2027 Region 5 Congress & Student Competitions

See the R5 Congress information about the Region 5 Congress and Annual Business Meeting

📢: R5 2027 Student Competition Update

We want to give everyone an update on the format for the 2027 R5 Student Competitions.

For 2027, R5 is moving to a Maker-style, single-day competition format. This is a change from the traditional competition model used in previous years.

What does “Maker-style” mean?

Rather than having a competition that requires teams to complete a project through multiple stages or over an extended period, competitions will be structured around a single-day challenge/event. Depending on the competition, teams may be given a defined challenge, requirements, or materials and then have a set amount of time to design, build, program, test, and demonstrate their solution.

The exact format can vary between competitions. For example, one competition might involve building and programming a device, while another might involve designing, testing, or demonstrating a solution to a particular engineering challenge. The goal is to have a range of competition formats.

What else is changing?

📆: Timing: We are currently targeting late February / early March 2027 for the R5 competition event.

🏆: Competition lineup: The competitions offered will be determined as we finalize support from industry sponsors and IEEE organizational units. As a result, the 2027 lineup may not be identical to previous years.

🛠: Single-day format: Individual competitions will be designed to take place within the event rather than requiring a separate late-semester competition period.

We are continuing to finalize the 2027 competition lineup, rules, challenges, and schedule, and will share additional details as they become available.

We wanted to share the format change now so students, Sections, and teams have advance notice as we move toward the 2027 event.

See the Student Competitions for more information.

Join the R5 Discord for regular updates and all details concerning competition.

We are looking forward to a great conference in 2027 and we hope to see you all there.

Sincerely,

R5 Conference Organizing Committee