CU Boulder Sustainability Hackathon
鶹Ƶ the Sustainability Hackathon
The Sustainability Hackathon provides the opportunity to “hack” some of the sustainability issues our society is facing. Your solution to a problem could include technology or have no technology at all. The key is coming together with others who are passionate about solving problems, teaming up on a solution idea, and having fun in the process of building something to have an impact on the world. Students, faculty, and staff will have 168 hours to hack sustainability problems and have a shot at winning a share of $10,000!
Who Can Participate?
- Any actively enrolled CU Boulder student, staff or faculty member can register.
- In the spirit of collaboration, students from other Colorado universities are also invited to join. When teams are formed, there needs to be at least one CU Boulder student member on each competition team.
Event Details
- The week begins with the Sustainability Hackathon Kickoff, where teams form and begin working on their creative solutions.
- The teams work closely with industry partners and technology and startup ecosystem leaders, who share business expertise and offer guidance.
- Throughout the week, participants attend workshops, meetings and pitch practice sessions in advance of submitting video pitches to the judging panel.
- Team solutions are judged by a panel of industry and academic leaders on multiple criteria including creativity, execution, design thinking, feasibility and scalability.
- The week culminates with the Grand Finale, where the top three teams pitch live to judges and the audience and prizes are awarded.
Registration
- Information about registering teams for the competition will be shared at the Sustainability Hackathon Kickoff event.
2024 Sustainability Hackathon Schedule
2024Thursday, Oct. 17,CASE Auditorium
- Kickoff:6-7 p.m.
- Introduce the hackathon rules, agenda, mentors, etc.
- Have last year’s winners present
- Introduce sponsors
- Introduce industry partners and their projects
- Idea Builder:7-8 p.m.
- Teams form based on ideas expressed
- Mentors present to help build ideas
- Hackathon officially starts at 8:00 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 18
- Lunch Hack: 11a.m.-1 p.m.
- Networking—Teams looking to connect with other people to flesh out their team
- Kickoff Workshop (presented by Meep): 5-7 p.m.
- Vision/Mission, Assumptions, Metrics, Visionary Mindsetand Defining Success
Saturday, Oct. 19
- Breakfast Hack: 9-11 a.m.
- Teams come together and meet mentors to start building their ideas
- Hack Space: 1-5 p.m.
- Provide a space with a few mentors where teams and work and build
Sunday, Oct. 20
- Meep Workshop (w/dinner): 2-7 p.m.
- 2-3:30 p.m. –Customer Journey Mapping, Refining MVP Scope, UX Strategy, and Wireframing
- 4-5 p.m. –Intro to No-Code, Choosing Your Tools, Prototype Development Best Practices
- 5:30-7 p.m. –Building Your Financial Model
- 7 p.m. on... Work Time with mentors from Meep (Finance, Business & Product Strategy, UX, No-Code, etc.)
Monday, Oct. 21
- Workspace—Presentation Prep: 5-8 p.m.
- Mentors available
Tuesday, Oct. 22
- Pitch Practice and Pitch Recording: 4-8p.m.
- Mentorship
- Provide slide deck template
- 6 p.m. on... Group MVP Testing Session, Work Time & Pitch Practice with Meep mentors
Thursday, Oct. 24, CASE Auditorium
- Hack Submissions Due: 7 a.m.
- Video Pitch
- Executive summary
- Final Presentations: 6-8 p.m.
- Finalists' pitches
- Judging
- Awards
2024 Winning Teams
Five teams were awarded prizes at the 2024 Sustainability Hackathon.
FoodWise stepped up to the New Venture Challenge
2023 Hackathon winner FoodWise won $100,000 in the 2024 New Venture Challenge!
Stay up to date
Stay up-to-date on Sustainability Hackathon details!