The Port of Valencia is strengthening its position as a proving ground for maritime technology innovation, with the sixth edition of the Valenciaport Hackathon bringing together international startups to develop solutions aimed at real-world deployment within the port's operational environment.

Organized by Opentop, the Port of Valencia's open innovation hub, this year's competition attracted more than 40 startup and scale-up applicants from around the world, making it the event's most international edition to date. Rather than focusing solely on concept development, participating companies worked alongside industry partners to co-create pilot projects intended for testing through the Valenciaport Sandbox, the port's live innovation platform.

Three operational challenges formed the basis of the competition, covering energy management for ports and terminals, smart access and mobility management within the Port of Valencia's logistics activities zone (ZAL), and technologies to improve coordinated responses to operational disruptions.

Urban Alert captured the top prize with a solution designed to validate emergency response and disruption management using live port data without affecting ongoing operations. Singapore-based Marina Chain earned second place for its continuous signal-monitoring platform that provides structured response protocols and full action traceability, while Synnect received the Audience Award for its predictive digital twin solution that combines multiple sensors to improve vehicle visibility, congestion forecasting and anomaly detection across port operations.

A new collaboration model introduced this year paired startups directly with challenge sponsors—including Hitachi Energy, VPI Logística and the Valenciaport Cluster Innovation Committee—to jointly develop pilot projects through technical workshops and on-site collaboration with the Port Community.

"The Port Authority is firmly committed to open innovation and to the Valenciaport Sandbox so that international startups can come here to test their solutions," said Mar Chao, President of the Port Authority of Valencia. "This event strengthens Opentop's role in connecting innovative technologies with the real needs of our Port Community."

In addition to cash awards, the winning startups will present their technologies at the Port Entrepreneurship International Congress (PEIC) in October during the Valencia Digital Summit.

The hackathon is part of the Port Authority of Valencia's broader innovation strategy, using live operational testing to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies that improve efficiency, resilience and sustainability across port and logistics operations.

Image courtesy Port of Valencia