What can a team build when the problem is revealed only at the start, the clock is already running and the solution has to work in the real world? Hack MY IoT 2026 offered a clear answer: a great deal.
On 19 and 20 September 2026, MY Evolution joined La French Tech Malaysia and Monash University Malaysia for Hack MY IoT 2026.
More than 250 people registered, with 108 participants selected from 19 universities to take on three practical IoT challenges over 30 hours.
Three challenges, one demanding build window
MY Evolution designed three challenges that tested different parts of real IoT problem solving:
- Save The Farm! focused on smart agriculture real on the ground challenges.
- Grand Park Auto focused on asset and information management and how to scale
- Operation Zero Trust focused on IoT security and resilience.
The challenges were deliberately kept secret until the event began. Teams had to understand the problem, choose an approach, build, test, debug and adapt under pressure. There was no predefined solution to follow.
Building with real IoT technologies
Across the 30 hours, participants worked with technologies including Raspberry Pi, MQTT, databases, central servers, dashboards, security mechanisms and data synchronisation. The work was practical and iterative: teams had to connect the pieces, investigate what failed and keep moving towards a reliable demonstration.
What impressed us most was not only the final demos. It was how quickly participants learned, collaborated and dealt with failure while turning an unfamiliar problem into a working system.
Lessons from 30 hours of building
A few lessons stood out:
- Creative problem solving matters. With no predefined solution, teams had to reason from the problem and make thoughtful technical choices.
- AI helps, but understanding the code still matters. Tools can accelerate development, but teams still need to understand what they build, test and deploy.
- Persistence works better with a plan. Determination is most useful when it is paired with a clear next step.
- Knowing when to stop and deliver matters. The goal is a Minimum Viable, Reliable Product: something focused, tested and ready to demonstrate.
More than sponsorship
For MY Evolution, Hack MY IoT 2026 was more than sponsorship. Our teams spent months designing and calibrating the challenges, then worked alongside participants throughout the event.
Keeping critical IoT operations connected across ASEAN requires engineers who can understand systems, solve unexpected problems and keep building when things do not work the first time. Hack MY IoT 2026 showed us that plenty of this talent is coming.
Thank you to La French Tech Malaysia, Monash University Malaysia, IEMMSS, MyIoTA, the mentors, judges, volunteers and especially all the participants who made Hack MY IoT 2026 a success.
Interested in building dependable IoT operations? Talk to MY Evolution about IoT connectivity and support.
