The Convergence Innovation Competition (CIC) is back for another semester, and we’re looking for innovative student ideas in three new categories.

The CIC, produced by IPaT and the Georgia Tech Research Network Operations Center (GT-RNOC), is a bi-annual competition dedicated to helping students create products and experiences with the support of campus resources and industry sponsors. The Fall competition is campus-focused, and categories are determined by our campus partners. Categories for the Fall 2016 competition, which are aligned with IPaT’s research priorities, include:

Lifelong Health and Wellbeing
Entries should focus on new or reimagined solutions for patients, communities, and/or those involved in the continuum of care (caregivers, doctors, hospitals, insurers, employers).

Smart Cities and Healthy Communities
Entries should focus on solutions for individuals, communities, business and community stakeholders, and government service providers.

Socio-Technical Systems and Human-Technology Frontier Innovation
Entries will demonstrate new platforms, services, and devices ranging from the Internet of Things (IoT), Software Defined Networking (SDN), automotive and wearable computing devices, mixed and augmented Reality, data science and analytics, collaboration and communication tools.

While the CIC is not tied to any specific Georgia Tech course, students are often able to take advantage of class partnerships where lecture and lab content and projects are aligned with competition categories. GT-RNOC research assistants provide technical support and guide teams through the competition process.

CIC entries are due on November 11th; teams will create a project name, logo and webpage, plus a supporting video that demonstrates their project in action.

"Finalists in the CIC are judged across multiple criteria, and winning projects showcase innovation, user experience and viability in the real world," said Siva Jayaraman, IPaT Strategic Partnerships Manager.

Finalists will present their projects on November 16th at a demo and judging event held at IPaT. Past CIC winners have gone on to commercialization, other competitions, as well as internship and job opportunities strengthened by their competition experience. To learn more about the CIC, including how to submit your project or become a sponsor, visit the competition website at cic.gatech.edu.