On November 15, 2025, Innovate Hampton Roads helped foster regional alignment by participating as a judging partner to one of the area’s most exciting student innovation events, the Black Diamond Weekend Hackathon; a three-day, NASA-powered challenge that united student innovators from across the Commonwealth.

Held during the Black BRAND Black Diamond Weekend at the Hampton Roads Convention Center, the largest Black business conference in Virginia, the hackathon challenged student-led teams to solve a real NASA use case centered on solar energy and sustaining human life on the Moon.

Formally titled “The Responsible Innovation Commercialization Competition,” the event invited students to work hands-on with NASA-proven technologies, collaborate with regional mentors, and experience how ideas move from concept to commercialization. With access to NASA’s patent portfolio, provided through NASA’s Technology Transfer University (T2U) program, participants worked with real technologies designed for extreme environments and learned how innovation moves from lab to market.

Students from NSU, ODU, Hampton University, ECPI, TCC, Strayer University, and Virginia Tech formed cross-school teams and tackled a 48-hour sprint to imagine how humans might power, protect, feed, and operate future lunar outposts. Their solutions ranged from biodomes and heating systems to lunar agriculture, solar arrays, and astronaut decision-support tools.

Mentors from across Hampton Roads’ innovation community, including founders, engineers, and ecosystem builders, assisted the teams through ideation, prototyping, and pitch preparation.

Among the mentors was Hannah LaCon, founder of REaKTOR portfolio company HerculE-Q, who began her own entrepreneurial journey as a student at Hampton University through the NASA T2U program. Her presence as both a founder and a former student innovator embodied the innovation cycle that Innovate Hampton Roads strives to strengthen: talent becomes leadership, and leadership reinvests in emerging talent.

The hackathon itself was supported by a broad coalition of regional partners, including 757 Collab, Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable, ZelTech, STEMComm Ventures, and Innovate Hampton Roads. This collaborative energy reflects a region increasingly united around entrepreneurship, deep-tech commercialization, and talent development.

Innovate Hampton Roads served on the judging panel alongside representatives from organizations across the regional innovation network, including:

  • Lynn Taylor, President of Zel Technologies and REaKTOR board member

  • Dr. Charles Corprew, Chief Programming and Operations Officer, 757 Collab; Senior Venture Partner, 757 Angels

  • Lavonya Jones, Senior Manager of Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Small Business Development, City of Hampton

Judges evaluated each team’s technical feasibility, commercial potential, and application of NASA technology.

Eight teams: Project Yin/Yang, Project AstroGarden, Terraform 0, Genesis Haven, Bio-Tech Solar System, CAD Corp, HelioForge, and SixTrades presented their concepts during Saturday’s pitch showcase. The winners included:

1st Place: Bio-Tech Solar System
2nd Place: HelioForge
3rd Place: Project AstroGarden

As the event concluded, BlackBRAND’s Brian Owens offered a message that captured the hackathon’s purpose:

“The fact that you showed up today, presented, and collaborated with people you just met from so many different schools is the real victory. And because these NASA technologies are part of the Technology Transfer program, any idea you developed here can actually be commercialized. Your minds can help craft how life will be powered on the Moon, and in the future.”

For Innovate Hampton Roads, the hackathon demonstrated what becomes possible when universities, founders, mission-driven organizations, and industry leaders work in alignment. REaKTOR’s involvement, alongside many long-standing partners, reinforced the region’s shared commitment to deep-tech commercialization and next-generation talent development.

Most importantly, the weekend made clear that the ideas shaping our futures, both on Earth and beyond, are already emerging from students right here in Hampton Roads.

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