Innovation thrives when bold ideas meet passionate people.

That spirit was on full display at the 2026 RingCentral China Hackathon, where employees from across RingCentral China came together to explore one ambitious theme: “Orchestrate the Future Enterprise with Agentic AI.”

Throughout this year’s Hackathon, teams challenged themselves to rethink how AI agents can transform enterprise communication, collaboration, and productivity. From autonomous workflows and intelligent assistants to next-generation customer experiences, participants pushed the boundaries of what’s possible while demonstrating the creativity, technical excellence, and customer-first mindset that define RingCentral’s innovation culture.

From Great Ideas to Outstanding Innovation

The journey began with enthusiastic participation from employees across multiple offices, forming cross-functional teams to bring innovative ideas to life.

After receiving over 200 registrations, 40 teams advanced to the Qualifying Round, where they presented their ideas across four competition sessions held in Xiamen and Hangzhou. After rigorous evaluations by judges from both China and around the world, the top teams earned their place in the Finals.

Throughout every stage of the competition, participants demonstrated not only technical creativity, but also a strong focus on solving real customer challenges and delivering meaningful business value.

More Than a Competition

The Hackathon was designed to be much more than a coding competition.

Leading up to the event, participants were supported through the Everyone AI Campaign, which featured hot topic sharing sessions and technical resources to help employees deepen their understanding of Agentic AI and emerging technologies.

We also introduced a Coach Consultation Program, connecting participating teams with domain experts. Through one-on-one consultations, teams received valuable feedback, refined their ideas, strengthened their user value, and elevated their final presentations.

Together, these initiatives created an environment where learning, collaboration, and innovation began long before teams stepped onto the competition stage.

Innovation Powered by Collaboration

One of the defining characteristics of this year’s Hackathon was the strong spirit of collaboration across teams, functions, and regions.

The Final brought together judges from across RingCentral’s global organization, providing participants with diverse perspectives and valuable insights from leaders around the world. Their expertise, combined with the passion and dedication of every participant, helped make this year’s Hackathon one of our most engaging and inspiring innovation programs yet.

Whether presenting on stage, mentoring teams, evaluating projects, or supporting behind the scenes, every contributor played an important role in bringing this event to life.

From Hackathon Ideas to Real Customer Impact

Innovation doesn’t stop when the competition ends.

This year also marked the launch of the updated Hackathon Idea Get Hired (HIGH) Award, an initiative designed to recognize Hackathon projects that successfully evolve into production and deliver real customer value.

The HIGH Award celebrates not only bold ideas, but also the ownership, collaboration, and perseverance required to transform a proof of concept into a production-ready solution. Eligible projects from the 2026 Hackathon will continue to be tracked over the coming year, with successful production launches recognized through the HIGH Award.

By connecting Hackathon innovation with real business impact, the HIGH Award reinforces an important belief at RingCentral: great ideas start at Hackathon, but real impact comes from bringing those ideas to life.

Building Beyond the Hackathon

While this year’s competition has come to a close, its impact continues.

This year’s Hackathon has created a growing library of innovative ideas, presentation recordings, demos, and project showcases that will continue to inspire employees across RingCentral. More importantly, it reinforced a culture where experimentation is encouraged, collaboration is celebrated, and AI innovation becomes part of how we work every day.

As we continue our AI journey, the 2026 RingCentral China Hackathon reminds us that innovation isn’t just about building new technology—it’s about empowering people to imagine what’s next and turn those ideas into reality.

We can’t wait to see where those ideas lead next.

Originally published Jul 16, 2026