About The Contest

The 2021 ASCE Convention has several innovation focused events that celebrate Innovation across the Convention. Check out the Pre-Convention workshop, the Innovation in Civil Engineering session, and the 2021 Blue Sky Innovation Contest National Finals.

2021 Convention Program

The ASCE Blue Sky Innovation Contest is a springboard for forward-looking infrastructure ideas. Now celebrating its fifth year, the ASCE innovation focused contests have a track record of reaching a worldwide audience, delivering value to all participants, and attracting industry attention.  The Blue Sky Innovation Contest offers college students the opportunity to think about and participate in innovation in a new environment.  A student participating in the 2021 Blue Sky Innovation Contest pilot contest commented, “While the challenge was quite ambiguous, I think it was a valuable learning experience for us as a team to navigate the open-ended nature of the problem and ultimately converge on one innovation to present.” 

Are you an ASCE student member? Be part of the movement.  Develop a team to compete in the 2022 Blue Sky Innovation Contest and share your innovation to a larger audience with broader exposure than ever before.

Attend a 2022 Blue Sky Innovation Contest Workshop on August 4, 2021 at 1:00 - 2:30 PM EST

  • The focus will be on addressing the scoring categories of value proposition, feasibility, communication and innovation. In addition, we will have information available about the 2022 contest and how to sign up to attend the 2021 Blue Sky Innovation Contest finals during the ASCE Convention in October. 

Registration is FREE for this workshop is open to all students, faculty, advisors and others. 
2022 Blue Sky Innovation Contest Information Webinar


A short summary of characteristics sought include: Critical thinking, including the ability to integrate different perspectives and “connect the dots” between disparate data points and an ability to communicate and articulate an idea. Demonstration of Industry specific knowledge but there is no penalty for making assumptions when necessary (e.g., unknown facts, future trends, demands) It is appropriate to question underlying assumptions presented by others who may have examined the problem if you are convinced a different perspective is appropriate. All things being equal, innovations with broad applications will generally be scored higher. In summary, we are interested in seeing how you think through the problem and a potential solution.

Please contact [email protected] with any questions you may have about entering the 2022 Blue Sky Innovation Contest.