Huawei’s Tech4City competition crowned its 2026 winners in Singapore this week, with a record 240 entries — double last year’s total — submitted under the theme “Fuelled by AI, Powered for Public Good.” Singapore’s Minister for Social and Family Development, Mr Masagos Zulkifli, attended the finals at The Meeting Point at LaunchPad @ One-North as Guest of Honour.
Key Takeaways- Team Sunday, from Singapore Institute of Technology and Singapore University of Technology and Design, won the S$16,000 top prize for a voice-first AI accessibility platform built with the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped.
- This year’s competition drew 240 entries from more than 15 institutions — double 2025’s total — and for the first time required every team to submit a working prototype.
- Route Guardians’ bus-disruption AI, TransitOps, won SBS Transit’s S$3,000 Best Innovation in Mobility Award for the fourth year running.
Record cohort, one unified track
Now in its fifth edition, Tech4City drew its biggest cohort yet: 240 entries from students and startups across more than 15 universities, polytechnics, ITE institutions and junior colleges. For the first time, every team competed in a single track and had to submit a working prototype rather than a concept alone. Participants aged 16 to 35 built solutions across four themes: AI for Transportation, AI for Education, AI for Community and AI for Health. One problem statement came from the Infocomm Media Development Authority, challenging teams to design for online safety and responsible digital habits.
Accessibility platform wins top prize
Team Sunday, made up of students from Singapore Institute of Technology and Singapore University of Technology and Design, won the S$16,000 top prize for a voice-first AI accessibility platform that lets people with visual and motor impairments operate a smartphone independently. The team built the solution with the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped.
Runner-up EduNets, from the Singapore Institute of Management, received S$11,000 for a study platform grounded in cognitive memory science, with concept webs, adaptive practice and teacher dashboards.
“For 25 years, Huawei has contributed to Singapore’s digital and green transformation. As Singapore strives to become a global hub for applied AI, Huawei is focused on turning AI innovation into real-world impact. Through Tech4City, we are empowering young people to develop practical AI solutions that address community needs,” said Mr David Shi, CEO of Huawei International.
Mobility award for bus-disruption AI
Among the remaining finalists, Route Guardians took the Best Innovation in Mobility Award, sponsored for the fourth consecutive year by SBS Transit. Their solution, TransitOps, is an intelligent disruption-management system that connects bus captains and command operations through multi-agent AI to help route diversions safely.
“It is encouraging to see young people exploring how AI can improve accessibility for persons with disabilities and enhance the public transport experience… My warmest congratulations to the winners, and well done to all participants for their ideas, creativity and passion,” said Mr Jeffrey Sim, Group CEO of SBS Transit.
Marking 25 years in Singapore
This year’s competition also marks 25 years since Huawei set up in Singapore, where 70 per cent of its local workforce is now Singaporean. Over the past five years, its partnerships with 12 ICT Academies have trained more than 4,000 students, with over 500 earning industry-recognised Huawei ICT certifications. At the 10th Huawei ICT Competition Global Final this year, a National University of Singapore team won the Grand Prize in the Innovation Track for an AI-powered essay feedback platform, with Singapore University of Social Sciences and Nanyang Polytechnic teams placing second and third in their tracks, against entrants from more than 2,000 universities worldwide.
