Grand Finale Ocean Hackathon®, 9th Edition: A Collective Success

An International Effort

The Grand Finale brought together more than 150 participants in total: team members, organizers, jury members, guests, and the public, both in Brest and online, supported by a fully committed Technopôle team. Everyone contributed to making this finale a memorable event, energized by pitches and collaboration focused on innovation. Sandrine Perhirin, Vice President for Higher Education and Research and Delegate Advisor for Student Life at the City of Brest, opened the event with an engaged and enthusiastic welcome, highlighting the event’s dynamism.

• 15 Jury Members: Ambassadors (Ifremer, Shom, Cerema, Météo-France, Mercator Ocean International) and Organizers of the Local Editions

Speakers

Two special guests brought valuable insights to this Grand Finale.

• Édouard Vallet, CEO of Vaiata Dynamics and winner of the 2023 Ocean Hackathon® International Edition, reflected on his journey since the event and presented the development of his company.
• Fabrice Messal, UX & Capacity Development Manager at Mercator Ocean International, presented the mission of Mercator Ocean International and the services offered by Copernicus Marine Service, emphasizing both the importance of marine data for science and innovation, and the relevance of digital twins.

"For 30 years, Mercator Ocean has been providing oceanographic services of public interest to support the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans. As the operator of the European Copernicus Marine Service, Mercator Ocean is contributing, together with its partners, to the development of the Digital Twin of the Ocean, offering transparent access to marine data and advanced simulations to support sustainable management and science-based ocean governance." - Fabrice Messal

2025 Winners

Three teams were recognized for the quality of their projects:

• 1st Place - Kuala Lumpur

The winners of the local edition presented their application “Know Your Fish Before You Feed It”, a real-time AI-based translator that indicates a fish’s appetite and helps prevent overfeeding or underfeeding.

"It was something new for our university and it was a partnership with the French embassy. We are 3 universities, one private university, Asia Pacific University, together with the university of science, Malaysia, and University Marine Technology. So, it was a joint collaboration, and we wanted to try something new. The other two universities have a marine scientist background. APU is known for their tech. So, it was a good collaboration, and we wanted to try it out." - Organizer

• 2nd Place - Victoria

The Victoria team focused on using artificial intelligence to determine whether surface currents in the Strait of Georgia are primarily influenced by tides, wind, or river discharge. This approach enables better prediction of currents to improve maritime rescue operations.

"For me, it's a very innovative opportunity to get deep into the ocean ecosystem and apply. I come from a technical background of computer science, machine learning. And this presented a unique opportunity to learn core oceanographic insights and get domain, apply my technical expertise to a real domain, and that, too, a domain that impacts an entire ecosystem, living beings and life in general.
So also, businesses and a lot of things are impacted by the oceans. They make 75% of the earth's surface." - Participants

• 3rd Place - Brest

Their project aimed to improve the mapping of coastal trails through AI-driven digitalization, taking into account the effects of climate change.

“We have two products: an algorithmic one, with an AI-based script that makes it possible to digitize the coastal path. To digitize the coastline, the AI needs to be fed with data, so we developed a second method based on participatory data. This allows us to obtain an up-to-date path that feeds the AI model, which then produces the most coherent possible trail mapping — saving time! Manual digitization was far too time-consuming.” - Participants

A Momentum that Connects Territories

Bringing together local engagement and international reach, this edition demonstrated Ocean Hackathon®’s ability to unite diverse talents around common challenges. The finale was full of enthusiasm, idea-sharing, and a collective drive to rethink the future for a more sustainable ocean.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of this edition! See you next year to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Ocean Hackathon®!

The replay of the YouTube live of the 2025 grand finale: