CivTechSA partnered with The Entrepreneurial World to present students with an opportunity to solve civic challenge in their community by working in teams to research, build, and pitch their solutions. Through the amazing mentorship from Washington Navarro of The Entrepreneurial World, five teams developed and pitched their solutions to city officials and local tech leaders. Among the ideas pitched were ideas ranging from industries trading reusable waste, to a sustainable mobile food truck.
The Pitch Competition challenge kicked off by introducing local government, civic technology, and entrepreneurism to the students, along with a challenge bank of real-world problems our city faces. Over the course of the project, students researched and developed key business concepts to inform their solution, completed a business model canvas, and created a prototype. The project culminated in an online pitch competition hosted by CivTechSA where finalist student teams from 4 different countries pitched to a panel of guest judges.
IgniteSA Pitch Competition Kickoff
April 1st || 6-7:30pm
Join CivTechSA to hear all about competition details + applications officially open!
Competition Clinic
June 5th || 10am-1pm
Presentations, workshops, and breakout sessions to help you refine your idea, build your team, and get prepared to apply.
Submit Pitch Video & Application
July 17th
Finalist Selected
July 21st
A panel of local tech talent, City of San Antonio Office of Innovation employees, and start-up experts will select five teams to compete in upcoming pitch competition weekend
Virtual Pitch Competition
July 23-24th
Finalists will refine and pitch their challenge solutions to a panel of guest judges for prizes.
SA Smart Mayor’s Mini Challenge
Emergency Crisis Communication
Open to 6-12 Grade Students
After an unprecedented winter storm blew into Texas leaving inches of snow and below freezing temperatures, our state’s power infrastructure gave way leading to severe power outages, and little to no running water for many. As events rapidly unfolded, many residents were left without information on the status of public services, and relied primarily on neighbors, family, friends, and social media to report, seek, and find answers and help. Each public service entity and emergency response service used its own communication channels such as social media, news television stations, and websites to provide different information, but there was no central place for all information that residents needed. It was also more difficult for many to access information on devices with limited to no power.
CHALLENGE QUESTION:
A: During a sudden crisis or emergency event in which widespread power outages occur, how can emergency status updates from various public service entities be effectively communicated to residents?
B: How do we help residents report issues, data, or resources to the City to identify and expedite emergency response?
Ideas will be judged on the following criteria:
- Relevance: Did you address the problem?
- Clarity: We can easily understand what you are proposing.
- Focus: You focus on specific groups, areas of the city, etc. Mainly, what you propose sounds doable!
- Creativity: In understanding the problem, solving the problem, and/or communicating your idea.
There are no limits on what you include in your video, but consider:
- Sharing a focused problem with a story and numbers as evidence that the problem exists.
- Sharing your proposed solution.
- Explaining how the solution, if implemented, will solve the problem.
- Feel free to get creative about how you tell your story!
