presents

SMART CITIES HACKATHON

Join the brightest minds and help solve real-world challenges in making cities smarter.

About the Hackathon

An all-inclusive student-focused innovation competition.

Experiential Learning

Our hackathon provides a unique experiential learning experience for students to develop creative thinking, entrepreneurship, and problem-solving skills.

Collaboration

We bring together students from diverse backgrounds to work together on addressing real-world challenges.

Mentorship and Technical Support

Teams receive support from subject-specific mentors and technical specialists to help them bring their ideas to life.

Showcase

Teams get to showcase their solutions in a fun and lively environment to be adjudicated by a panel of experts consisting of investors, partners, school representatives, and domain specialists.

Winning Opportunities

The winning teams have the opportunity to receive prizes and be considered for applied research project investment opportunities.

Student-Led

Our hackathon is mainly organized by the students, alumni, professors, and members of Seneca College, with the support of sponsors, including our title sponsor ThinkingNorth for the Smart Cities Hackathon.

Hackathon Timeline (2023)

April 29th

Registration Ends

The last date to make your mark and join us for the “ThinkingNorth Smart Cities Hackathon 2023”.

May 2nd - 3rd

Qualifier (Virtual)

You along with your team would work on one of the challenge sets and will prepare a solution proposal.

May 5th

Finale Day 1 (Virtual)

If your submission is selected for the next round, you will be joining us on first day of finale virtually.

May 6th

Finale Day 2 (Hybrid)

Second day of finale could be attended in-person or online with a lot of mentoring and fun activities.

Challenge Set Categories

Explore a variety of challenges in the hackathon and demonstrate your innovative skills and creativity. Choose your passion and make a real-world impact.

Mental Health

This challenge set aims to find innovative solutions to tackle mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and isolation, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Ideas could include developing mental health apps, creating online communities for support, and sharing, and implementing effective strategies for promoting mental wellness among students in universities and colleges. Special emphasis will be placed on social media and online gambling addictions.

Smart Buildings

This includes a broad set of method's, often Analytics, AI/ML and Deep Learning which use big data generated from everyday operations (such as HVAC systems) to positively influence operational KPIs including cost, efficiency, carbon footprint etc. Design and operations using digital twin or BIM is in scope. Farming and Urban farming is also in scope.

Data Privacy and Security

The challenge sets focus on the data privacy and security of ANY stakeholder in the smart city, including marginalized and disenfranchised communities, everyday citizens, small business owners, and city municipal governments.

Smart Analytics and Insights

The challenge sets on utilizing advanced technologies to extract meaningful insights from data, such as image and video data, traffic camera, drones and GIS analysis. These insights can be applied to a variety of fields to solve real-world problems and optimize processes.

Smart Business

Challenge sets in this category could focus on developing solutions that leverage data and automation to enhance the efficiency, sustainability, and customer experience of businesses in smart cities, such as food order delivery services, ride-sharing platforms, carpooling apps, personal service scheduling, last-mile logistics.

Sustainable City

Promote efficient, safe, and sustainable transportation, such as traffic management systems, intelligent transportation networks, or autonomous vehicles. Additionally, the challenge includes sets that address environmental concerns, such as preserving natural heritage, reducing waste and loss, and promoting sustainable living. Participants are also encouraged to create solutions that improve the quality of life for young families in smart cities, such as child care and safety and family-friendly public spaces.