Global-Scale Hackathon Kicks Off: Busan City to Host DIVE 2025

Data Analysis and App Service Development Activities
Total Prize Pool of 10 Million Won Including Busan Mayor's Award

The global data hackathon event, "Dive 2025," will take place at BEXCO from August 23 to 24.

"Dive (Data Insights and Visualization Event)" is a world-class data hackathon branded by Busan City. After successfully launching its inaugural event last year, this year's edition has significantly expanded in both scale and quality.

The term "hackathon" is a combination of "hacking" and "marathon," referring to a competition where analysts, developers, and designers form teams to develop app services or business models within a limited timeframe.

This year's competition will begin with presentations of topics and judging criteria by each sponsoring organization, followed by team-based data analysis and app service development, mentoring and evaluation by each sponsor, stage presentations by outstanding teams, and overall awards. The top team from each sponsor's evaluation will advance to the finals, where the grand prize, excellence award, and merit award will be determined. Winning teams will receive the Busan Metropolitan Mayor's Award and prize money.

In addition, the top three teams from each sponsor will receive certificates and either prize money or gifts. The total prize pool amounts to 10 million won. Prior to the event, participants engage in two weeks of preliminary activities to explore data, deepening their problem-solving capabilities.

This year, over 500 domestic and international applicants registered for the finals, with 333 participants across 89 teams advancing after preliminary screening. Among them, there are 40 international participants from 14 countries, including 10 invited by Dongseo University, as well as talents from Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Myanmar, Mongolia, and other nations. Approximately 300 applicants reside outside of Busan, reflecting the growing prestige of the event.

For the first time this year, Busan City introduced the "technology partner" category to strengthen collaboration with global tech companies. Three companies-Kakao Mobility, BNK Financial Group, and AllData-along with six public institutions, including Korea Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation, Busan Port Authority, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Busan Public Corporation Council, the Public Data and AI Activation Council for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and the Dongnam Regional Statistics Office, are participating as sponsors.

Three global companies-Amazon Web Services (AWS), Deloitte, and Salesforce-are participating as technology partners, providing cloud-based infrastructure, analytics expertise, and project management training. Ten supporting organizations, including Dongseo University and Pusan National University, will offer participants one-on-one career counseling opportunities.

Jung Nayoung, Director of the Future Technology Strategy Bureau of Busan City, emphasized, "Through Dive 2025, young talents from Korea and abroad will gather in Busan to expand the data-driven innovation ecosystem, and we will support Busan in establishing itself as a global data hub city based on this foundation."