Foxconn Announces First-Round Finalists of Year-Two "Smart Cities – Smart Futures" Competi

Foxconn continues three-year competition that awards up to $1 million in cash and technical support to Wisconsin students, faculty and staff

Mount Pleasant, WI – Foxconn Technology Group (Foxconn) today announced the shortlist of 25 finalists for their Round 1 submissions of the Year Two "Smart Cities – Smart Futures" competition at Milwaukee Area Technical College. Each finalist from the first-round submissions will receive $500 and will be given an opportunity to advance to Round Two. Foxconn received a total of 71 submissions from across 20 different higher education institutions around Wisconsin.

"Wisconsin continues to be a priority for us at Foxconn, and we want to play our part in realizing the vision of making Wisconsin the Silicon Valley of the Midwest. Part of that includes tapping into potential of the students - the future of Wisconsin - and harnessing their ideas to create an impact in their community," said Alan Yeung, Director of U.S. Strategic Initiatives, Foxconn Technology Group. "With Foxconn’s resources and expertise, we would be able to collaborate, enable and empower the participants in their aspirations."

Earlier this year, Foxconn launched the Year Two "Smart Cities – Smart Futures" competition where individuals and teams representing higher education in Wisconsin compete for financial awards, technical support, and in-kind contributions. Ideas submitted to the competition will help improve and enhance living and working environments, manufacturing facilities and processes, promote attractive streetscapes, transportation network and living spaces, and encourage sustainability.

Submissions are evaluated by a panel of judges represented by academic partners and external stakeholders. Foxconn will be looking into concepts that involve advanced manufacturing, environmental sustainability, healthcare, Agri-tech, Internet of Things, machine learning, smart display, industrial artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing. Competitive submissions will be required to apply these technologies to solve real-world problems that will benefit and improve our communities here in Wisconsin.

Foxconn has partnered with the University of Wisconsin System, the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and the Wisconsin Technical College System on the "Smart Cities – Smart Futures" competition – visiting nearly 18 colleges and universities from UW-Eau Claire to Gateway Technical College, to Ripon College to promote the competition.

Foxconn has also visited several of these college campuses, along with others in Wisconsin and throughout the Midwest, to recruit and hire talent for career opportunities in Industrial Artificial Intelligence, High-Performance Computing, Smart Manufacturing, Smart Display, 5G, and Networks. Both the "Smart Cities – Smart Futures" competition and these college recruitment efforts have led to be college graduates finding open and available positions within Foxconn.

In addition to the academic partners, the competition is also supported by several groups, including the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, the Wisconsin Technology Council, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, the WiSys Technology Foundation, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the UW-Milwaukee Research Foundation and SCORE.

Year two second-round submissions will be due on December 7, 2019. For more information about the competition please visit: https://wismartcities-smartfutures.com/