We are proud to celebrate an extraordinary achievement by our students, Fransiskus Brige Guntur, Nathanael Jason Nadaban, Daniel Delon Ieong, and Jirapatr Pakaakarelerdkul (IPEET), who have earned national recognition as a winner of this year’s Hult Prize competition.

This success reflects not only exceptional creativity and determination, but also a deep commitment to addressing real-world challenges through innovative thinking.

Following this national win, our team has advanced to the Digital Incubator phase of the competition. From here, the goal is to progress to the Global Accelerator, and ultimately securing a place in the Global Finals, where participants compete for a $1 million investment.

This accomplishment brings great honor to our department, and we commend Jason for his hard work, resilience, and ambition. We look forward to seeing how his venture continues to grow and make a meaningful impact on a global scale.

To learn more about this Hult Prize journey, please read on:

Hult Prize Journey

The Hult Prize is the world’s largest student social entrepreneurship competition, challenging university teams to build for-profit startups that address global issues aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Each year, over 200,000 students across 130+ countries participate, competing through multiple stages for a $1M seed investment

The competition consists of five key stages: Qualifiers, Nationals, Digital Incubator, Global Accelerator, and Global Finals. (Hult Prize)

Our team developed a hardware–software solution targeting shrimp farming, a high-risk industry where oxygen system failures can cause complete crop loss within hours. This transforms shrimp farming from a reactive process into a data-driven, preventive system, reducing risk, improving operational efficiency, and lowering unnecessary energy consumption.

The judges emphasized our ability to connect engineering execution with real-world adoption, rather than presenting a purely conceptual idea.

Next Stage: Digital Incubator

Following our national win, we advanced to the Hult Prize Digital Incubator, a six-week global program where top teams refine and validate their startups.

In this stage, teams:

● Test assumptions with real users

● Refine business models and market strategy

● Receive mentorship from industry experts

● Build measurable traction and impact frameworks (Hult Prize)

Our immediate focus is:

1. Pilot Deployment – Testing the system on real shrimp farms to validate performance

2. Product Refinement – Improving hardware reliability and data accuracy

3. Market Expansion – Scaling from Taiwan to Southeast Asia

4. Fundraising & Partnerships – Securing industry partners and early adopters

The goal is to progress to the Global Accelerator (top ~20 teams globally), and ultimately compete in the Global Finals for the $1M investment.

This journey is not just a competition—it is a structured pathway to transform an early-stage idea into a scalable, impact-driven startup. Through Hult Prize, we are building a solution that directly improves livelihoods while advancing sustainable aquaculture.