Science ministry opens software meister high school hackathon in Yeosu

The science ministry said Wednesday it opened a joint hackathon for South Korea's software meister high schools, bringing 60 students from five schools together at the Hidden Bay Hotel in Yeosu for three days of AI and software projects.

The event, which runs through Friday, is the 2026 edition of an annual gathering the Ministry of Science and ICT has run as part of a support program for the schools that began in 2014 to train practical AI and software workers for industry and regional employers. Five such schools now operate: Daedeok, which opened in 2015, followed by Daegu in 2016, Gwangju in 2017, Busan in 2021 and North Gyeongsang in 2025.

Students were selected by their own schools and placed into 12 mixed teams. Roughly 10 mentors drawn from working developers and graduates of the schools were assigned to the teams.

A total of eight teams were to be recognized, including one receiving the deputy prime minister's award from the science ministry and two receiving awards from the Institute of Information and Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation.

The hackathon is the ministry's showcase for a school network that has built a record of competition results and overseas placements. Students from the schools have been hired in Silicon Valley for four consecutive years from 2023 through 2026, had a paper accepted at ICTC 2026, an international information and communications technology conference, and won a top prize in Apple's Swift Student Challenge 2026, a worldwide coding competition for student developers.

"In the fast-changing AI ecosystem, the core of national competitiveness lies in young developers who can handle AI skillfully," said Nam Cheol-ki, the ministry's software policy director. "We will support students at software meister high schools so they can take the lead in learning rapidly changing AI technology through differentiated education and grow into AI talent that industry needs."