24-HOUR
HACKATHON 2024

HACK THE ENERGY-VERSE

OCTOBER 25-26, 2024

OCTOBER 25-26, 2024

4pm Friday to 4pm Saturday
@ the FSU Innovation Hub

*with 8-hour break for sleep at home

EVENT INFORMATION

Up to $3,600 in prizes!

Three meals included!

Free event t-shirts & giveaways for all participants!

A great opportunity to make new connections, gain marketable skills, and make a difference in the world!!

This event is open to ALL MAJORS!

Coding and programming skills NOT required!

Only 50 seats open!

Tentative Event Agenda

FRIDAY, OCT 25

Teaming, Planning, Ideation

3:30 PM Check-in

4:00 PM Welcome and Introductions

4:15 PM Background Information

Challenge overview

Design Thinking overview

HACKATHON: Rules of Engagement

Teaming

5:00 PM Hackathon starts and Pizza is delivered

5:00 - 10:00 PM Empathy Research & Reframing

Access to Experts

10:00 - Midnight Team Ideation

12:00 AM (midnight) Hub Closes

Teams may work on their own at the Hub until midnight, or work elsewhere. Take some time to sleep so that you feel sharp and rested on Saturday.

SATURDAY, OCT 26

Ideation, Prototyping, and Pitching

8:30 AM Check-in / Breakfast / Orientation

9:00 - 11:30 AM Prototyping, Pitch Prep

Access to Experts

12:00 PM Working Lunch

1:00 PM Submit your Pitch Deck as a link to a Google Slides presentation

1:30 - 2:45 Presentations

Pitches will be 3 minutes, 6 slides with two minutes of Q&A

2:45 Judge Deliberation

3:00 Awards and Group photos

MISSION DETAILS

What’s a Hackathon?

Good question! There are many kinds of Hackathons. Our Hackathon brings together students from all majors, with differing skills, creates 10 teams with five students each, and challenges them to solve a problem using Design Thinking. Solutions can take any form including apps, physical inventions, services, systems, or a combination of the above. Each team presents their solution to win a total of $4000 in prize money. Read on for more details!

DESIGN/HACK CHALLENGE

How might we provide homeowners with methods, tools, and motivation to reduce energy consumption in their homes, to reduce FL overall energy consumption by 10 percent?

PRIZES!

First Place: $400 per team member

Second Place: $250 per team member

Third Place: $200 per team member

  • Provided in the form of gift cards

  • Teams are assumed to have five members

  • Team members must have participated in the entire design sprint to win a prize

The Challenge

Superheros of

ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Coming soon!

Your Mission

Harness Your Creativity!

Work in an interdisciplinary team to develop a solution that will help homeowners reduce energy consumption by leveraging emerging technologies and innovative practices. Your solution should address one or more of the challenges listed above.

Solutions may take any of the following forms:

  • a physical invention or design
    -example: a drone that captures images of damage across the state

  • software
    - example: an app that helps forecast where we may find damage after a storm

  • a service
    - example: providing customers power via a “Community Response vehicle” until their power returns

  • a combination of two or more of the above
    - example: a smart system that insures safety in communities with downed power lines

ANY new and innovative solution to the challenge is valid. Just check to make sure it something NEW and innovative and maps to JUDGING CRITERIA listed below.

Make sure your solution does not already exist at NextEra. To be innovative it must be something new!

Test your solution with specialists and stakeholders at the event. Feel free to test it on others remotely. Gather valuable feedback to improve your solution!”

Develop a Simple Prototype

Visually illustrate your solution by creating a prototype as a visual aid to your presentation. Prototypes vary depending on the type of solution your developed. They include:

  • A storyboard

  • A diagram, floor-plan, or other drawing

  • A constructed object made of crafting materials (supplies)

  • App drawings or screenshots (see www.proto.io) that illustrate a users experience

  • A product flyer or website (see www.wix.com)

  • Acting out the solution

  • A combination of any of the above

Pitch Your Solution

Develop a 3-minute presentation and slide deck (no more than 6 slides) to pitch your idea to the judges. Include your prototype to show how your solution is utilized. The 3-minute pitch will be followed by 2 minutes of Q&A.

Check out this video on the elevator pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-iETptU7JY

Consider the judging criteria and how your pitch will earn you points in the eight areas.

  • Tell a compelling story.

  • Provide statistics to show you did your research!

  • Show that there are no other effective solutions on the market.

  • Demonstrate your solution with a prototype.

  • Include stakeholder feedback - grandma or grandpa!

  • Practice, practice, practice!!!

The Process 

In Design Thinking we work in interdisciplinary teams to benefit from multiple perspectives and creative processes.

  1. We begin with our “HMW”
    How Might We design a home environment that evolves with the needs of aging individuals to provide the care and comfort they need to spend their latter years happy and healthy at home.

  2. Do some initial Planning and build teams (we’ve handled most of this for you!)

  3. Empathize with the problem seeking to understand it to the best of your ability. This is accomplished by

    1. exploring the challenge through the links provided above in The Challenge section

    2. listening to the presentation at the beginning of the Design Sprint

    3. asking questions of our panel of experts

    4. research and explore on your own

  4. Reframe the problem reducing the scope and finding an actionable area to work on creating a new HMW. For example your team may decide to focus on the social isolation challenge of aging in place.

  5. Utilize Ideation tools to develop new and impactful solutions to your reframed HMW.

    1. Use sticky notes to come up with as many solutions as you can think of, then group solutions by common themes, and select your favorites.

    2. Consider applying solutions from other industries. Think out of the box. How would Elon Musk solve this? How might Airbnb think about this problem? Or Disney? Utilize random words to generate fresh ideas. Take a walk to gain inspiration from a new environment.

  6. Select the most innovative, effective, and feasible solution to prototype and test. Choose a solution that best meets the judging criteria.

  7. Build a Prototype of your solution (see above list of types) and test it on others. Your prototype should demonstrate how your solution is utilized.

  8. Develop your pitch

    no longer than 3 minutes in length

    no more than 6 slides on Google Slides (provide the link)

    Design Thinking Resources at https://www.innovation.fsu.edu/design

Judging Criteria

Scoring: Low 1 - Outstanding 10

PRESENTATION: Stage presence, storytelling, presentation materials (deck), mock-ups / POC, flow, information

Outstanding

  • Team produces a concise and compelling presentation. 

  • All team members were engaged in the project.  

  • Mock-up or POC included in presentation

  • Great job telling the story

Average

  • Some members not as engaged and/or team is unable to answer all questions.   

  • Partial mock-up or semi-functional POC

  • Opportunity for improvement telling the story

Low

  • Presentation missing a lot of information. 

  • Did not demonstrate a clear vision and it is clear that some members were left behind during the project.   

  • Need a lot of work telling the story

 

BUSINESS VALUE:  Idea will generate cost savings, revenue, or has potential for patent

Outstanding

  • Idea will generate significant cost savings and/or revenue. Potential for patent.

Average

  • Idea will contribute to a solution that will generate cost savings and/or revenue

Low

  • Business value not clearly communicated or produces minimal business value

 

FEASIBILITY:  Idea is realistic

Outstanding

  • The idea currently implements existing technologies or could easily use company’s existing resources.  

  • Tech which is implemented is inexpensive. 

  • They have a clear timeline and have planned how current resources can be implemented.  

Average

  • The idea uses existing technologies but would be expensive to implement. 

  • They have a rough timeline but have not thought about specific implementation of current resources.  

Low

  • The idea relies on technologies that have not been developed yet or are all hypothetical. 

  • Implementation would be too far away to consider.  

 

INNOVATION:  How innovative was the idea?

Outstanding

  • Game-changer with potential for high impact

Average

  • Moderately innovative idea 

Low

  • Not much innovation in this project

SPONSORED BY:

Planning Committee: