Teams' creations tackle issues from scams, pet care to bird calls

Innovations emerging from hackathons yield potential solutions to societal issues

- Sarah Koh

A scam simulation where users role-play falling prey and losing money to scammers. A web-based game that teaches users responsible pet ownership. A platform that helps to identify local bird species based on their calls.

These are among projects that were created during two hackathons in the last two years: the Hack For Public Good (HFPG) in 2025 and Build for Good (BFG) Environment in 2024.

Organised by Open Government Products (OGP), an independent division of the Government Technology Agency (GovTech), HFPG is a month-long hackathon held every January since 2020 that encourages its employees to build solutions that tackle public issues.

The BFG Environment, organised by OGP in partnership with the SG Eco Fund, is open to all Singapore residents aged 18 and above. Here, five winning teams will take part in an eight-week accelerator programme to develop their innovations, with up to $100,000 in funding, mentorship by industry experts, and product workshops.

Innovations that have emerged from these hackathons include ScamShield, the anti-scam app that helps people filter scam messages and calls, and RemediSG, which collects and redistributes unused medication.

The Straits Times sat down with three hackathon teams to find out what societal issues they are trying to solve, how their creations have evolved since the hackathons, and what plans they have.

UNPACKED: A SCAM SIMULATION PLATFORM FOR UP-CLOSE EDUCATION Many people have probably seen countless anti-scam advertisements in public spaces and on social media, not to mention read about scam victims in multiple news reports. But have they ever assessed their own abilities to identify a scam?

They can go ahead and try out Unpacked, an immersive scam simulation built by a group of five OGP employees, which allows users to experience first-hand what it is like to interact with scammers posing as government officials.