Jointly steered by the Digital Policy Office (DPO) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Data, the “Hong Kong/Shanghai Co-operation Open Data Challenge 2026” marks the fourth consecutive year of collaboration between the two cities. Building upon the achievements of the previous three editions, Hong Kong and Shanghai have further deepened their data cooperation, leveraging the competition to drive applications and jointly promote the high-quality development of the digital economy.
Themed "Co-creating a Data Industry Platform for the Two Cities", this year's competition leveraged open data from both cities to align with emerging urban development needs. Focusing on four key areas, namely smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, and smart economy, the contestants created innovative projects and developed frontier applications to foster synergy in the digital economy development of both cities. With more international elements incorporated this year, some Hong Kong and Shanghai teams explored global application scenarios, thereby promoting the global advancement of digital technologies and innovation capabilities of the two cities.
The competition had received an enthusiastic response this year, attracting over 70 individual and team entries, almost doubling that of the previous edition. Following the first judging, 12 teams from various enterprises and institutions in Hong Kong had advanced to the Final Judging and competed alongside finalist teams from Shanghai, vying for a place among the top-four finalists and the Grand Award of the competition. Their proposals covered multiple frontier applications, including underground utility management, intelligent electricity-carbon calculation, low-altitude airspace management, smart construction, healthcare, cultural intelligence and talent recruitment, demonstrating the enormous potential of open data in enhancing urban governance efficiency and the quality of public services.
The Final Judging and Awards Presentation Ceremony were held in Shanghai, along with corporate visits, exhibition opportunities, and business matching , to further strengthen innovation and technology exchanges between Shanghai and Hong Kong. The Hong Kong delegation excelled with outstanding performances. Among them, the Lands Department / AECOM （艾奕康有限公司）/ China Energy Engineering Group Guangdong Electric Power Design Institute Co., LTD garnered the Grand Award and the Best Smart Environment Award with their solution "Underground Utilities Information System", while FAITH (Frankie and Apple Intelligence Technology HK) claimed the Best Smart Mobility Award with their solution "Cross-border Self-drive Transportation Trusted Data Service Platform (HK Drive Safe)". The Shanghai teams performed with equal distinction. Shanghai Linshu Culture Technology Co., Ltd. clinched the Best Smart Economy Award with its solution "Civilization Spatiotemporal Intelligence Platform“, while Intellijourney secured the Best Smart Living Award for its solution " JinMiGe: A IIIF-Powered Multimodal Agent Platform for Chinese Painting and Calligraphy.“ Some outstanding entries may be nominated to compete for the Asia Pacific Information and Communications Technology Alliance Awards to further demonstrate Hong Kong's innovation and technology (I&T) strengths on the regional stage. These award-winning projects not only recognized the participants’ creativity and innovation but also injected fresh momentum into Shanghai-Hong Kong data cooperation, opening a new chapter of deeper collaboration in the digital economy between the two cities.