Our IDEA Hackathons are forums where industry professionals, students, and citizens can share ideas, build relationships, and discover potential solutions that are relevant and meaningful for their city. We invite people with a diverse range of perspectives who can balance vision and imagination with practicality and rigor to contribute to challenging discussions on the intersection between technology and humanity in city building.
Each event culminates in a Shark Tank-style pitch and presentation to judges, where teams compete for prizes and glory. But the best thing to come out of the IDEA Hackathon is … well, the ideas!
IDEA HACKATHON INSIGHTS
JOSIPA PETRUNIC
Chief Executive Officer of CUTRIC
Cities are going to have to set a vision and they're going to have to take a lead. And from cities taking a lead that filters up to the province, to a federal action plan with a vision that recognizes not all cities in the country are going to move people in quite the same ways.
TORONTO
WHERE WE'VE HOSTED HACKATHONS
TAMPA
How can we use technology to ensure Toronto is a thriving, livable, and resilient city for all?
WHAT IS AN IDEA HACKATHON?
what is an idea hackathon?
IDEA HACKATHON INSIGHTS
where we've HOSTED HACKATHONS
WINNING IDEAS
KEVIN MCGEE
National Director of Emerging Technology at Microsoft
Don't start with a cool technology. Find an issue. What's a problem that you want to solve first. Then look at what technologies can solve those problems. And that really comes down to looking at digital transformation as a process.
challenge statement
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how can we build smart cities of the future?
01
3 surprising things I discovered from hacking 21st-century city challenges
03
See the IDEAS that came from Toronto, for Toronto
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See the IDEAS that came from Toronto, for Toronto
WINNING IDEAS
where we've HOSTED HACKATHONS
IDEA HACKATHON INSIGHTS
what is an idea hackathon?
Tapping our communities to deliver big ideas for our biggest challenges
TAMPA
TORONTO
How do we leverage technology to define and design a new mobility future that ensures Tampa is a livable, equitable and resilient city?
challenge statement
WINNING IDEAS
TORONTO
TAMPA
TAMPA
TORONTO
Better data is needed to understand the travel behaviors of pedestrians, and help optimize our streets and capital project portfolios to serve the community. PowerWalk uses piezoelectric technology—kinetic floor tiles that capture energy generated through footfall—to better collect pedestrian mobility data and optimize investment in pedestrian infrastructure.
The smartest cities are looking for creative ways to address challenges like air quality in transportation, or using data to design better public spaces. Our two winning teams presented some truly compelling ideas to improve their communities.
TEAM POWERWALK
First Place Winners
Empowering walkability through data
Fresh Air: Protecting air quality in public spaces and transportation
The COVID-19 pandemic has put the issue of pathogen testing and transmission on the forefront of public agendas across the world. Team Zero has developed Fresh Air—a device that monitors air quality and can detect airborne pathogens and harmful gases, that can be deployed anywhere from public transit to healthcare facilities.
how can we build smart cities of the future?
3 surprising things I discovered from hacking 21st-century city challenges
BRIAN KORNFELD
President and Founder of Synapse
We can get things done by thinking differently, and that's how we can innovate in a big way. So as you go forward, continue to think, continue to push each other. There is no wrong answer in this room. There's just a lot of right answers.
Melissa Morgan
Senior UX/UI developer and designer and
Idea Hackathon winner
Come to the table with some ideas and … be prepared to learn about new problems. The speakers were incredible at this year's event and there were problems that I was aware of and then there were problems that they presented that I didn't even know we had. By acquiring that kind of knowledge, you'll think of even more ideas.
First Place Winners
TEAM ZERO
VIK BHIDE
Director of Transportation and Stormwater Services, City of Tampa
The challenge is very clear when it comes to mobility. Mobility is pretty much at the core of liberty. It’s the ability to move from a place to another. And how we move about is shaped by how we are developed. What do our spaces look like? Are we suburban and are we urban?
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Embracing the creative spirit: How the Tampa Idea Hackathon helped me to think differently
Embracing the creative spirit: How the Tampa Idea Hackathon helped me to think differently
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Idea Book: Hackathon participants rethink mobility in Tampa
Idea Book: Hackathon participants rethink mobility in Tampa
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In our monthly Urban Places newsletter, we explore ideas from Stantec experts and beyond on topics impacting our communities including how technology can help cities put people first.
brandon wolfram
University of South Florida, Idea Hackathon winner
It was great to actually get our ideas out there and to get people to acknowledge that these ideas are really good.
BETH ALDEN
Executive Director, Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization
Idea hackathons are a different world, usually we’re in our government siloes trying to make the bureaucracy work better. This is a way to step outside of those boundaries.
NANCY MACDONALD
Vice President, Stantec’s Urban Places
Smart cities are never about just one component. They’re so interconnected that we find our clients and most cities are looking for not just a tiny solution. Because one [smart city] has an impact on another one and another one. You really have to take that holistic approach.
How can we use technology to ensure Toronto is a thriving, livable, and resilient city for all?
challenge statement
First Place Winners
TEAM ZERO
Fresh Air: Protecting air quality in public spaces and transportation
The COVID-19 pandemic has put the issue of pathogen testing and transmission on the forefront of public agendas across the world. Team Zero has developed Fresh Air—a device that monitors air quality and can detect airborne pathogens and harmful gases, that can be deployed anywhere from public transit to healthcare facilities.
NANCY MACDONALD
Vice President, Stantec’s Urban Places
Smart cities are never about just one component. They’re so interconnected that we find our clients and most cities are looking for not just a tiny solution. Because one [smart city] has an impact on another one and another one. You really have to take that holistic approach.
BRIAN KORNFELD
President and Founder of Synapse
We can get things done by thinking differently, and that's how we can innovate in a big way. So as you go forward, continue to think, continue to push each other. There is no wrong answer in this room. There's just a lot of right answers.
KEVIN MCGEE
National Director of Emerging Technology at Microsoft
Don't start with a cool technology. Find an issue. What's a problem that you want to solve first. Then look at what technologies can solve those problems. And that really comes down to looking at digital transformation as a process.
VIK BHIDE
Director of Transportation and Stormwater Services, City of Tampa
The challenge is very clear when it comes to mobility. Mobility is pretty much at the core of liberty. It’s the ability to move from a place to another. And how we move about is shaped by how we are developed. What do our spaces look like? Are we suburban and are we urban?
JOSIPA PETRUNIC
Chief Executive Officer of CUTRIC
Cities are going to have to set a vision and they're going to have to take a lead. And from cities taking a lead that filters up to the province, to a federal action plan with a vision that recognizes not all cities in the country are going to move people in quite the same ways.
MELISSA MORGAN
Senior UX/UI developer and designer and Idea Hackathon winner
Come to the table with some ideas and … be prepared to learn about new problems. The speakers were incredible at this year's event and there were problems that I was aware of and then there were problems that they presented that I didn't even know we had. By acquiring that kind of knowledge, you'll think of even more ideas.
brandon wolfram
University of South Florida, Idea Hackathon winner
It was great to actually get our ideas out there and to get people to acknowledge that these ideas are really good.
Read more about all the creative ideas shared in Toronto and Tampa.
Read more about all the creative ideas shared in Toronto and Tampa.
How do we leverage technology to define and design a new mobility future that ensures Tampa is a livable, equitable and resilient city?
challenge statement
Empowering walkability through data
Better data is needed to understand the travel behaviors of pedestrians, and help optimize our streets and capital project portfolios to serve the community. PowerWalk uses piezoelectric technology—kinetic floor tiles that capture energy generated through footfall—to better collect pedestrian mobility data and optimize investment in pedestrian infrastructure.
First Place Winners
TEAM ZERO