HBCU campuses have always been home to bold ideas and brilliant talent. What students deserve now is a direct line to the rooms, resources, and relationships that turn an idea sketched in a dorm room or classroom into something that moves an industry. That is the work of PROPEL Center.
Through initiatives like PROPEL U, PROPEL Center creates hands-on learning experiences that take students beyond the classroom and put them closer to the companies, technologies, and networks shaping what comes next.
Now PROPEL Center is expanding its challenge series. Following the Future of Tech Innovation Challenge, PROPEL Center is introducing the Future of XYZ HBCU Innovation Challenge, created specifically for AFROTECH™. It is the next step in a growing series of challenges that invite HBCU students to take on the questions shaping tomorrow, and a new opportunity to put their technical, creative, and entrepreneurial skills to work on one of the biggest stages in tech.
On Nov. 2–3, 2026, students will move through a two-day experience built on a simple progression: ideate, innovate, showcase. Along the way, participants will work alongside PROPEL Center mentors and coaches as they develop ideas designed to solve real-world problems.
For HBCU students ready to show what they can do, this is the moment. Applications open October 2 and close October 12. Students can apply solo or as a team of up to three, and no coding or tech experience is required.
From the Future of Tech to the Future of XYZ
PROPEL Center’s Future of Tech Innovation Challenge proved what’s possible when HBCU students get a real stage. In April 2026, it culminated in a national showcase in Austin, Texas, after reaching more than 200,000 students across 89 HBCUs. From 1,100 applicants, 70 finalists representing 17 HBCUs advanced to compete for $125,000 in scholarships and prizes.
That challenge was never only about building impressive technology. It was about identifying real problems in health, education, cybersecurity, energy, and media technology, and imagining how AI could help solve them.
The Future of XYZ Innovation Challenge takes that foundation and pushes it further, with a focus on students solving a problem for Gen Z at AFROTECH™, students will step into one of the largest gatherings of Black technology professionals, entrepreneurs, creators, and innovators in the country to test ideas, sharpen skills, and build relationships long before they walk across a graduation stage. Day 1 is about innovating and building. Day 2 is about showing up and showing out for the judges.
PROPEL Center’s mission is clear. “We are building a new standard for HBCU innovation, one that positions students not just as learners, but as creators, problem-solvers, and future leaders in AI and technology,” says Harriette K. Burrell, PROPEL Center’s VP of Operations and Chief Strategy Officer.
Your Idea Doesn’t Have to Stay an Idea
Somewhere on an HBCU campus right now, a student is holding an idea that could become a company, a product, a platform, or a solution to a problem their community knows firsthand.
Maybe it lives in a notes app. Maybe it started as a class project. Maybe it is an unfinished conversation between friends. Whatever it is, PROPEL Center’s Future of XYZ Innovation Challenge is the place to build it out.
You don’t have to wait until graduation to solve the problems you care about. You don’t need a job title to prove you belong in tech. And your idea doesn’t have to stay an idea.
PROPEL Center built the stage. Now it’s your turn to take it.
Apply for PROPEL Center’s Future of XYZ Innovation Challenge by October 12.
