Global Innovation Build Challenge V2

Overview

The Global Innovation Build Challenge (GIBC) V2 is an online, student-led international hackathon hosted by Kang Chiao International School (KCIS), Xiugang Campus. It builds on the success of GIBC V1 and provides an advanced engineering platform for student developers, researchers, and innovators to design high-impact computational technology. The challenge is structured around modern development frameworks and scalable tools, emphasizing the design, optimization, and deployment of robust systems to solve complex global problems. Participants will engage in a 10-week hacking period, from July 11 to September 21, 2026, with the flexibility to register, form teams, and submit solutions across three distinct challenge tracks. These tracks are designed around real-world industry problems, requiring technical autonomy, structural optimization, and domain-specific integration, covering foundational model architecture, applied data engineering, and unrestricted general invention. All projects will be evaluated on an international stage by a panel of 10–15 industry professionals and expert judges. The event will culminate in a virtual closing award ceremony on September 28, 2026. The hackathon encourages participants to bridge the gap between theoretical concepts and practical software solutions.

What to build

Participants must build a fully functional prototype, model, or technical system that aligns with one of three challenge tracks: Track 01: TECH (LLM 50M Parameters), Track 02: Applied (Medical Technology & Financial), or Track 03: Open (General Technical Invention). For Track 01, the requirement is to build and train a custom Large Language Model strictly capped at 50 million parameters from scratch. For Track 02, the system must be built entirely around empirical, real-world data science, predictive machine learning, or automated financial/medical pipelines. For Track 03, participants must build a hardware schematic, an advanced software stack, or an autonomous generative algorithm that transcends conventional structural boundaries. Across all tracks, strong submissions must feature a working prototype, a complete end-to-end flow, handle real-world complexity, and be clearly documented for reproducibility.

Prizes

Key dates

• Registration PeriodJuly 11 - September 26, 2026
• Hacking PeriodJuly 11 - September 21, 2026
• Submission DeadlineSeptember 21, 2026 @ 11:45am EDT
• Finalist AnnouncementAfter September 21, 2026 (exact date not specified)
• Virtual Closing Award CeremonySeptember 28, 2026

Eligibility

Participants must be above the legal age of majority in their country of residence and must be students only. Companies and professional organizations are excluded from participation. The hackathon is open to participants from all countries and territories, with standard exceptions applying.

How to enter

1. Register on Devpost for the Global Innovation Build Challenge (GIBC) V2 to secure your spot.
2. Assemble your group (1 to 6 members) or decide to build as a solo developer. Once your group is set, choose one of the three distinct tracks.
3. Join the official GIBC V2 Discord server to network with other global participants and stay updated on announcements.

Submission requirements

• **Project Description:** A clear, written explanation on your Devpost project page detailing what was built, the problem it solves, and its internal workings.
• **Source Code:** A link to a public GitHub or GitLab repository containing all project files. The repository must include a robust README file covering comprehensive setup instructions, prerequisites, and usage guidelines.
• **Demo Video:** A 2–5 minute video uploaded to YouTube, Vimeo, or Youku (with the link included in your submission). The video must demonstrate the project in action, show the technical architecture running, and explain the methodology.
• **Built With:** A complete breakdown listing all technologies, frameworks, libraries, APIs, and hardware tools used in the project.
• **Team Information:** A list of all team members using their real full names, mandatory for verification and issuance of participation certificates.
• **Screenshots:** At least 3 high-quality screenshots or images uploaded to the project page showing the interface, data pipelines, training loss curves, or technical setup in action.
• For Finalists: Prepare solutions for the virtual closing award ceremony, with further technical validation details to be shared upon finalist announcement.

Judging criteria

• LLM (Perplexity & Accuracy): Language modeling quality on held-out validation sets. Lower perplexity and higher benchmark accuracy score higher.
• LLM (Reasoning Performance): Performance on logic, math, and commonsense reasoning tasks. Evaluated through standardized benchmarks.
• LLM (Training Efficiency): Compute efficiency, training speed, and memory footprint. Efficient architectures and training strategies rewarded.
• LLM (Innovation): Novel architecture decisions, creative data strategies, or unique training approaches. Bonus for originality.
• MED / FINANCE (Innovation & Impact): How novel is the invention? Does it address a genuine medical or scientific need with measurable impact?
• MED / FINANCE (Technical Feasibility): Does the prototype actually work? Quality of design, materials, code, and engineering methodology.
• MED / FINANCE (Scientific Rigor): Quality of research, experimental design, data collection, and validation of the approach.
• MED / FINANCE (Presentation): Clarity of the demo, explanation of the invention, and ability to communicate its value to judges.
• GENERAL INVENTION (Creativity): Originality and boldness of the concept. How unique is the idea? Does it push creative boundaries?
• GENERAL INVENTION (Execution): Technical quality, polish, and usability. Does the prototype work well? Is the experience refined?
• GENERAL INVENTION (Impact): Potential to inspire, educate, or solve a real problem. Does the project leave an impression?
• GENERAL INVENTION (Presentation): Clarity and quality of the final demo. Can the team effectively communicate their vision?

Sponsors & partners

Resources

• Full Rules
• Email the hackathon manager
• xyz Domain Names
• MeDo
• Interview Cake
• Art of Problem Solving