• The winners of this sixth edition are: first prize for Urban Alert, second prize for Marina Chain, and the Audience Award for Synnect.
• Mar Chao, President of the Port Authority of Valencia, attended the awards ceremony.
• This edition stood out for its strong international dimension and the high calibre of participants, geared towards testing their solutions in the Valenciaport Sandbox
• A new format with wide-ranging, active participation from the Port Community.

Valencia, July 6, 2026

Opentop, Valenciaport’s open innovation hub, held the sixth edition of its startup hackathon at the Edificio del Reloj in the Port of Valencia, Spain. The event brought together high-calibre startups from a range of countries, who co-created pilot proposals, designed to become real-world trials within the Valenciaport Sandbox, alongside Hitachi Energy, VPI Logística and the Valenciaport Cluster Innovation Committee.

This edition stood out for its international scope, with a call for applications that attracted more than 40 startups and scale-ups, many from outside Spain, raising the technical calibre and maturity of the solutions presented and reinforcing the hackathon’s position as an international meeting point for logistics and port innovation, all with the declared aim of moving the co-created pilots into the Valenciaport Sandbox, under the “pilot launch” concept presented during the event.

This edition also introduced a refreshed format called “matching innovation“, featuring dedicated co-creation spaces between the selected startups and the challenger companies, with a strong presence from the Valenciaport Port Community across both days.

The final proposals were judged by Antonio Torregrosa (Managing Director of Fundación Valenciaport), Christian Thiel (Co-founder of Turquois X) and Nacho Mas (CEO of Startup Valencia and Valencia Digital Summit). Following a closely contested round of presentations, the winners of this edition were: first prize for Urban Alert, second prize for Marina Chain and the Audience Award for Synnect.

Three challenges, three challengers, nine startups

The Hackathon was structured around three proposed challenges, each addressed by three startups selected through an international search and screening process:

• Hitachi Energy: Multi-vector Energy Management System for ports and terminals, with startups Tibo, Fjuel and Nido i+d.
• VPI Logística: Smart management of access, security and mobility for the Port of Valencia’s ZAL, with startups Synnect, Panssari and Oonlive.
• Valenciaport Cluster Innovation Committee: Improving coordinated response to disruptions, with startups Marina Chain, Numbia and Urban Alert.

On the first day, the startups presented their proposals, took part in networking sessions with the challenger teams, and joined a technical visit to the port to gain first-hand insight into the complexity and real needs of the logistics and port sector. On the second day, each team worked intensively on jointly designing a viable pilot proposal, which was then presented to the jury.

Prizes

The jury recognized the quality of the proposals and presented the Audience Award, the second prize worth €3,000 and sponsored by Fundación Juan Arizo Serrulla; and the first prize, worth €6,000, awarded by the President of the Port Authority of Valencia (APV), Mar Chao:

• Audience Award: Synnect, with a multi-sensor system and a predictive Digital Twin offering real-time vehicle visibility, early congestion alerts and anomaly detection.
• Second prize (€3,000, sponsored by Fundación Juan Arizo Serrulla): Marina Chain, a startup from Singapore, with a continuous signal-monitoring solution featuring defined action protocols for on-the ground teams and a process for validating and tracing every action taken.
• First prize of the Valenciaport Hackathon (€6,000): Urban Alert, with a pilot proposal that will validate the model using real port data, without disrupting existing operations and with no further commitment than jointly evaluating the results.

Beyond the cash prize, the winning startups will join as speakers at the Port Entrepreneurship International Congress (PEIC), taking place on 20 and 21 October 2026 as part of the Valencia Digital Summit, and will enjoy a free one-year membership with Startup Valencia.

Statements

Mar Chao. President of Port Authority of Valencia

“At the Port Authority, we are firmly committed to open innovation and to the Valenciaport Sandbox, so that international startups can come here to test their solutions. This event strengthens Opentop’s position and its matchmaking service between startups and port companies, bringing the most innovative technology closer to the real needs of our Port Community.”

Antonio Torregrosa. Managing Director of Fundación Valenciaport

“We are very pleased with the outcome of this sixth edition of the hackathon, with a format that aims to become an international platform for co-creating real challenges in the logistics and port sector. The calibre of the participating startups, and their drive to turn every proposal into a real pilot within the Valenciaport Sandbox, is the best proof that this model works.”

An initiative backed and driven by the port ecosystem

The 6th Valenciaport Hackathon was made possible thanks to the commitment of many. The event is organised by Opentop, the innovation hub for the ports of Valencia, Sagunto and Gandía, driven by the Port Authority of Valencia and managed by Fundación Valenciaport. The challenges were put forward by Hitachi Energy, VPI Logística and the Valenciaport Cluster Innovation Committee. The €3,000 prize is backed by Fundación Juan Arizo Serrulla. The event is supported by Asociación Naviera Valenciana (ANV), APMT, Boluda, Infoport, Nealis Innovation Hub and The Whiteam Technology Services as supporters. It is driven forward within the innovation ecosystem alongside CSP Spain, Invest in Valencia, Startup Valencia, Valencia Innovation Capital and Ideas UPV.

The organising partners are Innova&acción, with financial support from the Agència Valenciana de la Innovació (AVI).