The United States has been hit with three major emergencies: The biggest public health crisis in a century, the worst economic downturn in generations, the largest civil unrest since the 1960s, all as our climate changes unforgivably. People are looking for change.

Following our mission of fostering entrepreneurship through collaboration, this competition provides an opportunity to take an otherwise unfortunate circumstance and flip it into an outlet for change.

Compete in three tracks:

Social Impact: A place for any form of innovation with social impact, including but not limited to:
- Black Lives Matter
- Mental Health
- Civil Unrest
- Voter Suppression
- and many, many more
COVID-19: The COVID track is specifically curated for those working on projects to help alleviate, monitor, or bring light to issues involving Coronavirus.
Salt Water Intrusion: In partnership with the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and F3 Tech, we’ve included this distinct track to solve one of the greatest problems under the radar facing our generation. Click here to read more. Additionally, those who participate will be able to continue working on their projects with the support of the two organizations.

In the midst of these uncertain times, we find it necessary to stimulate an even larger push towards innovation. The world needs it now more than ever.

Additional Opportunities

The University System of Maryland is hosting a COVID App Challenge, a perfect opportunity for those building in the COVID-19 track. Submissions are due by June 28th at midnight (EST).

Eligibility

Must be a student attending a University in the State of Maryland.
A team of non-University of Maryland students may compete, as long as at least two (2) of the participants are University of Maryland affiliates (Students or Alumni).
Teams between 1-4 people can participate in this competition from.
Participants can be from any location and can have any citizenship.
All participants must be over 18 years in age.

Requirements

Teams must submit a functioning prototype of their idea.
A video demo of the project between 1-2 minutes must be included with the submission.
The video and the project must be accessible by the judges.
The video may be submitted via file or a publicly accessible video share link.
If either parts are inaccessible, the team will be automatically disqualified.

The submission project/idea must be new and unique. Additionally, it must follow the theme of the competition. This is defined by coming up with an idea during the duration of the event or coming to the event with an undeveloped idea.

The project and video must be submitted no later than June 27, 2020 by 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time. Any submission after this date will not be accepted or judged. The submission link will be provided during the competition.

Projects that blatantly break any of the rules or the proposed theme of the competition will not be judged.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$7,000 in prizes

First Place - Covid Track

$1000 prize for First place of the Covid Track

First Place - Social Impact

$1400 prize for First place in Social Impact

Second Place - Covid Track

$500 prize for Second place of the Covid Track

Second Place - Social Impact

$600 prize for Second place in Social Issues

First Place - Salt Water Intrusion Challenge

In partnership with the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, we’ve included this distinct track to solve one of the greatest problems under the radar facing our generation, $2000 for first place.

Second Place - Salt Water Intrusion Challenge

Third Place - Salt Water Intrusion Challenge

Judges

Lottie Byram
Venture Programs Manager, Dingman Center

Alex Onufrak
Executive Director, Startup Shell

Nick Bentley
Founder, Sailstack

Sean Bae
Research Engineer, Google

Brent Bovenzi
Lead Frontend Engineer, String

Rahul Rajeev
Pathways Senior Ops Manager, Amazon.com

Aviah Krupnick
Worker Owner, Cofounder, Alternative Exchange

Andrew Rose
Director of Innovation, Farm Credit

Micaela Poirette
Director of Product Management, Comcast

Raja Ayyagari
Product Manager, Google

Bunkayo Olaborede
Director of Marketing/Communications, Startup Shell

Chris Hlubb
Program Director, F3 Tech

Sam Zappas
Business Strategy, F3Tech

Hyunmin Lee
Founder & President, Happy Mobility

Judging Criteria

Quality of Idea
Is this idea original? Is this idea creative?
Implementation
Aside from development that necessitates financial funds, is this product able to be up and running today?
Executability & Thoroughness
Is the timeline of execution plausible? Have all things been considered?
Potential Impact
Could this product impose a large impact in its field? How would the world be better off with this product?