Opportunities exist to improve currently deployed systems and/or implement new technologies by modernizing aviation capabilities in agriculture to increase impact, safety, and ease of access to both these enabling systems and the products/services they ensure. The 2025 Blue Skies Competition asks collegiate student teams to conceptualize aviation-related system(s) that can be applied to agriculture by 2035 or sooner with the goal of improving agriculture production, efficiency, environmental impact, and extreme weather/climate resilience.*

*Teams are encouraged to consider high-potential technologies and systems that aren’t currently mainstream or highly regarded as becoming mainstream in the future and imagine beyond applying sensors to aviation systems.

UNIVERSITY TEAMS MUST INCLUDE:

• At a minimum, teams must contain one faculty advisor with a college/university affiliation at a lead U.S.-based institution, and 2 U.S. citizen (or lawful permanent resident) students from that lead U.S.-based university who work on the project and present at the culminating Blue Skies Forum. 

• Team size is limited to a maximum of 6 student team members.

• A faculty advisor is encouraged to attend the Forum with each team.

SPECIAL ELIGIBILITY CONSIDERATIONS:

• An individual may join more than one team. A faculty advisor may advise more than one team.

• A university may submit more than one proposal.

• Team members may not be a federal employee acting within the scope of employment (this includes co-op students with civil servant status)

• The expectation is that Blue Skies projects are student-led initiatives (i.e., students are doing the work).

  • Faculty take on the role as mentors, and if a team is selected as a finalist, help manage any monetary awards sent to the university.

• The expectation is that Blue Skies projects originate in the academic environment, versus from a business or professional endeavor.