Make a Difference in the World With Intel

With summer break upon us, what better time to take on a new project while scoring some pretty sweet prizes? And not just any prizes either, we’re talking trips to China, cash, wearables, and even drones… These are all up for grabs in our two latest contests with Intel.

We’re calling on young Makers and college students, who have an idea that could ultimately change the future. Developing a technology that can improve the heath of our planet? Know how you can solve a real world problem? We want to see it!

First, Intel’s Earth Day Challengeencouragesparticipants to devise solutions that can tackle some environmental issues, such as tracking the migration of night birds and bats through sound as well as creating a kit for volunteer citizen scientists to monitor the Sandy River Delta in Oregon. Makers can even enter projects pertaining to any cause they are passionate about — energy, water, soil, air, food, or whatever else, as long as it relates to our habitat.

Regardless of the category, each submission must use a combination of the Arduino 101 or Intel Edison, Intel software, and datasets from iNaturalist.org.

Although this contest is aimed primarily at university students, any engineer, data scientist or seasoned tinkerer with the right qualifications can still register as a mentor to share their insight.

11 Intel-powered prizes will be awarded to the top entries: one first place winner will receive a YUNEEC Typhoon H Hexacopter, two second place finishers will get Oakley Radar Pace sunglasses, and three third placers will take home Intel Compute Sticks. Five mentors will also walk away with an NB RunIQ watch.

With a similar focus, the 2017 Co-Making the Future Competition challenges creators ages 18–40 (in the U.S. only) to build innovations that can have a lasting impact on the world. 10 lucky semi-finalists will be chosen and flown to Beijing, where they will compete against other Makers for $15,000 and international bragging rights!

Admittedly, the concept of “changing the world” is a bit vague. So to help inspire and provide you with a better sense of what the judges are looking for, you can check out last year’s winners here.

Ready to get started? You can find all the necessary dates, details and more over on Hackster.io.