Are you ready to answer the Challenge?

What is the HBCU Smart Cities Challenge?

  • A 5-month Challenge

    The HBCU Smart Cities Challenge is a 5-month challenge for HBCU students to build smart city applications for their community, leveraging ICT, IoT technology, and Web3 tools.

    With a focus on Tier 2 to Tier 4 cities, the Challenge works alongside city stakeholders, tech partners, and HBCUs to find tech solutions to real-world community problems submitted by the participating cities.

  • Workshops & Borderless Teams

    The Challenge will hold virtual education workshops for students and Town Hall meetings for HBCU students from across the U.S. on the role that smart city technology can play in advancing their communities.

    Unlike typical hackathons, HBCU teams will be a part of a "borderless model" which allows students to connect with each other based on interest and not geographic location.

  • Build Smart City Applications

    Students will work with their teams from October 2023 to February 2024 to develop a proof of concept or MVP based on their team’s problem statement.

    Students will have support from coaches and mentors that will guide them through the problem-solving process. These proof of concepts will be shared with Challenge judges and city stakeholders.

So how does the HBCU Smart Cities Challenge work?

Sign Up

Students sign up to be a part of the HBCU Smart Cities Challenge. By participating in the Challenge not only accept the challenge of building a smart city application for their community, they gain access to educational workshops, subject matter experts, internship opportunities, and more.

Attend Workshops

As an HBCU Smart Cities Challenge participant, you get access to educational workshops that grow your knowledge of project management, IoT technology, team-building, ICT, and Web3 tools. Through these workshops, you will eventually meet your teammates.

Meet Your Teammates

The HBCU Smart Cities Challenge incorporates a “Borderless Model” which allows students to build teams not based on geographic location but personal interest. This helps prepare you for remote work and working dispersed teams

Find a Problem

After connecting with students who share similar interests as you, your new team will get to pick or be assigned a problem statement from a participating city. This is a real world problem statement that was written and/or endorsed by a city stakeholder or official.

Listen First, Build Second

Once you have your team locked in on a problem statement, it’s time to get building. But first, you must understand your problem thoroughly. You and your team will investigate the problem and settle on a course of action.

Finish and Present

Once your team has finalized their MVP or proof-of-concept it’s time to present to a team of subject matter experts. The top 10 teams will be invited to our Pitch Event in February 2024