2023 Community College Innovation Challenge (CCIC)

Advancing Student Innovation & Impact

The CCIC is led by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) in partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF). It is a national competition where community college student teams, working with a faculty or administrator mentor, use science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to innovate solutions to real-world problems; participate in an Innovation Boot Camp; and compete for cash awards.

The Innovation Boot Camp will be held in Alexandria, VA on June 12-15, 2023. The Boot Camp provides professional development, mentoring, and coaching designed to build strategic communication and entrepreneurial skills to help students advance their innovations in both the private and public sectors.

The event culminates in a poster session and engagement opportunity with STEM leaders and Congressional stakeholders on Capitol Hill, and a pitch presentation in front of a panel of industry and entrepreneurial professionals to determine the first, second, and third place winning teams.

The national CCIC is designed to enable community college students to discover and demonstrate their capacity to use STEM to make a difference in the world and to translate that knowledge into action.

AACC is pleased to announce the 12 finalist teams selected for this year’s competition.

• • • Bergen Community College (New Jersey)
      Project: Electric Go-Kart Development
    • Borough of Manhattan Community College (New York)
      Project: Towards an Intelligent App for Dementia Care
    • Central Wyoming College (Wyoming)
      Project: New Voices in Climate
    • Cleveland State Community College (Tennessee)
      Project: Bottle to Model – PET Plastics Solution
    • Feather River College (California)
      Project: Making Our MARK with the EVA-I
    • Henry Ford College (Michigan)
      Project: Take a Moment to Focus (Moment) app
    • Houston Community College (Texas)
      Project: Eagle Rescue
    • Hudson County Community College (New Jersey)
      Project: Color Filaments
    • Red Rocks Community College (Colorado)
      Project: w(aut)ch
    • Virginia Western Community College (Virginia)
      Project: Sort-a-Tab
    • West Hills College Coalinga (California)
      Project: Cr-3 Electric Battery
    • Woodland Community College (California)
      Project: Location Emitting Emergency Ring (L.E.E.R) 

To view the press release for the CCIC finalist teams, click here.