AI For Impact 2026
Solving Tomorrow’s Challenges Today
Kaplan Singapore Interdisciplinary
AI Solution Hackathon 2026
From Ideas to Impact. From Classroom to Real World.
Artificial Intelligence is transforming every profession—not just technology. The future belongs to graduates who can combine domain expertise with AI to solve meaningful problems.
AI FOR IMPACT 2026 is Kaplan Singapore’s inaugural interdisciplinary AI hackathon, bringing together lecturers, students and industry professionals to design, build and showcase innovative AI-powered solutions that address real-world challenges across business, communications, law, health and social sciences, and information technology, including multimodal solutions that use text, image, audio and video generation where relevant.
Over the course of the competition, teams will transform an idea into a deployable AI solution through expert mentoring, an AI coding workshop and an intensive live coding hackathon.
Whether you’re improving business productivity, enhancing healthcare, increasing access to legal services or building the next generation of intelligent applications, this is your opportunity to create AI that delivers real value.
Who Can Participate?
The hackathon is exclusively open to the Kaplan Higher Education Academic (KHEA) Singapore community.
Student Eligibility
Participants must be currently enrolled students of:
- KHEA Singapore; or
- A Kaplan Singapore partner university programme.
Lecturer Eligibility
Academic team members must be current active Kaplan Singapore adjunct lecturers.
Team Composition
Each team must consist of:
- Maximum 1 Kaplan Singapore adjunct lecturer
- Minimum 3 students - maximum 5 students
- Optional: 1 industry expert
Students should lead the ideation, design and development of the solution, while lecturers and industry experts provide academic and industry guidance.
Cross-disciplinary teams are highly encouraged.
Theme
AI for Impact: Solving Tomorrow’s Challenges Today
Create practical, responsible and deployable AI solutions that improve lives, organisations and communities.
Choose a challenge from one or more discipline areas below:
- 💼 Business
- 📣 Communications
- ⚖️ Law
- ❤️ Health & Social Sciences
- 💻 Information Technology & Computer Science
Interdisciplinary solutions that combine multiple subject domains are welcomed.
Challenge Statements
Teams may choose a challenge from one or more discipline areas below, or propose an interdisciplinary challenge that combines subject expertise with practical AI capabilities.
Challenge Statement
How might AI help organisations improve productivity, customer engagement, marketing performance, sustainability or decision-making?Examples include AI-assisted market research, customer service automation, sales or operations dashboards, personalised learning or onboarding tools, AI-generated marketing images or videos, product visualisation, and campaign content workflows.
Solutions may use text, data, image, audio, video, animation or other multimodal AI models, provided the use of AI is meaningful, responsible and clearly disclosed.
Responsible Media Use
Teams using image, video, audio, avatar or other media generation must clearly label AI-generated content, disclose the models or tools used, avoid misleading or harmful synthetic media, respect copyright and intellectual property, and obtain consent where a real person’s likeness, voice or personal data is involved.Challenge Statement
How might AI help people create, verify, adapt or distribute trusted and accessible content across digital media channels?Examples include AI image or video generation for campaigns, social media content planning, AI-assisted storytelling, multilingual communication, captioning and transcription, avatar or presenter-based explainers, content accessibility tools, misinformation awareness, and brand-safe creative workflows.
Solutions may use text, data, image, audio, video, animation or other multimodal AI models, provided the use of AI is meaningful, responsible and clearly disclosed.
Responsible Media Use
Teams using image, video, audio, avatar or other media generation must clearly label AI-generated content, disclose the models or tools used, avoid misleading or harmful synthetic media, respect copyright and intellectual property, and obtain consent where a real person’s likeness, voice or personal data is involved.Challenge Statement
How might AI improve access to legal information, compliance support or responsible AI governance while maintaining clear professional boundaries?Examples include plain-language legal explainers, compliance checklists, contract or policy review support, AI governance tools, and multimedia legal literacy resources such as generated infographics, short videos or guided explainers with appropriate disclaimers.
Solutions may use text, data, image, audio, video, animation or other multimodal AI models, provided the use of AI is meaningful, responsible and clearly disclosed.
Responsible Media Use
Teams using image, video, audio, avatar or other media generation must clearly label AI-generated content, disclose the models or tools used, avoid misleading or harmful synthetic media, respect copyright and intellectual property, and obtain consent where a real person’s likeness, voice or personal data is involved.Challenge Statement
How might AI support wellbeing, community services, accessibility, inclusion or evidence-informed social impact?Examples include wellbeing support tools, service navigation, community resource matching, accessible health education content, AI-generated infographics or videos for public awareness, multilingual outreach materials, and social research analysis tools.
Solutions may use text, data, image, audio, video, animation or other multimodal AI models, provided the use of AI is meaningful, responsible and clearly disclosed.
Responsible Media Use
Teams using image, video, audio, avatar or other media generation must clearly label AI-generated content, disclose the models or tools used, avoid misleading or harmful synthetic media, respect copyright and intellectual property, and obtain consent where a real person’s likeness, voice or personal data is involved.Challenge Statement
How might AI improve software development, cybersecurity, digital safety, data automation or reliable AI systems?Examples include AI coding assistants, workflow agents, knowledge assistants, cybersecurity awareness tools, multimodal applications that combine text, image, audio and video, AI media-generation pipelines, evaluation dashboards, prompt-injection safeguards, and human-in-the-loop approval systems.
Solutions may use text, data, image, audio, video, animation or other multimodal AI models, provided the use of AI is meaningful, responsible and clearly disclosed.
Responsible Media Use
Teams using image, video, audio, avatar or other media generation must clearly label AI-generated content, disclose the models or tools used, avoid misleading or harmful synthetic media, respect copyright and intellectual property, and obtain consent where a real person’s likeness, voice or personal data is involved.
COMPETITION JOURNEY
- Stage 1: Register & Submit Your Proposal
1 September – 26 September 2026
Submit your team’s proposal describing:
- the real-world problem
- your target users
- your proposed AI-powered solution
- expected impact
- technical approach
Your proposed solution should be a deployable web application, AI-powered automation, AI-enabled media solution, multimodal application, or a combination of these. - Stage 2: Pitch Your Idea
29 September 2026
All teams will present their proposed solution to a judging panel before development begins.
This stage focuses on the quality of your idea and team synergy, not a complete product. Selected teams will progress to stage 3. - Stage 3: AI Coding Workshop (1 Day)
Early October 10am – 5pm
Selected teams will participate in an exclusive one-day hands-on workshop covering modern AI development tools, rapid application development and best practices for building production-ready AI solutions.
-> To include training on presentation skills
Office hour with tech & business mentors between 6 Oct to 25 Oct - Stage 4: Live Coding Hackathon
2 Nov (10:00 AM) – 3 Nov 2026 (10:00 AM)
Each team will have 24 hours to transform their proposal into a working AI solution.
At the official opening, five surprise feature challenges will be revealed.
Every team must successfully integrate at least two of these surprise features into their final solution.
Throughout the hackathon, teams will have access to scheduled mentor office hours with academic and industry experts for technical guidance, AI implementation advice and solution feedback.
-> Industry experts to be slotted for consultation during the live hackathon
WHAT YOU'LL BUILD
Your final solution should demonstrate meaningful use of AI through one or more of the following:
- A working prototype;
- A deployable web application, AI automation, AI-enabled media solution, multimodal application or combined solution AI-generated or AI-assisted media outputs such as images, videos, animations, audio, avatars, explainers or campaign assets, where relevant;
- A source-code repository or exported project files;
- A project README;
- A final presentation deck;
- A short demonstration video as a backup;
- A responsible AI and risk statement; (e.g., A media and AI disclosure note listing the models, tools, prompts, assets, licences and permissions used for any generated or edited media)
- A list of the surprise features implemented; and
- Instructions for accessing or running the solution.
The emphasis is on solving genuine problems with AI that is practical, responsible and ready for real-world use.
FINAL PRESENTATION STRUCTURE
Teams should cover:
1. The problem and intended users
2. The proposed solution
3. The working product (including any AI-generated media outputs and how they were created, disclosed and reviewed where relevant)
4. The role of AI
5. The system architecture
6. The two or more surprise features implemented
7. Responsible AI and risk controls
8. Industry validation or social impact
9. Conclusion / Next steps
A live demonstration is strongly encouraged. Teams should also prepare a short recorded demonstration in case of technical difficulties.
The recommended format is:
- Five-minute presentation and demonstration; and
- Five-minute question-and-answer session.
The organisers may adjust the timing depending on the number of finalists.
JUDGING CRITERIA
| Criterion | Weight | What Judges Will Evaluate |
| Problem Definition & User Impact | 15% | Clearly defines a real-world problem, demonstrates understanding of target users, provides evidence of the need, and shows potential for meaningful impact. |
| Innovation & Originality | 15% | Creativity of the solution, uniqueness of the approach, and how effectively it improves upon existing methods or products. |
| AI Implementation & Appropriateness | 15% | Effective and meaningful use of AI, appropriate choice of AI models or techniques, quality of prompts/workflows, and how AI enhances the solution. Where relevant, this includes thoughtful use of multimodal AI such as text, image, video, audio or speech models. |
| Technical Execution & Functionality | 20% | Quality of implementation, stability, completeness of the prototype, deployment readiness, system architecture, and overall technical robustness. |
| Integration of Surprise Features | 15% | Successful implementation of at least two surprise features, demonstrating adaptability, creativity, and seamless integration into the solution. |
| Responsible AI, Ethics, Privacy & Security | 10% | Consideration of AI ethics, fairness, transparency, privacy, security, bias mitigation, human oversight, copyright/IP, consent, and responsible disclosure of AI-generated media. |
| Pitch & Demonstration | 10% | Clarity and professionalism of the presentation, effectiveness of the live demonstration, teamwork, explanation of any generated media outputs, and ability to respond confidently to judges' questions. |
| Total | 100% |
Win Attractive Cash Prizes (potential free credits to tools?)
Champion
S$5,000
🥈 First Runner-up
S$3,000
🥉 Second Runner-up
S$2,000
⭐ Four Notable Mention Awards
4 × S$500
Total Prize Pool: S$12,000
KEY DATES
| Event | Date |
| Registration Opens | 1 September 2026 |
| Registration Closes | 26 September 2026 |
| Proposal Pitch | 29 September 2026 |
| AI Coding Workshop | Early October |
| Live Coding Hackathon | 2 Nov (10:00 AM) – 3 Nov (10:00AM) |
| Final Presentation & Awards | 3 Nov 2026 (1PM – 5PM) |
READY TO BUILD FOR TOMORROW?
Bring together your team.
Solve a meaningful problem.
Learn cutting-edge AI development skills.
Build a working solution.
Create real impact.