The Optica Foundation Challenge has funded two research teams to develop solutions for emerging technology problems. Zaijun Chen, from the University of Southern California, USA, and Alejandro Velez-Zea, from Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia, are both proposing novel approaches to address the flow of data and information in consumer-centric technologies. Chen is focusing on smart optical sensors for the Internet of Things (IoT), while Velez-Zea is working on accelerating optical edge sensing with photonic deep learning. Both projects are supported by a USD$100,000 grant from the Optica Foundation.