• Open to high school students, college students, graduate students, and emerging professionals with three or fewer years of professional experience.
• Teams may have 2–5 members. Solo participation is also allowed.
• Participants under 18 must complete any required parent or guardian consent forms.
• Participants may join only one team and submit only one project.

• Teams may form before or during the hackathon kickoff.
• Team membership must be finalized before the submission deadline. No team members may be added or removed after submission.
• Mixed skills are encouraged, including engineering, data, cybersecurity, design, product, research, business, storytelling, and community knowledge.
• All participants must behave respectfully, support an inclusive environment, and follow the event’s Code of Conduct.
• Accessibility accommodations may be requested during registration or by contacting the organizers.

Build a technology-supported solution that helps a Chicago community understand, prepare for, participate in, or benefit from the emerging quantum future.

Projects may explore: Education and Career Access • Community Awareness • Cybersecurity • Economic Opportunity • Environmental Impact • Technology Access • Other Community Needs

Projects should respond to a clearly defined user, problem, or opportunity and provide meaningful community value.

Participants are not required to use quantum computing or understand quantum physics. Projects will not receive additional points simply for using quantum technology or artificial intelligence.

• Teams may use any programming languages, frameworks, cloud services, design tools, open datasets, and publicly available APIs.
• Open-source libraries, starter code, personal boilerplate, templates, SDKs, UI kits, models, and other third-party resources are allowed with proper attribution and valid licenses.
• Teams may use public data or data collected with appropriate permission.
• Teams may not collect, expose, or submit sensitive personal information.
• All datasets, APIs, outside code, models, research, and third-party assets must be identified and credited.
• Passwords, API keys, access tokens, and other private credentials must not be included in submitted repositories or files.

• Generative AI tools are allowed but not required.
• Teams must disclose the AI tools or models used and explain how they supported the project.
• Teams are responsible for reviewing and understanding any AI-generated code, content, analysis, or designs included in their submission.
• AI-assisted work must not be presented as original human work without disclosure.
• Projects will be evaluated on the value and quality of the solution—not on whether they use AI.

• The primary project must be created during the official hackathon period.
• Previously submitted, commercialized, or production-ready products may not be entered.
• Teams may build upon properly credited libraries, templates, datasets, models, APIs, and personal boilerplate.
• Any work or materials created before the hackathon must be clearly disclosed.
• Each team member must make a meaningful contribution to the project.

• All required materials must be submitted through Devpost by 2:50 p.m. CT on Saturday, November 14, 2026.
• Late or incomplete submissions may not be eligible for judging.
• Teams are responsible for confirming that all submitted links work and that judges have permission to access them.
• Material changes may not be made to the project or submission after the deadline unless organizers provide permission to correct an access or technical issue.

• Each team receives five minutes total:
  • Three minutes for the pitch and demonstration
  • Two minutes for questions from the judges
• The five-minute limit is a hard stop.
• If a live demonstration fails, organizers may use the team’s prerecorded demo video.
• Every team member should be prepared to explain their role and contribution.
• The competition will use single-round judging with no finals.

• Community Impact (30) — Identifies a clear user and problem and shows how the solution could provide meaningful or measurable community benefit.
• Intentional Technology (20) — Selects technology that fits the problem, explains why it was chosen, and recognizes important limitations or risks.
• Technical Execution (20) — Demonstrates a functional or convincing prototype using appropriate code, data, and tools, with a realistic path forward.
• Design & UX (15) — Creates an accessible, understandable experience with a clear user journey.
• Story & Purpose (15) — Clearly communicates the team’s Why, supporting evidence, Chicago connection, and next steps.

Judges’ scores and final decisions are final.

A team or project may be disqualified for:

• Plagiarism or misrepresenting work or team contributions
• Intellectual-property or licensing violations
• Unsafe, unauthorized, or deceptive use of data
• Including private credentials or sensitive personal information
• Harassment or Code of Conduct violations
• Failure to meet eligibility or submission requirements
• Submitting a previously completed or submitted project as new work

Organizers may review potential violations and determine the appropriate response before making a final decision.

• Teams retain ownership of their work.
• By submitting, teams give the organizers permission to display the project, team name, approved images, presentation, and demonstration materials for Summit-related promotion, reporting, and future educational use.
• Teams must follow the licenses and terms associated with all code, datasets, models, APIs, and third-party assets used.

• Photography and recording expectations will be communicated during registration and check-in.
• Required participant—and, when applicable, parent or guardian—permissions will be collected separately.
• Participants who do not consent to photography or recording must follow the event’s communicated opt-out process.
• Teams must protect information belonging to participants, volunteers, mentors, and community members.