IEEE Hack For Humanity

Beyond 2030: Build the World You Want to Live In
About the challenge
IEEE Hack for Humanity
is a hybrid hackathon hosted by the IEEE Charlotte Section Computer Society: an online Devpost submission and judging stage, followed by an in-person finalist presentation and final judging round the following week.
Event Name
IEEE Hack for Humanity
Host
IEEE Charlotte Section Computer Society
Theme
Beyond 2030: Build the World You Want to Live In
Format
Hybrid: online Devpost submission and judging, followed by an in-person finalist presentation and final judging round the following week
Submission Platform
Devpost
Final Presentation Venue
Exact Location to be announced. It will be in Charlotte, NC Region.
Introduction
Why this Hackathon?
The technologies that will shape life beyond 2030 are being designed today. The challenge is not simply to build more technology, but to build technology that helps people make better decisions, work more effectively, trust the systems around them, participate more fully, and use resources more intelligently.
IEEE Hack for Humanity creates a collaborative environment where participants can experiment with ideas, challenge conventional approaches, and turn meaningful problems into practical prototypes. The emphasis is on innovation with purpose: combining imagination with engineering discipline and considering not only what can be built, but also who benefits, what risks emerge, and what it would take to make the solution useful in the real world.
Wha

Requirements
What to Build
The online Devpost submission must give judges enough evidence to understand the problem, evaluate the proposed solution, and assess feasibility before the in-person round. A working prototype is encouraged; a credible mockup or proof of concept may be acceptable when the project type makes a full implementation impractical.
What strong submissions should demonstrate:
A clearly articulated problem with a meaningful connection to the selected track.
A solution that moves beyond a concept statement and provides tangible evidence of how it would work.
A realistic understanding of implementation constraints rather than assuming technology alone solves the problem.
Measurable value and a plausible pathway to adoption, scaling, or continued development.
Awareness of responsible technology considerations, especially where AI, personal data, automation, or high-impact decisions are involved.
What to Submit
Project title and selected track:
Identify the project clearly and choose one primary challenge track.
Problem statement:
Explain the real-world problem, who experiences it, why it matters, and what is inadequate about the current state.
Proposed solution:
Describe what the project does, how a user or stakeholder interacts with it, and what decision, capability, or outcome it improves.
Prototype / proof of concept:
Provide a working prototype, mockup, interactive demonstration, model, simulation, or other evidence appropriate to the concept.
Demo evidence:
Include screenshots and/or a short demonstration video or equivalent evidence that allows online judges to understand the solution. Participants are required to share their team's github repository link towards the submission.
Technology and architecture:
Describe the major technologies, data flows, AI/ML components, APIs, platforms, models, hardware, or infrastructure used.
Impact and expected outcomes:
Explain how success would be measured and what human, organizational, community, accessibility, trust, or sustainability value the project could create.
Trade-offs, risks, and constraints:
Identify meaningful limitations, dependencies, cost/complexity considerations, safety issues, and known failure modes.
Trust and responsible design:
For AI/data projects, describe relevant privacy, security, bias/fairness, explainability, human oversight, data governance, and misuse considerations.
Scalability and reusability:
Explain how the solution could extend to more users, data sources, organizations, locations, or adjacent use cases.
Implementation and adoption:
Describe what would be required to move from the prototype to real-world use, including integration, operations, user adoption, maintenance, or change-management considerations.
Source / supporting links:
Provide a repository, hosted demo, architecture diagram, notebook, documentation, or other supporting links where appropriate. Clearly identify any third-party or pre-existing components.
Team contribution:
Briefly state w

Judging Criteria
Judging Criteria
Projects are judged on impact/problem relevance (25), innovation (20), technical feasibility (20), trust/ethics/risks (15), scalability/reusability (10), and ease of implementation/adoption (10). Total: 100 points.