Record heatwaves, vanishing ice, rising sea levels, and natural disasters impact millions on earth and even cause climate migration as one of the biggest human development challenges. Urgent action is needed to combat climate change more than ever before!

Regardless of source, local pollutants create global damage as greenhouse gases stay trapped in the atmosphere for millennia. That makes tackling climate change a wide- ranging and formidable challenge with exciting opportunities for collaborative, innovative solutions.

Hackathon challenge:

How can technology be used to slow climate change or protect people from its negative impacts? 

Please choose from one of the following focus areas:

-Energy efficiency of buildings and vehicles

-Clean energy for sustainable power

-Carbon capture to prevent release into the atmosphere

-Education 

-Mitigation and protection of vulnerable populations 

-Detection of problems (current or predicting future environmental fluctuations)

 More details on challenges here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16iS7XQ54ufFv0kZqV4KjeU1qYbYFA-MT7F4GRkL-IJc/edit?usp=sharing

Criteria:

-project must show clear association with one of the challenge categories 

-design is able to be developed and executed locally while being scalable for global impact

-includes a way to measure impact of the solution

Prizes:

Winning teams will receive sponsorship from HELPFUL, which includes funding, tooling, advisory assistance, fundraising and exposure to facilitate marketplace adoption. 

Helpful Engineering (HELPFUL) is a collaborative global open-source community committed to fostering innovative solutions for systemic challenges. Learn more about us at: https://helpfulengineering.org/

• Potential Impact
  Does the project have the potential for positive impact once completed?
• Technical Feasibility
  Is technology appropriate (safe, meaningful, and cost effective) to solve the problem at hand? Can a prototype be built within 3 (or ) months in order to have a positive impact?
• Functionality and Meaningfulness
  Will the project solve a real problem related to climate change with urgency and impact? Will the product be easy to use and have all the necessary functionality (to work as a turnkey product or integrate with other products)?
• Innovation
  Could this product be used as a stepping stone for better products? How does a proposed solution compare with what already exists in the world, and the degree to which a proposed solution introduces new and original ideas that can be built on top of.