Ship-IT Day 2025: who said that there can be only one winner?
From idea to proof of concept in a single working day, that’s the main idea behind our annual Ship-IT Day. This year saw a first: for this 2025 edition, we had to split the golden medal in two. Recap time!
9 projects, 4 cities, and a multitude of enthusiastic colleagues. During Ship-IT, our teams get the chance to work out an innovative idea for one of their customers. Anything goes, everything is possible. There’s only one catch: you have to pitch your proof of concept at the end of the day. (Oh, and survive on coffee and adrenaline for 8 hours straight).
As is our annual tradition, we start off the day in Antwerp, Ghent, Hasselt, and Leuven (in alphabetical order, as we don’t want to favor anyone 👀) with a hearty breakfast. Some colleagues go all-in on oats and fruits, others clearly crave a sugar overload. And a few colleagues guzzle down a year's supply of coffee on their own.
Breakfast is served in the offices!
Another annual tradition: the official kick-off, powered by Master of Ceremonies Stijn Van den Enden. During that kick-off, The List is presented: the order in which the teams will give their presentations. Each team has 5 minutes to convince as many voters as possible. “Exactly 5 minutes, keep that in mind. I don't like to interrupt, so please don't force me to do so!” A strict but fair Master of Ceremonies: check!
The kick-off through the eyes of the teams in Antwerp.
Curious about the participating teams and their projects? Read all about it in this preview.
Immediately after the kick-off, the whiteboards, meeting rooms, and Post-it notes are working overtime. This is the moment when the teams determine their battle plan: the technical outlines are discussed, roles are assigned, and here and there we see an attempt to create a timeline. Although not everyone is a planning believer. “A timeline? No, thank you! Let’s just go for it and see where we end up."
Different cities, one central question: what’s the fastest way to success?
Half an hour later, the discussions give way to silence. Work is now seriously in progress.
This is what work in progress multiplied 9 times looks like.
In Leuven, they manage to find some time for a team photo before the real work begins. If there was a separate category for Best Project Team Picture, these teams would be serious contenders.
Looking good team CJM and publiq!
“How is your project getting along?” During lunch, the teams socialize. (Or is it called industrial espionage?) For some colleagues, it’s time to take a breather, while others get back to work after just a few quick bites.
Antwerp goes pokébowl.
After lunch it’s stand-up time. Are we on track? What still needs to be done? And when do we have each other’s permission to panic?
Still on track for victory?
At 15h, stress levels start to rise. With only two hours to go, the shifting in chairs and pacing between desks gradually reach new heights.
“This is typically the moment when everything suddenly decides to stop working. But other than that, Ship-IT is a blast,” says a team in Antwerp. “Guys, we have to get that front end sorted out. Otherwise, we'll have nothing to show”, can be heard further down the office. In another meeting room, a promotional video is quickly put together.
The making of Agentschap Natuur en Bos’ promotional video.
At 16h, slide decks dominate laptop screens everywhere. Colleagues and customers rush to the meeting rooms to rehearse and finalise their presentations.
17h… it's show time!
The countdown has begun... Who will win Ship-IT Day 2025?
The presentations have everything you can expect from quickly put together presentations: shared screens that wreak chaos, malfunctioning applications, and discussions on how many seconds go into 5 minutes (No wait, I still have some time left!) But above all that: a lot of love and dedication. 💙
But there can be only Ship-IT Day winner... or not?
No, wait… Actually, this year two teams end up with 14 votes each. A tie! That’s a first!
And for those who believe in Eurosong’s general truth of the power of going last: the final three projects indeed made up the top 3.
Tied for first place: De Staatsblad Hacker and Chat AI MCP. Congratulations!
Let’s wrap up with a closer look at both winning projects.
🥇 Ship-IT Project: Staatsblad Hacker
Looking up company information in Het Staatsblad is a hell of a job. And it's especially time-consuming to find that one relevant passage among all those publications. That's why we developed the Staatsblad Hacker.
Instead of manually browsing through all those publications, you now simply enter the company's VAT number. In return, you get all relevant information in a clear overview. This makes it easier and faster to perform searches.
🥇 Ship-IT Project: Chat AI MCP
publiq collects and filters hundreds of thousands of leisure activities every year. A gold mine of data. The challenge: you need knowledge of SPARQL to query that data.
We created an AI agent that solves this. Now you can ask a simple question at the front end of the application, such as “How many unique participants are under 30 years of age?” The agent then queries the various databases and gives a clear answer.
That’s all folks! Ship-IT 2025, you were awesome. A big thank you to everyone who participated and made this day possible. See you next year!
