Mentors and Coaches
Our passionate coaches and mentors fuel the Future Impact Challenge at Applied Computing Foundation. Tap into the pool of innovators and creatives* of ACF and its partners during the Future Impact Challenge!
* These mentors are available during certain hours in a week
Mentor Talks
Throughout the competition, we will be hosting several live workshops, a.k.a. mentor talks, so that we can help you submit the best version of your imagination you can make! These workshops range from technical classes to entrepreneurial lessons to presentations from industry leaders!
Prizes
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Certificates
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Cash Prizes are awarded to the top 3 teams
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Chance to join ACF Start-up teams
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Exceptional opportunities from the Future Impact Challenge sponsors
Community
Building a community and leveraging existing communities to share, receive feedback, support, and excite your product is essential to impacting the future. The Future Impact Challenge opens the community of Applied Computing Foundation high school startup teams to you!

Round 1
Application Fee: $10 /team
Registration & Submissions:
Jan. 3, 2023 - Mar. 31, 2023 (11:59 p.m. PT)
Mentor Talks & Workshops: Completed
Semi-Finalists Announced:
Apr. 6, 2023
Round One (Registration + Qualification) of the Future Impact Challenge is a qualification phase. Examples and requirements can be found on the Resources.
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Requirements
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​A Pitch Deck
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Feedback from early users, like survey results and testimonials
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A project deliverable for judges to evaluate
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All teams are eligible to participate in this Round.
Round Two (Product Development) focuses on bringing your ambitions to life! Students can find expectations on Resources.
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Requirements​
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Project video demonstration
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Real-world customer development, testimonials, and community feedback
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Only Semi-finalists are eligible to participate in this Round.

Round 2
Round 2 fee: $250 /team
Product Development:
Apr. 7, 2023 - May 28, 2023 (11:59 p.m. PT)
Mentor Talks & Workshops:
Apr. 30, May 14, Jun. 4, 2023 (Tentative)
Submit Requirements:
May 28, 2023 (11:59 p.m. PT)
Finalists Announced:
Jun. 4, 2023
This competition is just the beginning of your journey into the startup ecosystem. Even after the competition, there is so much more that you can do!
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Join ACF!
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Enter other competitions!
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Launch your product to the market!

and Beyond...

Round 3
Free
Pitch Date:
Jun. 11, 2023 (revised)
Mentor Talks, Office Hours:
TBA
Winners announced:
Jun. 25, 2023
Round 3 (Impact Pitch) focuses on pitching your product to industry experts with the same zeal and passion with which you made it. You can view the recording of last year's "Impact Pitch" on Resources.
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Requirements
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Impact Pitch Presentation
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Live Q/A
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(Bonus) Peer Presentation
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Only Finalists can participate in this Round.
Rules
Find an in-detail guide about FIC registration, submissions, and rules in our Future Impact Challenge Rules Guide coming soon (we highly recommend that you read it thoroughly). ​
Eligibility
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Each team can have 2-5 members. No individual participation is allowed, as this is a team event.
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Each team must have additional (1-2) supervisors or coaches to guide the team during the challenge.
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Team members should be in secondary class, falling in age 13-19.
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Teams can submit the exact idea they worked on within one year of the same season.
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Teams and coaches should commit to the entire duration of the competition.
Submissions
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Team members must be able to submit/present their original work by their ownership of the content (or the expressed permission of any non-participating content owners).
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The submission should not disclose any third party intellectual property or violate existing copyright protections.
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The Future Impact Challenge team maintains sole discretion to interpret, modify or eliminate any of the competition’s terms, rules and conditions at any time and without notice. However, any changes will follow the positive welfare of the participants, volunteers, and ACF team.
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Plagiarism is a crime, and any team or individual found submitting plagiarized projects might be banned from the present and future FIC competitions.

Prizes
Glory and experience will not be all at FIC! We also have some exciting prizes* in place.
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Cash Prizes
Details coming soon!​
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Invitation to Winners Gala
Meet ACF teams, coaches, sponsors, advisors, etc.
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Raffles
We have tons of gift card raffles and fun contests ongoing every week of the season for the community. To participate, join our Discord!
All teams that qualify for Round 2 will get certificates.
*Some prizes are subjected to enhancement in case of better participation turnout.
