Three Bangladeshi teams win at intl. innovation competition

Three student teams from Bangladesh have won awards in different categories of the Xylem Global Student Innovation Challenge 2025. Competing against thousands of participants from across the world, their projects focused on solving water-related problems and disaster challenges, especially relevant to Bangladesh.

The Xylem Global Student Innovation Challenge is a worldwide competition that encourages students to design innovative solutions to water-related issues. This year, over 4,400 students from around 150 countries submitted projects, with a focus on flood response, climate resilience, and clean water access.

Team Khudrorin, comprising students from the Army Institute of Business Administration and Daffodil Polytechnic Institute, won the ‘Best Project’ award in the ‘Water-Related Disaster Challenge 1’ and received a prize money of $500. Their project, FloodSense AI, combines short film storytelling with a technology-based solution to assess flood risks using a Flood Risk Index (FRI) API. Their team includes Tashfin, Araf, Tanha, and Mubashwira, from the Army Institute of Business Administration, and Hamim from Daffodil Polytechnic Institute.

“We are already setting our goals and have come up with 5 creative ideas. We will be developing it further and will surely participate in other comps to raise funds throughout the process,” said Tashfin, the leader of Team Khudrorin.

Team Terra from North South University won the ‘Best Project’ award in the ‘Water-Related Disaster Challenge 2’ and received a prize money of $500. Their project, Flood Link, is a platform that operates in offline environments during floods, offering real-time aid tracking, emergency alerts, rescue coordination, and even mental health support. The platform also includes coastal education tools and SMS-based flood warnings. The team members include Hashibur Rahman Shahed (team leader), Raisa Zahin, Sabrina Haq, Ilhum Rahman Pushpita, and Zayma Hossain. They are all students of the CSE Department of North South University. 

“This vision is close to my heart. While many student teams in Bangladesh focus on programming, robotics, or policy, there’s no official team distinctly dedicated to environmental innovation or addressing the SDGs, and I wanted to change that,” said Hashibur Rahman Shahed, the team founder and leader.

Team ResQMap won the ‘Community Choice Award’ in the university track and received a prize money of $500. Their platform, ResQMap, is an AI-powered tool that collects, verifies, and maps missing persons’ data during disasters, making rescue operations faster and more efficient. Their team includes Mumtahina Ambrin and Farhan Anjum from BUET, Tanim from RU, Tasin from Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University (MBSTU), and Jawad from St Joseph’s University.

“Right now, our project has a long way to go. After we have added some more features that we currently have in mind and tested them thoroughly, we’d like to reach out to NGOs and people who will benefit from this,” said Mumtahina Ambrin, the team leader of ResQMap.