NSF Advanced Wireless Communities Open Innovation Challenge

Mozilla Foundation, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Abstract

In the event of a natural disaster, reliable wireless connectivity is not only of tremendous benefit for victims in search of resources, loved ones, and reliable information; it can save lives. The NSF Advanced Wireless Communities Open Innovation Challenge (the Challenge), administered in collaboration with Mozilla, advances both the progress of science as well as national health and welfare. The Challenge will seek innovative, low-cost solutions to provide critical Internet services, such as navigation, localization, social networking, messaging services, directory services, voice calling, access to knowledge databases that address life-saving connectivity in the aftermath of disaster or where none is available. Selected solutions will be easily scalable for immediate potential impacts on civil society, and will nurture partnerships between academia and industry that can speed promising research into practice. Winning solutions will incorporate Mozilla open standard practices and values, including: (1) open platform application process, and solutions with openly licensed code and content; (2) decentralized solutions that are inter-operable, based on open standards and allow for seamless flow and transfer of information and content; (3) digital inclusion and web literacy: winning solutions speak to increasing access to and knowledge of the Web. Researchers, software engineers, entrepreneurs and others are invited to compete for $2 million in prize awards for best solutions to two challenge questions, each comprised of two stages. Stage One involves a broad quest for creativity and innovation with an allotted six months to develop applications and submit for judging and prize awards. Stage One winners, or those with exceptional concepts, move to Stage Two and again have six months to develop and submit applications for prize awards. Competition winners will showcase potential technology solutions in Washington, D.C. in June 2018. Challenge 1, titled 'Off-The-Grid Internet', focuses on affordable and practical solutions that will restore networking/communications in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Challenge 2, titled 'Smart Community Internet', focuses on low-cost solutions to utilize existing municipal infrastructure, with no pervasive dedicated network access such as fiber, for ubiquitous wireless access through Wi-Fi, supporting high-bandwidth data transfers for every connected user.