IFI Challenge

Build a responsible early-stage solution for a real-world problem. Present your work to a judged panel. Earn a path into IFI Lab to move towards implementation.

  • Open to all majors and experience levels
  • Mentorship, workshops, and structured support
  • Public Demo Day in early December

Register for IFI Challenge

What Is IFI Challenge?

IFI Challenge brings students together to identify real problems, develop responsible early-stage solutions, and present their work. Selected teams advance directly into IFI Lab, where their prototype becomes a deployment-ready pilot with a real implementation partner.

Participants may bring:

  • An existing project idea
  • A clearly identified problem
  • An interest in joining a team

The program culminates with IFI Challenge Demo Day in early December.

Why Participate?

IFI Challenge is designed to produce meaningful outcomes for students.

Participants will:

  • Build portfolio-quality work for résumés and interviews
  • Strengthen candidacy for internships and employment
  • Develop experience working across disciplines
  • Apply responsible innovation to real-world challenges
  • Present to a judged panel of faculty, industry, and public-sector leaders
  • Earn a pathway into IFI Lab, where the strongest projects move toward real implementation

This is not a simulation. It's an opportunity to build tangible work with a real path to implementation.

How It Works

1 Register

Submit a short registration indicating whether you have an existing project, a defined problem, or an interest in joining a team.

No full proposal is required at this stage.

2 Frame the Problem

Before solution development begins, teams complete a Problem Framing Brief that focuses on:

  • Problem clarity and evidence
  • Stakeholders affected
  • Feasibility
  • Responsible and ethical considerations

3 Develop & Mentor

Teams refine and build solutions through workshops, mentor support, and practical AI and low-code tools where appropriate.

4 Demo Day (Early December)

Teams present to a judged panel drawn from academia, industry, and the public sector. Demo Day is also the selection gateway into IFI Lab.

Who Should Apply?

  • Undergraduate and graduate students at William Paterson University
  • Students with early ideas
  • Students with ongoing projects
  • Interdisciplinary teams from all majors and disciplines

If you care about a real problem and want to build a responsible solution, you belong here.

Prizes & Advancement

Top teams receive monetary awards and structured support for continued development.

Selected teams advance directly into IFI Lab, where they are matched with a committed implementation partner and continue developing their solution as a real pilot project.

Program details and award amounts are announced at the start of each program year.

Timeline

  • August – IFI Challenge Launches
  • August–November – Development Period
  • Early December – IFI Challenge Demo Day
  • Following Spring – Selected teams continue into IFI Lab

Our Pilot Year

Where IFI Challenge Started

Tech Innovation Day (2025–26)

IFI Challenge builds directly on CSREI's pilot year, when Tech Innovation Day launched as Innovation for Impact's inaugural program.

The pilot demonstrated that William Paterson students could frame real problems and build working solutions through a structured innovation process. The lessons learned helped shape today's expanded IFI Challenge.

# View the Tech Innovation Day Archive →

Ready to Get Started?

  • Bring a real problem.
  • Build a responsible solution.
  • Show what you've created.

Register for IFI Challenge