Citi Ventures and Citi’s Technology Organization are pleased to host a weekend-long virtual hackathon from January 22nd through January 25th.
If you are a current student at an HBCU looking to develop your technical skills, we invite you to participate in this event. You’ll have the chance to apply your skills in a real business challenge and learn more about a leading financial services institution.
Over the course of the competition, you will have the opportunity to engage with Citi professionals during our opening and closing sessions, project support Q&A sessions, as well as our virtual networking session.
Grand prizes will be awarded to winners!
The recommended team size is 3-5 individuals, but you do not need to have a team formed in order to register for this event. Teams can be formed prior to challenge kick-off.
Registration will close on Monday, January 18th at 11:59 pm EST.
TIMELINE
Please select only one of the following prompts to utilize for the duration of this Hackathon:
Artificial intelligence is everywhere around us and is growing more and more prevalent each day. One area that AI has recently gained traction in is the automation space. Why have a person read a long and complex legal document when a machine can do it faster and more accurately? But what about when things get messy; like (some people's) handwriting. People are pretty good at reading handwriting of various quality, but how good are machines at it? Let’s find out. Now as a bank, we thought about where we most often see handwriting nowadays. Thankfully, most transactions have been digitized. Except for one place: Checks.
As far as technology limitations go there are none. Just make sure your solution is able to be packaged in a way where we can take a look at it.
Content
The data for this competition is organized as follows:
data.csv
images/
validation/
Notes:
In our data set, the amount as text should be all lowercase
In our data set, the amount as numbers should be out to two decimal places
In our data set, the date is exactly as written
Feel free to add to the data set while building your solution
Acknowledgements
All checks in the images have been created for the purpose of this competition and are not indicative of real checks that Citi may receive.
Inspiration
Can we take handwritten text and convert that into a digital form
Can we take images and verify the amount with what is written on the check
Can we validate the information extracted to prevent fraud
Link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x5KuPlBIZth5FC3NgAq3_A_eA9XJUnv6/view?usp=sharing
Financial constraints are a leading driver of the college dropout rate, and it’s not just the overall cost of attendance. When challenges arise, even having a few hundred dollars in the bank can make the difference between staying in school or needing to drop out and find work.
How can we ensure that by the time they reach college, students have an emergency fund to fall back on? Pitch a product that helps alleviate this problem, whether through financial literacy, savings/investments, access to funds, or any other solution you see fit.
If possible, we would love to see you develop a minimum viable product (MVP) that demonstrates some level of functionality, but if this is not feasible, we will accept a product pitch with UI mock-ups. Additionally, this does not have to be a Citi-branded solution — we want you to have the freedom to implement this in whatever way you think will work best!
Small businesses – particularly those which are minority-owned – have been hit especially hard during COVID-19, while consumers (particularly Millennials and Gen Z-ers) are becoming increasingly concerned with issues relating to ESG: Environment, Sustainability, and Governance. Unlike large corporations, small firms (and the 48% of American workers who they employ) might not have the access to the resources and expertise needed to adapt their business models and/or get the word out when they do. This could lead to a potential disconnect between these businesses and a customer base interested in the common good.
How can we encourage and support the sustainable operation of small businesses? How can we utilize local communities, nonprofits, corporations, etc. to better help one another succeed while adopting ESG practices? Pitch a product that aims to address this problem, whether it involves helping small businesses adopt ESG initiatives into their practices, supporting small businesses with already-sustainable practices, or another solution. This can be approached from the perspective of potential consumers, large corporations, or other individuals/groups that might be stakeholders.
If possible, we would love to see you develop a minimum viable product (MVP) that demonstrates some level of functionality, but if this is not feasible, we will accept a product pitch with UI mock-ups. Additionally, this does not have to be a Citi-branded solution — we want you to have the freedom to implement this in whatever way you think will work best!