Citi Technology x Virtual Hackathon

183 Registered Allowed team size: 1 - 5
183 Registered Allowed team size: 1 - 5

Winners are announced.

hackathon
Online
starts on:
Jan 29, 2021, 03:00 PM UTC (UTC)
ends on:
Feb 01, 2021, 07:00 PM UTC (UTC)

Winners

Overview

Citi Ventures and Citi’s Technology Organization are pleased to host a weekend-long virtual hackathon from January 29th through February 1st.

If you are a current student 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, as well as project support Q&A sessions.

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.

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Registration will close on Thursday, January 28th at 11:59 pm EST

TIMELINE

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Themes

Please select only one of the following prompts to utilize for the duration of this Hackathon:

Challenge #1

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

    • A comma separated value file laid out with headers indicating, in order, the path to the image from this directory, the date as written in the check, the check amount as written in words, and the check amount written in numbers. The path is relative to this directory. The order of images in this file may or may not corelate to the order of the images in the folder.
  • images/

    • folder containing the actual check images used for this competition. Image types are not guaranteed (.png/.jpg/.jpeg) nor are image sizes/resolutions.
  • validation/

    • folder for images to use to validate your solution

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

Challenge #2

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!

Challenge #3

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!

Prizes

Main Prizes
Apple Airpods Pro
USD 249
Apple Beats Pill+ Portable Speaker
USD 179
Tello Drone
USD 99

Help & Support

Please contact event admin
lauren.harrison at lauren.harrison@citi.com
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