty aroma of coffee wafted through the hall, which buzzed with the cut and thrust of a Shark Tank-style competition.
Only instead of start-up entrepreneurs, young changemakers from secondary and tertiary institutions channelled their competitive spirit into solutions to augment the Home Team’s capabilities at HacX! Hack for Public Safety 2025.
Organised by HTX and Microsoft Singapore in collaboration with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), the annual hackathon empowers students to use science, technology and engineering to address pressing public safety challenges.
HacX! 2025 contestants pitched their solutions in an open stage setting at Singapore University of Design and Technology. (Photo: HTX)
HacX! 2025 took on a fresh format – a one-day pitching marathon held at SUTD on 12 November. In an open-stage setting, more than 50 teams pitched their innovations before a live audience, all vying for cash prizes of up to S$60,000 in total.
This year’s competition featured three categories – The Horizon for future-forward ideas, Makers’ Zone for hands-on prototyping and Code Core for digital, software-driven solutions.
A rewarding journey
Attendees participated in engaging challenges and workshops. (Photo: HTX)
The event was a culmination of contestants’ six-week-long HacX! journey, during which they were mentored by HTX domain experts and officers from Home Team Departments (HTDs). They even toured various Home Team facilities, where they gained insights into the operational challenges faced by frontline officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Singapore Prison Service (SPS).
Attendees soaked up the lively atmosphere of the event. (Photo: HTX)
Alongside the main competition, attendees participated in workshops related to design thinking, 3D printing and AI-driven drone piloting, as well as interactive challenges like a prompt engineering game. They also explored exciting career opportunities at the HTX booth.
HacX! 2025 contestants learning about Home Team operational challenges during a site visit at Tampines Fire Station. (Photo: HTX/Dorcas Yang)
Attendees were treated to complimentary beverages and bites. (Photo: HTX/Dorcas Yang)
Incubating remarkable ideas
Teams delivered their pitches at the end of a six-week-long learning journey. (Photo: HTX)
Each of the three challenge tracks crowned a first, second and third-place winning team, with one standout team earning the title of Overall Impact Winner – chosen from among the top teams across all tracks.
Leading the pack was Team Road Runners, which emerged as winners of the Overall Impact as well as The Horizon challenge tracks. The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) undergraduates tackled the challenge of transforming SPF’s driving and riding training through immersive technology by creating an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven simulator system.
Their solution combines a rain-and-wind tunnel for wet-weather driving, an AI-powered scenario engine to train split-second judgement and an AI feedback system that analyses physiological and behavioural data (like heart rate and eye-tracking) to explain why errors occur.
Team Road Runners, who won both the top prize in their category and the Overall Impact Award, with Chen Yeang Tat, HTX’s Deputy Chief Executive (Operations) (first from right). (Photo: HTX/Dorcas Yang)
Despite long brainstorming sessions and steep technical challenges, they found the experience rewarding – both technically and personally.
“We want to protect those who protect us,” said Jing Xin Ling from Team Road Runners.
“Home Team officers step into chaos so that we don’t have to. They protect us from crime and that really motivated us to solve their training issues to bolster public safety.”
Their ultimate blue-sky vision: a multi-vehicle connected simulation system for more realistic team-based police driving exercises.
Makers’ Zone top prize winners Team Ice cream!!! with Professor Kassim Ashraf, Associate Provost (Education and Innovation), SUTD (first from right). (Photo: HTX)
Contestants also devised solutions to be deployed on the frontline. In addressing HTX’s Biometrics & Profiling Centre of Expertise’s (CoE’s) quest for a portable and reliable iris biometric system, Team Ice cream!!! tapped on open-source electronics platform Arduino to create a device capable of recognising a wide range of irises – even under varied conditions. The Hwa Chong Institution students took home the top prize in the Makers’ Zone category.
The team’s journey was hands-on and iterative: multiple design failures sparked refinements, and they spent hours scouring Sim Lim Tower for electronic components to create their hardware prototype.
Code Core first prize winners Team Notch Apple with Microsoft Singapore’s Managing Director Chia Wee Luen. (Photo: HTX)
Finally, in the Code Core track, team Notch Apple tackled a highly prevalent real-world issue – haze caused by transboundary air pollution. Here, HTX’s Sense-making & Surveillance (S&S) CoE presented them with the challenge of developing technology that could more effectively detect the environmental threat.
In response, the River Valley High School students created a computer vision model to distinguish haze and smoke threats from clouds in satellite imagery. Inspired by hurricane-tracking app Zoom Earth, the students combined UI design and data science to produce a working prototype hosted on cloud computing platform Microsoft Azure.
The team plans to refine the prototype into an open Application Programming Interface (API), allowing public agencies and citizens alike to access live data on haze and pollution.
The HacX! 2025 organising committee headed by Portia Loh, Director of CoE Hub/Plans & Strategy (fifth from left), with HTX Chief Executive Chan Tsan (sixth from left). (Photo: HTX)
Having overcome learning curves in cloud deployment, coding and integration, their biggest takeaway from the experience was how intentional, detail-oriented design supports public safety.
“Sometimes, the smallest things like improving user interface can make all the difference. A solution is useless if no one can use it,” said Lim Enoch from Team Notch Apple.
“We saw how HTX works behind the scenes to make sure technology isn’t just advanced, but actually practical for people on the ground!”
HacX! 2025 was open to the public, who enjoyed its lineup of engaging activities. (Photo: HTX)
Top prize-winning teams were awarded S$10,000 each and will be given access to the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub. They will also be offered HTX internships and scholarship opportunities.
The Overall Impact Award winning team walked away with an additional S$5,000 as well as tickets to the inaugural DEF CON Singapore that will be happening from April 28 to 30, 2026, alongside the Milipol TechX Summit (MTX) 2026.
