Phoenix wants the community to help come up with ways to combat air pollution as part of the latest “Innovate PHX” hackathon.
On Thursday morning, five teams of five to seven people each will be assigned to work together on a plan to tackle PM2.5 (soot and fine particles) and PM10 (dust), common air pollutants that cause health problems.
The teams can generally be a mix of students, entrepreneurs and others with a passion to improve their community. After a day of brainstorming and planning, each team will be judged on their ideas.
Michael Hammett, director of Phoenix’s Office of Innovation, said judging will be comprehensive. “Is there something tangible that this is going to help solve for? What is their presentation like? Was it clearly articulated? Is there a good chance that this could be taken either by the city, or by the individual, or the team? Could this be moved forward? And could others benefit from it as well?”
Hammett said past winners have worked with Phoenix on materials to mitigate heat for the city’s chilled outdoor water fountains.
"Also, with our affordable housing hackathon, after that opportunity, we brought some of those ideas to Arizona State University, and now students are helping advance some of those ideas, so it really continues,” he said.
The public is invited to watch the presentations and pick their favorite. Judging takes place Thursday from 5-7 p.m. at Venture Café, 850 N. Fifth St., Phoenix, AZ 85004.
“Walking in the room, and feeling the energy in there, the diversity of backgrounds, education levels, everyone is there with an idea that they want to make a difference and this is a tangible way to do it,” Hammett said.
A panel of judges will choose two winning teams. Each person on the first place team will receive $575 and each person on the second place team will get $250. The funding comes from the Office of Innovation.
