Hackathon seeks cooling ideas for America’s hottest city

Phoenix’s Office of Innovation is teaming up with non-profit Venture Café Phoenix to host its second hackathon to find solutions from the local community.

Following an inaugural Innovate Phoenix Challenge in April, the latest event focuses on finding ideas for manufactured shade to build resilience to rising urban heat.

Phoenix is considered the hottest large city in the US and has a dedicated heat mitigation office.

On December 7, more than 30 participants will break into groups to work on solutions to expand manufactured shade across the city. The teams will then present their ideas to a panel of judges in front of an audience.

The hackathon seeks ideas for single-purpose or multi-purpose manufactured shade structures beyond trees, which are being addressed in separate city programmes. Teams include students, entrepreneurs and residents.

“Expanding shade in Phoenix is one of my top priorities, not only to beautify common spaces, but especially to curb adverse health effects from extreme summer heat,” said Mayor Kate Gallego.

“Our best ideas come from our most passionate residents, and I can’t wait to see what solutions folks bring to the table.”

The winning team will receive US$3,500 and the runner-up team will receive US$1,500, with all funds to be divided equally among team members.

Testing ideas

Michael Hammett, who was appointed as Phoenix’s first Chief Innovation Officer in September 2021, told Cities Today that as well as tackling pressing city challenges, the initiative also aims to help people potentially start new businesses and find local connections.

“This isn’t one-sided,” he said. “We want to support people coming up with solutions and they could run with it on their own. The seed money is obviously not a lot but we wanted it to be something that they could use for a patent or a website. It could provide an initial spark.”

In April 2023, the Office of Innovation hosted its first Innovate Phoenix Challenge at Venture Café Phoenix. More than 100 people participated in the all-day event developing ideas to expand access to chilled drinking water in public spaces. The winning idea was a fountain made with a polycarbonate shell rather than metal so it would not absorb heat and would be resistant to vandalism. Water would be cooled using thermoelectric plates.

The department is currently testing ideas that came out of the challenge near City Hall.

“It is really exciting to have ideas come out of the challenge and be able to work so quickly to begin testing them,” Hammett said.

“Everybody across the board was saying: ‘This is my challenge too because I live in the city’. Someone may be an engineer but they’re also walking through their community and not finding water. That really validated the idea that everybody has to be part of the solution.”

Connections

Hammett said follow-up from the last event had revealed that one person was hired by a start-up on their team. Another already had a business – unrelated to water – and came away from the event with a new client. An international student who was in the audience shared that attending the event helped them “find their community” of people who were also interested in innovation and a forward-thinking approach.

“I just loved hearing those stories that this was bringing everybody together to connect with one another in various ways,” Hammett commented.

The city plans to hold two Innovate Phoenix Challenges per year.

Venture Café Phoenix is part of the Venture Café global network that aims to connect innovators through hubs and events.