When the virtual countdown began on November 14th, IEEE-HKN members from around the world opened their laptops with one shared goal: helping IEEE-HKN chapters and IEEE Student Branches thrive.
In celebration of the 15th anniversary of the merger between Eta Kappa Nu and IEEE, the second edition of the IEEE-HKN International Hackathon invited students to build something real, an open-source smart budgeting platform that chapters and branches could one day use to plan activities, track expenses, and become more financially resilient. Today, that union is more than symbolic; it is practical, collaborative, and innovation-driven. The 2025 IEEE-HKN International Hackathon stood as a vibrant demonstration of this shared future. What participants created was more than software, it was a contribution to the global IEEE and HKN community.
The idea behind the hackathon is as simple as it is powerful: bring together HKN chapters and IEEE Student Branch members across continents, give them a real challenge that chapters genuinely face, and let engineering excellence flourish in a truly global environment.
What followed was ten days of collaboration across time zones, late-night debugging, and creative problem-solving that once again showcased the excellence and commitment of IEEE-HKN members worldwide.
Building Solutions for the Chapters of Tomorrow
Rather than assign small, isolated tasks, this edition asked participants to design a complete, fully functioning system, one flexible enough to be adopted by any chapter, anywhere, regardless of size or resources. With open-source good practices as guidance, transparency and future collaboration were at the heart of the challenge.
Participants quickly understood this was not just another coding competition; this was community engineering.
As one participant noted, “It felt like we were building something that IEEE and HKN chapters will genuinely use, and that made the work meaningful.”
Connected Through Code, Across the World
The hackathon spanned ten days, from November 14th through November 23rd, entirely online. Teams received ongoing technical support through a staffed Discord server, an essential tool that enabled quick clarifications, fast debugging assistance, and a lively, collaborative spirit among chapters that might otherwise never interact.
Eighteen teams registered at the start, mixing IEEE and HKN student members from both undergraduate and graduate levels. This cross-involvement was particularly inspiring. The hackathon served as a bridge between established chapters and students newly discovering the values and excellence of HKN.
Seven highly committed teams advanced to the final evaluation round: United, HackSmiths, Tsukikage, Primvicta, SpaghettiOverflow, PNWers, and Triple Gators. Their submissions, diverse in architecture, interface, and feature sets, demonstrated the strength of student-driven innovation when purpose and talent align.
Industry Experts, High Standards
Evaluating the platform required real-world scrutiny. The judging panel consisted of accomplished IEEE-HKN professionals and industry engineers from companies including IBM, NVIDIA, Amazon, our sponsor TestEquity, and leading research institutions. They assessed usability, security, maintainability, and innovation with rigorous professional standards.
One judge reflected, “It was remarkable seeing modern software trends incorporated so naturally by students, containerized deployment, access control, digital receipts, financial visualization. This is industry-level work.”
Because the competition required complete systems rather than prototypes, the scores were very close. Ultimately, distinctions between finalists came down to fine details in architecture, forward-thinking design, and how well each solution addressed real chapter needs.
Where Innovation Meets Open Source
After the technical evaluation concluded, all seven finalists took the virtual stage on December 6th to pitch their solutions live. A supportive worldwide audience watched as students presented the results of long nights and strong teamwork. The event culminated in the announcement of the overall winners:
| Place | Team | Chapter(s) |
| 1st | SpaghettiOverflow | Mu Nu (Politecnico di Torino, Italy) |
| 2nd | PNWers | Nu Theta (Pacific Northwest University, USA) |
| 3rd | United | Nu Eta (Sri Sai Ram Engineering College, India) |
1st Place – SpaghettiOverflow
Mu Nu Chapter, Politecnico di Torino (Italy)
Members: Simone Romano, Renato Mignone, Elia Innocenti, Andrea Botticella, Claudia Sanna, Eric Ruiz Gimenez
2nd Place – PNWers
Nu Theta Chapter, Purdue University Northwest (USA)
Members: Kate Kilmer, Tanyaradzwa Chinyai, Samudra Gargo Bhattacharya, Kelsie Christian Le Caravateanu, Jonathan Santiago
3rd Place – United
Nu Eta Chapter, Sri Sairam Engineering College (India)
Members: Roshan Melvin G. A., Saravanan R. K., Alagappan A., Harini M., Nakul S.
A Keynote on Openness and the Future
Just minutes after the awards, the spotlight shifted from the projects to the broader philosophy behind them: openness.
The Hackathon keynote was delivered by Bruce Perens, a founder of the Open Source Initiative and author of the Open Source Definition, the foundational principles that shaped modern collaborative development. His talk, “Open Source and Innovation: How We Got Here, Why We Must Change,” explored both the successes of shared software and the emerging challenges posed by artificial intelligence.
His message resonated deeply: innovation accelerates when knowledge is freely shared, exactly what this hackathon embodies.
Although co-keynote speaker Jim Jagielski, co-founder of the Apache Software Foundation, was unable to attend due to an unexpected emergency circumstance, he expressed strong enthusiasm for joining a future IEEE-HKN international event.
Looking Forward: A Growing Legacy
Every participant walked away with something valuable: new skills, new teammates, new ideas, and new confidence in what they can build. Staff and judges echoed the sentiment that this was a well-managed and inspiring program, yet, like every engineering project, it continues to evolve through iteration.
In just two editions, the IEEE-HKN International Hackathon is already becoming a flagship initiative uniting IEEE and HKN students worldwide. It encourages innovation around real community challenges, recognizes excellence through professional evaluations, and gives participants exposure to industry and academia.
It reflects the strengths of the IEEE-HKN merger: technical rigor, leadership, service, and lifelong learning. It brings chapters and student branches together. It encourages ambition and real-world execution.
Most importantly, it shows that innovation thrives when we innovate together.
Work now continues as the most promising open-source solutions enter a refinement phase in collaboration with the winning teams, with hopes of evolving into widely adopted tools, created by IEEE-HKN members, for IEEE-HKN members.
As one student summarized at the close of pitch day:
“This wasn’t just a hackathon. It felt like contributing to the future of our student community.”
And as long as IEEE-HKN members continue designing that future, collaboratively, globally, and openly, the organization will remain a powerhouse of engineering leadership for generations to come.
Acknowledgments
This event was entirely powered by volunteers. Deep appreciation goes to:
Professional Jury
Pitch Competition Jury Panel
Purusoth Mahendran, Mona Arora, John Werner, Rohith Goura, Tina Brumley
Offline Evaluation Jury Panel
Naga Sai Mrunal Vuppala, Dr. Shashikant Patil, Tejas Padliya, Yakaiah Bommishetti,
John Lackey, Seema Phalke, Gaurav Vipat
Sponsor
TestEquity
Organizing Committee
Serena Canavero, Mia Kennedy, Antonio Capece, Alessio Menichinelli, Matteo Alasio,
Akila Wijethunge, Nasreen Begam, Francesca Coriale, Irene Maria Izzo, Mattia Molinari
