DESCRIPTION

The U.S. Army invites Historically Black Colleges and Universities students to participate in xTechHBCU Student — an xTech Program competition for eligible students to earn prize money, engage with the Department of Defense, participate in a unique accelerator program and potentially develop a prototype of their concept as final competition winners.

The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology recognizes the importance of building an enduring and fruitful relationship between the U.S. Army and HBCUs. Diverse perspectives provide a critical source of HBCU innovation for the advancement of Army Modernization Priorities and national security.

The xTechHBCU Student competition offers:

• A platform for eligible undergraduate students to submit innovative ideas to the Army.
• Direct feedback to participants on their ideas from Army and DoD stakeholders.
• Access to training, mentorship and networking opportunities through the xTechHBCU Student Accelerator program.
• Up to $139,500 in cash prizes for innovations throughout the competition.

If you know someone interested in participating or wish to share with your networks, please review our xTechHBCU Student Social Media Tool Kit for pre-drafted social media posts and graphics.

TOPICS AND PROBLEM STATEMENTS 

xTechHBCU Student seeks innovative ideas that can tackle the Army’s current challenges while strengthening collaborations between HBCU students and the Army. The xTechHBCU Student competition will focus on two main open-topic areas:

Topic 1: Autonomy

The U.S. Army, recognizing the significance of autonomy in modern warfare, is actively seeking innovative approaches to leverage autonomous technologies for the benefit of its service members. This includes a wide array of applications, including unmanned ground and aerial vehicles, protection of autonomous platforms against cyber vulnerabilities, advanced artificial intelligence systems for decision support and autonomous weaponry. These innovations aim to enhance Soldier protection, augment situational awareness and improve the lethality of our forces while adapting to the complexities of contemporary conflict.

Historically, military strategies often focused on traditional warfare scenarios, but the rapid evolution of autonomous technologies presents new challenges and opportunities. The Army’s commitment to embracing autonomy underscores the need to stay ahead of technological advancements, ensuring that our forces are prepared to face both known and unforeseen threats in an ever-changing environment.

Topic 2: Power and Energy

Successful military capabilities rely on assured access to sufficient and secure supplies of energy. Contested logistics environments and a heavy reliance on commercial technology and infrastructure are two challenges seen in power and energy generation that the DoD is looking to alleviate. The DoD must ensure mission readiness is supported with resilient, reliable, clean, and efficient installation and operational energy capabilities.

The DoD has established the Operational Energy Strategy to outline its goals in providing resilient energy to the Joint warfighter and reducing energy demand while enhancing capabilities of weapon systems and forces. Operational Energy is defined as the “energy required for training, moving, and sustaining military forces and weapons platforms for military operations and includes energy used by ships, aircraft, combat vehicles, and tactical power generators.” In alignment with the National Defense Strategy, the DoD is prioritizing energy demand reduction and seeking to adopt more efficient and clean energy technologies that reduce logistics requirements in contested environments.

These topic areas will provide the Army with innovative ideas while enabling students to build upon their concepts for future Army use. You can find additional details and examples on each topic area in Appendix A of the RFI.

The xTech Program is offering an informational webinar session as well as office hours to provide background on the competition, pentachart application, and answer any questions you have. Please use this link to sign up.

Information Session | May 22, 2024 at 6:00 PM EDT
Office Hours | July 11 at 4:00 PM EDT
Office Hours | October 1 at 4:00 PM EDT
Office Hours | October 23 at 4:00 PM EDT

SCHEDULE AND PRIZES

ELIGIBILITY

To join the competition, student(s) must:

• Be enrolled as a full-time undergraduate student as of or beginning in the fall 2024 semester at an HBCU institution when registering for the competition. You can find a list of these HBCU schools at:
  • https://sites.ed.gov/whhbcu/one-hundred-and-five-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/
• Be 18 years or older by the Part 1 submission deadline (Oct. 30, 2024).
• Provide the current enrollment status with their submission. Acceptable documents include:
  • An academic transcript as of fall semester 2024.
  • A letter or form from the HBCU’s Office of the Registrar confirming the student’s/students’ fall 2024 enrollment.
  • Enrollment verification from the National Student Clearinghouse.
  • I-20 Form.

Student Teaming

Students can join the competition as a single-entry participant or in teams of up to three (3) eligible students. If joining as a team, members must meet the following criteria:

• All students must be undergraduates enrolled at HBCUs.
• Teams can consist of students from various accredited HBCUs.
• Teams must create a name.
• Each team must have one main point of contact.
• All team members must participate in all aspects of the competition.

Students may only submit once as a team OR as a single-entry participant. Students cannot participate as a single-entry participant and as a team.

REGISTRATION

The competition allows only one submission per eligible student or team. Previous xTechHBCU Student competition participants are eligible to submit. However, these students must provide a new technology idea from their previous entries. Eligible students must provide their registration information and submission upload by 5 p.m. ET, Oct. 30, 2024. The program will not consider submissions received after the deadline.

Student(s) must register their self or team to join. Professors may not submit on the behalf of students.