The ERICA Center for Software Oriented Society at Hanyang University ERICA announced the successful completion of the “2025 ERICA Software-Up! 13th SW Startup Ideathon,” which was held from March 29 to 30 over two sleepless days at the ERICA support center.

The ERICA Center for Software Oriented Society hosts the annual SW Startup Ideathon to foster young entrepreneurs equipped for the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. This year’s event, held under the theme “Proposing innovative business ideas using SW technologies,” was open to current students at Hanyang University ERICA aspiring to start their own businesses.

The event featured a variety of programs, including networking, team building, special lectures, team ideation sessions, mentoring, and an Open IR presentation — all of which ran through the night. Mentoring sessions were held in three stages: the first two rounds focused on reviewing ideas; an overnight mentoring session guided participants in refining their business plans and presentation materials; and the final mentoring round helped teams prepare for their Open IR pitches.

Based on the submitted business plans and Open IR presentations, six teams were selected as finalists after evaluations of originality, technical feasibility, and practical implementation. The grand prize went to Team Shootit, which proposed an AI-based short-form video creation and monetization platform named “Shootit.”

Team Shootit addressed the struggles faced by small business owners in producing short-form content — including high costs, the need for customization, and the challenges of handling production alone. Their solution, Shootit, is an intelligent creative assistant that automates content production using AI, manages high-quality video creation, and tailors content to match each client’s brand identity and goals through pre-configured channels.

The second prize (Excellence Award) went to Team Leaflet for their all-in-one AI-powered video marketing automation service “MAJA.” The third prize (Merit Award) was awarded to Team Tyrano for their daily challenge–based environmental action app “Day:zi.”

Three teams were received Honorable Mention- Team Livia, for developing a real-time harmful children’s content filtering system using deep learning; Team AEGIS, for proposing a safety control system for industrial drone batteries; and Team Cosmos, for their blockchain-based insurance claims and medical MyData management solution, “Send It”

This year’s ideathon was notable for the wide variety of innovative business models proposed, incorporating cutting-edge technologies such as AI, drones, deep learning, and blockchain.

Scott Uk-Jin Lee, the Vice President of the ERICA Center for Software Oriented Society, remarked, “The participants, full of creativity and entrepreneurial spirit, came together and presented highly sophisticated and well-developed business models within just two days. Their presentation skills and professionalism were truly impressive. I hope this competition continues to grow as a platform for nurturing startup talents with strong software capabilities and real-world problem-solving skills.”