Hack for Impact Wrap-Up: Students Deliver Powerful Pitches to Tackle Tech-Facilitated Abuse

Last night, Hack for Impact wrapped up with a night of bold ideas, powerful storytelling, and inspiring collaboration. Over seven days, UWA students worked in teams to reimagine how technology can be used to combat tech-facilitated abuse—a growing challenge impacting thousands of people every year.

Presented by Venture UWA, in partnership with Genvis and Todaybreak, this innovation challenge invited students to design new features for Milli, a safety-focused app designed to help people detect and respond to digital and physical threats in discreet, empowering ways.

From creative user interfaces to intelligent detection systems, participants delivered a compelling range of solutions—all grounded in human-centred design, empathy, and social impact.

🧠 The Challenge

The core challenge posed to participants was:

How might Milli empower users to detect and respond to hidden threats—both digital and physical—in ways that are discreet, intuitive, and protective?

With support from the Venture UWA team, Genvis, and Todaybreak, students engaged in a full week of immersion, ideation, mentoring, and pitch preparation—culminating in a final showcase of ideas.

🚀 The Final Pitch Night

Seven outstanding teams presented their concepts to a panel of judges and a packed room of supporters. The atmosphere was buzzing with energy, curiosity, and purpose.

Participating Teams:

• Blink

• Trip Wire

• Guardian

• Danger Breaker

• Digital Threat Radar

• Second Chance

• Team King Kong 

  
  

Each team delivered a pitch that reflected deep thinking, strong collaboration, and a commitment to social change. The creativity and technical thoughtfulness behind the solutions deeply impressed the judges and audience alike.

🏆 The Winners

While every team brought something powerful to the table, three stood out for their innovation, feasibility, and impact:

🥇 1st Place: Team King Kong

🥈 2nd Place: Digital Threat Radar

🥉 3rd Place: Guardian

Congratulations to the winning teams—and to every participant—for your brilliant ideas and hard work throughout the challenge.

💬 Highlights & Acknowledgements

We were honoured to have Kate Chaney MP, Independent Member for Curtin, attend the final showcase and support this important initiative.

A huge thank you goes out to:

• The Venture UWA team for facilitating the week, offering valuable feedback, and guiding students through pitch practice

• Chloe Bull, whose Design Thinking Program was pivotal in helping students break boundaries and think differently

• Kirstin Butcher from Todaybreak, who praised the quality of the pitches and the growth shown over the week

Special thanks to everyone who supported behind the scenes, mentored teams, and helped make Hack for Impact such a success.

💡 Why It Matters

Hack for Impact is more than just a student hackathon—it’s a reflection of Venture UWA’s core mission: to create platforms where students, industry, and community can collaborate on solutions that drive real social impact.

As tech-facilitated abuse continues to evolve, so must the tools we use to fight it. This challenge demonstrated how students—when given the opportunity, support, and purpose—can rise to meet these challenges head-on.

🤝 Let’s Collaborate for Good

If you’re a student passionate about innovation with purpose, or an organisation interested in partnering on future social impact hackathons, we’d love to hear from you.

📧 Get in touch with us at venture@guild.uwa.edu.au

Together, we can continue designing a safer, more equitable future.

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