Keysight Technologies Inc. announced the student finalists of the Keysight IoT Innovation Challenge, who receive an all-expenses paid trip to New York City to demonstrate their design ideas before a panel of esteemed judges at a live-streamed event to be held in September 2019.

The Keysight IoT Innovation Challenge is a design competition challenging graduate and undergraduate engineering students to conceptualize low-power sensor networks to tackle issues brought on by today's rapid urbanization. The contest has two tracks: the Smart Land challenge and the Smart Water challenge. Students submitted IoT sensor network ideas via online written and video submissions from April 1 – May 15, 2019. The competition attracted nearly 300 entries from around the world, with each entry scored by a panel of 15 semi-final judges on metrics such as innovation, manufacturability and impact. The general public also played a role in the judging by voting for their favorite design entries. These votes contributed to 10 percent of each entrant's overall score.

After a careful compilation of the judges scores and a tally of all popular votes, the Keysight IoT Innovation Challenge finalists are:

Smart Land Challenge

U.S. and Canada finalists:

  • Nikhil Murthy, Sunny Tran, Gabriella Garcia and Irin Ghosh from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for their entry, berrySmart

Asia-Pacific/Greater China finalists:

  • Tyrel Glass, Baden Parr, Darryn Wells, Madhav Kruthiventy of Massey University in New Zealand for their entry, CAIRNet (Climate Air Information Real-time Network)

Europe, Middle East, Africa, India finalists:

  • Gaurav Barua, Harsh Prasad, Kishore Charan from Institute of Engineering & Management in India for their entry, Malaria Detection Using Foldscope

Smart Water Challenge

U.S. and Canada finalists:

  • Anand Lalwani, Max Holiday and Valmik Lakhlani from Stanford University for their entry, Immersible IoT Sensors for Cloud-based Water Quality Monitoring

Asia-Pacific/Greater China finalists:

  • Lim Wen Qing, Yap Sheng Yao, Tan Kai Siang, Au Jin Cheng and Khor Jun Bin from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) in Malaysia for their entry, IoT Detachable Waterway Monitoring Device with LoRa and Self-Sustainability

Europe, Middle East, Africa, India finalists:

  • Raphael Jaures of Université de Technologie de Compiègne (Sorbonne Universitiés) in France for entry, Watsyn: Better Monitoring of Our Waterways to Ensure a Better Future

"Our finalists set a very high bar with their innovative and unique design entries, all of which have the potential to improve our planet through sustainability efforts," said Cheryl Ajluni, director, IoT Innovation Challenge Program at Keysight. "We're thrilled to have inspired student innovation worldwide and welcome the opportunity to watch the finalists' design ideas unfold live in New York this fall. The IoT Innovation Challenge is yet another way Keysight is actively working to inspire next-generation student innovators, while planting the seeds for a long-term relationship with universities and communities."

The world-class panel of judges for the final IoT Innovation Challenge event in New York includes: Ariel Alexovich, associate public information officer for United Nations; Mehdi Sadaghdar, electrical engineer and popular YouTube influencer known as ElectroBOOM; Martin Rowe, senior technical editor for Aspencore Media; student innovator Jeremiah Pate, founder and CEO of LunaSonde; Jeff Harris, vice president of corporate and portfolio marketing for Keysight; Ee Huei Sin, vice president and general manager of Keysight's General Electronics Measurement Solutions; and Christopher Cain, vice president and general manager of Keysight's Electronic Industrial Products.

Winners of the Keysight IoT Innovation Challenge will be announced at the conclusion of the live event. Along with worldwide recognition, the top winning team will receive a $50,000 USD cash prize and $50,000 USD worth of Keysight test equipment for their school.