RunSpace Challenge highlights Taiwan’s role in global space innovation

太空創新無限挑戰（RunSpace）凸顯台灣在全球太空創新中的地位

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Cabinet initiative, the RunSpace Innovation Challenge, invited professionals, researchers, and students to propose groundbreaking solutions and creative ideas for the space and satellite industries this year.

The annual event, which has become a key platform for nurturing space-related innovation, featured three competition tracks — Implementation Category, Innovation Category, and Sponsor Special Topic — attracting participants from diverse technical backgrounds and countries. The challenge aims to bridge disciplines while strengthening Taiwan’s growing role in the global space ecosystem, according to the Industrial Development Administration, the contest organizer.

Now in its fourth year, the competition announced its 2025 winners on Oct. 23 during the Taitronics & AIoT Taiwan exhibition in Taipei, according to a press release. This year’s event drew proposals from 80 teams representing Taiwan, India, Thailand, Japan, the US, Vietnam, and other countries.

Significantly, about 74% of participants came from non-space fields, demonstrating the competition’s success in encouraging cross-domain collaboration and expanding Taiwan’s space talent pool.

To strengthen global ties, this year’s RunSpace Challenge partnered with Indian satellite manufacturer and operator HEX20, which provided topics for the Sponsor Special Award. Additional partners included European satellite communications company Eutelsat, Japanese lunar startup ispace, Luxembourg-based communications firm Odysseus Space, and U.S. International Space Station equipment provider Axiom Space.

These international partners offered extensive training resources and allowed participants to exchange ideas with professionals in the global space industry and receive expert feedback.

In the Implementation Category, the top honor went to Asta-sense, which received NT$300,000 (US$9,700) for its project “Space Canary.” The system focuses on biological sensing technology to enhance space mission safety, featuring a radiation-resistant microbial sensing platform, a stacked microfluidic design, and automated spectrometer-sequencing integration with a spectrometer-sequencer.

Building on its success, Asta-sense also captured the HEX20 Sponsor Special Topic Award, earning an additional NT$20,000 and the chance to participate in HEX20’s upcoming 27U CubeSat launch mission in 2027, a rare opportunity for a Taiwan-based team to collaborate directly with an international satellite operator.

Coming in second, Metaview was awarded NT$150,000 for its customized metasurface design service for space systems. The team developed lightweight microstructures optimized for optical, thermal, and antenna modules, achieving reduced size and mass without compromising performance.

Meanwhile, Taipei Leo Laser Communications took third place and NT$100,000 for a high-precision optical reception system featuring a triple-lens design. The innovation incorporates dual-axis feedback control for automatic beam alignment, as well as aperture control and spatial diversity to counteract atmospheric turbulence — all critical features for stable space-based communication.

Transitioning to early-stage ideas, in the Innovation Category, five teams each received NT$20,000 in recognition of their creative potential. Domestic winners included SkyChain Innovators for a maritime reconnaissance system, SolarSizzle for a wireless CubeSat charging system, and Orzryn for its NOESIS satellite AI control core.

The two international winners were Thailand’s SpaceCleanO, honored for its modular orbital swarm CubeSat laser project, and India’s Space Septet, recognized for its infrared satellite designed to detect urban heat islands.

Looking ahead, organizers said the next edition of the RunSpace Challenge will place greater emphasis on technical and practical applications, as well as on commercialization potential, with plans to expand resources and increase prize funding.

They encouraged interested teams to stay informed through the competition’s official LinkedIn page, noting that global cooperation and innovation remain central to Taiwan’s vision for space technology development.