On December 8, we hosted the primary Empower & Join Summit at Cisco’s campus in Raleigh, NC, bringing collectively companions, innovators, and communities to discover how expertise can drive significant social impression.
On the middle of that power was the Group Innovation Problem. In partnership with Web Influence we invited college students from world wide to pitch their boldest concepts: how would they use Cisco expertise to handle essential challenges in their very own communities? We acquired 84 proposals from 12 international locations, with the highest 5 groups advancing to current in individual on the Summit. There, a panel of specialists evaluated their concepts primarily based on their understanding of neighborhood wants, modern use of expertise, and potential for real-world outcomes.
What struck me most wasn’t simply the technical sophistication of their proposals — it was how deeply these college students understood the communities they had been designing for, and the way they positioned expertise as a path to alternative.
Daring options, massive impression: Meet the 2025 Innovation Problem Winners
First place: DinéLink – $10,000
Mahima Subramaniyan and Devangna Jadeja, Arizona State College
Spanning 27,000 sq. miles of rugged terrain throughout Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, the Navajo Nation is the most important reservation in america. But for practically two-thirds of the greater than 160,000 individuals who dwell there, dependable web stays out of attain. (1)
Mahima and Devangna’s proposal tackled this head-on with a imaginative and prescient for digital sovereignty by way of DinéLink, a community-owned community designed to face up to the terrain and serve the individuals who dwell there. They proposed utilizing Cisco Extremely-Dependable Wi-fi Backhaul to bypass geographic boundaries and attain areas the place fiber isn’t viable, paired with Meraki entry factors and safety home equipment to supply each connectivity and community administration at scale. Photo voltaic-powered hubs would guarantee reliability in distant areas, whereas Catalyst infrastructure would scale back dependency on conventional fiber networks. However what set DinéLink aside was the emphasis on constructing for the long-term by proposing to embed Cisco Networking Academy coaching by way of Diné Faculty and Navajo Technical College, so the neighborhood doesn’t simply get connectivity, but additionally the workforce to keep up and broaden it themselves.
Second place: HealthHorizons – $5,000
Priya Rao (College of Connecticut), Julia Kuang (Wellesley Faculty), Grace Chen (Swarthmore Faculty)
In Greene County, Alabama, simply three working towards physicians serve all the inhabitants. Like many distant areas, sparse infrastructure means restricted broadband entry, placing telehealth out of attain for many residents.
The HealthHorizons group’s proposal centered on creating dependable telehealth infrastructure the place none at present exists. They designed a system utilizing Meraki infrastructure with failover connectivity to make sure clinics keep on-line, mixed with Meraki firewalls to keep up HIPAA-compliant safety for affected person knowledge. Webex would allow distant consultations and join sufferers instantly with specialists, whereas AI-powered instruments might assist with triage. Their four-stage mannequin was designed not as a one-time repair, however as a system that would present continuity of care in a spot that’s been medically remoted for many years.
Third place: OncoALERT – $2,500
Dr. Jayanti Kumari and Sweta Pandey, Translational Well being Science and Expertise Institute (India)
In rural India, most cancers is usually recognized too late to deal with successfully. By way of OncoALERT, Dr. Kumari and Sweta proposed a low-cost, AI-enabled saliva biosensor that could possibly be deployed by neighborhood well being employees or used at house — no specialised gear required. The technical infrastructure would use Catalyst wi-fi entry factors to supply dependable connectivity in rural villages, Meraki SD-WAN to increase healthcare networks past city facilities and layered safety by way of Cisco ISE and Duo to guard delicate well being knowledge. Webex would allow distant consultations, bringing oncologists into communities the place they’ve by no means had entry earlier than. If applied at scale, their mannequin estimates that OncoALERT might display screen 5 million folks and probably save 120,000 lives.
Honorable mentions that raised the bar
Two further finalist groups demonstrated a powerful command of each expertise and neighborhood dynamics:
Cisco Group Join Detroit — $1,000
A College of Michigan group proposed a youth-focused digital expertise program designed to certify 1,000 Detroit college students and scale back town’s digital literacy hole by 25%. Their mannequin mixed Meraki infrastructure with hands-on Cisco Networking Academy coaching to construct each technical expertise and profession pathways.
FloodSense Ghana — $1,000
A Talladega Faculty group designed an early-warning system to assist communities in Ghana put together for floods earlier than they hit. Their proposal mixed IoT sensors and Meraki dashboards for real-time monitoring with telecommunications partnerships to achieve an estimated 500,000 residents, whereas constructing a pipeline to coach 500 college students yearly in IoT, cloud computing, and analytics.
What comes subsequent: Investing within the subsequent era of downside solvers
Watching these college students take into consideration expertise the best way we should always all be eager about it — as a car for fixing actual issues in actual communities — was inspiring. They began the place it issues most: with folks. Households with out web. Sufferers with out entry to healthcare suppliers. Communities with out flood warnings. Then, they proposed tech-enabled options round these particular wants. Now, every of the 5 finalist groups will likely be paired with a senior mentor at Cisco to assist them additional refine their concepts and proceed creating as problem-solving innovators who put folks and communities first.
That is the sort of considering that creates actual change. These college students perceive that expertise’s worth lies in making communities more healthy, safer, extra related, and extra resilient. And that is what Cisco is dedicated to supporting: equipping one of the best and brightest minds of the subsequent era with the sources, mentorship, and expertise they should deliver their daring concepts to life.
