The 6th Valenciaport Hackathon strengthens its international profile and drives forward innovative pilot projects

The winners of this sixth edition are: First prize goes to Urban Alert, second prize to Marina Chain and the People’s Choice Award to Synnect.
Mar Chao, Chair of the Valencia Port Authority, was present at the awards ceremony.
This edition stood out in particular for its international scope and the high calibre of the participants, who were keen to test their solutions in the Valenciaport Sandbox.
An innovative format with extensive active participation from the port community.

Valencia, 2 July 2026. – Opentop, Valenciaport’s open innovation hub, held the sixth edition of its start-up hackathon on 30 June and 1 July at the Clock Tower in the Port of Valencia. The event brought together high-calibre start-ups from various countries, who, alongside Hitachi Energy, VPI Logística and the Valenciaport Cluster Innovation Committee, co-created pilot proposals intended to become real-world trials within the Valenciaport Sandbox.

This edition stood out in particular for its international scope, with a call for entries that attracted more than 40 start-ups and scale-ups, many of them from outside Spain, raising the technical standard and maturity of the solutions presented and reinforcing the hackathon’s position as an international meeting point for logistics and port innovation; all with the stated aim of transferring the co-created pilot projects to the Valenciaport Sandbox, in line with the ‘pilot launch’ concept presented during the event.

This edition introduced a revamped format called “matching innovation”, featuring co-creation sessions between the selected start-ups and the challenging companies, and saw a prominent presence from the Valenciaport Port Community throughout the two-day event.

The final proposals were assessed by Antonio Torregrosa (CEO of the Fundación Valenciaport), Christian Thiel (Turquoise X) and Nacho Mas (Startup Valencia and Valencia Digital Summit) and, following a competitive presentation of the solutions held at the Reloj building, the winners of this edition were: First prize for Urban Alert, second prize for Marina Chain and the people’s choice award for Synnect.

Three challenges, three challengers, nine start-ups

The Hackathon was structured around three proposed challenges, each tackled by three start-ups selected following an international search and analysis process:

Hitachi Energy: Multi-vector Energy Management System for ports and terminals, with the start-ups Tibo, Fjuel and Nido i+d.
VPI Logística: Smart management of access, security and mobility for the Port of Valencia’s ZAL, with the start-ups Synnect, Panssari and Oonlive.
Valenciaport Cluster Innovation Committee: Improving the coordinated response to disruptions, with the start-ups Marina Chain, Numbia and Urban Alert.

On the first day, the start-ups presented their proposals, took part in networking sessions with the challenge teams and undertook a technical visit to the port to gain first-hand insight into the complexity and real needs of the port logistics sector. On the second day, each team worked intensively on the joint design of a viable pilot proposal, which was finally presented to the jury.

Awards

The jury recognised the quality of the proposals and awarded the People’s Choice Award – the second prize, worth 3,000 euros and sponsored by the Juan Arizo Serrulla Foundation – and the first prize, worth 6,000 euros, presented by the chair of the Port Authority of Valencia (APV), Mar Chao:

Audience Award: Synnect, with a multi-sensor system and a predictive Digital Twin that provides real-time visibility of vehicles, early congestion alerts and anomaly detection.
Second prize (€3,000, Juan Arizo Serrulla Foundation): Marina Chain, a start-up from Singapore, with a solution for continuous signal monitoring, featuring defined protocols for on-site teams to follow and a process for validating and tracing every action taken.
First prize at the Valenciaport Hackathon (€6,000): Urban Alert, a start-up from Castellón, with a pilot proposal that will enable the model to be validated using real data from the port, without disrupting existing operations and with no further commitment other than to evaluate the results together.

In addition to the cash prize, the winning start-ups will be invited to speak at the Port Entrepreneurship International Congress (PEIC), to be held on 20 and 21 October 2026 as part of the Valencia Digital Summit, and will receive one year’s free membership to enjoy the benefits of being part of the Startup Valencia association.

Statements

Mar Chao. Chair of the Port Authority of Valencia

“At the Port Authority, we are committed to open innovation and to the Valenciaport Sandbox, so that international start-ups can come here to test their solutions. This event reinforces Opentop’s position and its matchmaking service between start-ups and port companies, bringing the most innovative technology closer to the real needs of our port community.”

Antonio Torregrosa. Director General of the Fundación Valenciaport

“We are very pleased with the outcome of this sixth edition of the hackathon, which is designed to become an international platform for co-creating solutions to real challenges in the logistics and port sector. The calibre of the participating start-ups and their commitment to turning every proposal into a real-world pilot within the Valenciaport Sandbox are the best proof that this model works.”

An initiative supported and driven by the ecosystem

The 6th Valenciaport Hackathon has been made possible thanks to the commitment of many. The event is organised by Opentop, the innovation hub for the ports of Valencia, Sagunto and Gandía, promoted by the Valencia Port Authority and managed by the Fundación Valenciaport. The challenges were set by Hitachi Energy, VPI Logística and the Valenciaport Cluster’s Innovation Committee. The €3,000 prize is sponsored by the Juan Arizo Serrulla Foundation. The event is supported by the Valencian Shipping Association (ANV), APMT, Boluda, Infoport, Nealis Innovation Hub and The Whiteam Technology Services as supporters. It is promoted within the innovation ecosystem alongside CSP Spain, Invest in Valencia, Startup Valencia, Valencia Innovation Capital and Ideas UPV.

The organising partners are Innova and Acción, with financial support from the Valencian Agency for Innovation (AVI), as part of the programme for Complementary Actions to Promote and Strengthen Innovation, co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for the Valencian Community 2024–2026.

To all of them, thank you for your commitment and collaboration.

About Opentop

Opentop is Valenciaport’s Innovation Hub. This initiative, led by Fundación Valenciaport with the support of the Port Authority of Valencia, aims primarily to bring open innovation to businesses andentidades que operan en los tres puertos gestionados por la APV (Valencia, Sagunto y Gandía), para potenciar su competitividad.