By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. Urban density can potentially lead to unhealthy conditions that will need continuous and large-scale monitoring. Healthier urban living will be the result of improved awareness of:

• Air quality – access to clean air
• Water quality – access to potable water
• Data quality – access to digital services
• Sound quality – urban living is noisy

To compete in this contest category, you will need to design a sensor network strategy to cover one square kilometer of urban area, to monitor and report on one or more of the above aspects for at least one year.

Online Competition

For online portion of the IoT Innovation Challenge, you will be required to provide a written description of your design idea (up to 850 words) in the form of a technical abstract, in English. Your description should cover how the design works, what makes it innovative, how it would be produced, and what its potential impact would be around the globe. You are required to include one, but no more than 3, visual illustrations (GIF, JPEG, or PNG) to complement your design description. Your video pitch should include the following components: 1) What is your design idea? 2) How does your proposed idea work? 3) How will your idea make urban living healthier around the globe? 4) Why should your idea win?

Online Submission Judging Criteria

Your written + video entry will be graded by an independent panel of judges using the following criteria:

• Innovation [35%]
  What makes the design novel? Does the design represent an important advance over current state of the art?
• Manufacturability [35%]
  How easy would it be to implement? Can it be cost-effectively manufactured/produced?
• Impact [20%]
  Is the design well defined and significant enough to affect people around the globe? Does it improve their lives?

This final 10% of the score will be determined by the ‘People’s Choice’ - how many votes each entry receives online.

Final Competition

If your entry is selected, via the online competition, to progress to the final stage of the IoT Innovation Challenge, you will be required to demonstrate your design on a one-hectare urban area for at least one month. Demonstrative evidence can include a working prototype, but could also include computer animations or models, scale models, samples or other items that can be used to make the entry “real” for the judges. The demonstration will take place in front of a live audience and panel of judges at the Maker Faire in New York on Sept. 21. Two people from each advancing team will receive an all-expenses trip to attend this live event. During the demonstration (no more than 5 minutes), you will be asked to do a live Q&A with the judges (roughly 5 minutes) and give them an oral pitch (no more than 10 minutes), covering the points highlighted in the judging criteria below: sensor ingenuity, measurement quality and frequency, cost/producibility/durability, insight gained from data analysis and battery life.

Live Demonstration Judging Criteria

Your live demonstration + pitch will be judged using the following criteria:

• Sensor Ingenuity [20%]
  What makes the sensor network strategy novel? Does the strategy represent an important advance over current state of the art?
• Measurement Quality & Frequency [20%]
  What types of measurements are your taking and at what frequency? What is the accuracy of your measurements?
• Cost/Producibility/Durability [20%]
  How easy/costly would it be to implement your design? Can it be cost-effectively manufactured/produced? How durable is it?
• Insight Gained from Data Analysis [20%]
  What type of data did you collect? What type of insight did the data give you. Is that data actionable?
• Battery Life [20%]
  Does the expected battery life of your design meet the one-year requirement? What method are you using to prove that?