Those interested in developing ideas to bring cities into the 21st century are encouraged to mark the first weekend in November on their calendars for Kirkland’s Smart City Startup Weekend.

The Google office in Kirkland will be home to the event, starting at 5 p.m. on Nov. 4, where people of all ages are encouraged to share their ideas for sustainability, transportation, energy, internet accessibility and more as they relate to developing a smart city.

Startup Weekend begins with one-minute pitches from attendees, which usually generates about 85 to 90 ideas, Bruce Wynn, executive director of the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce, which is organizing the event, said. Attendees then vote for the best ideas and form teams to develop them further over the rest of the weekend. Business leaders from the community have also been invited to participate in the event as mentors.

Wynn encourages not only engineers and others with technology-based backgrounds to participate, but also graphic designers and others who can help the teams cleverly design and market their ideas.

At the end of the weekend on Nov. 6, the teams present their ideas to a panel of judges, who select a winner. The winner will have the opportunity to meet with an angel investor and also consult with an attorney.

This is Kirkland’s fourth Startup Weekend, with previous events focusing on smartphone applications and big data, among others. Wynn said the chamber started the event as a way to engage with the talented professionals moving into Kirkland and the Puget Sound area as a whole, and he’s particularly excited about this year’s theme.

“Startup Weekends aren’t that rare anymore, but doing one on smart cities is,” he said.

Ahead of the November event, the chamber has organized free workshops to help people generate ideas for smart cities. One workshop on Smart City Infrastructure was held Oct. 7, while another on Bluetooth was held Oct. 13. Two more workshops are coming up at Nytec, 416 Sixth St. S, Kirkland: At 5 p.m. Oct. 21, ISoftstone’s Greta Knappenberger will speak about the characteristics of a smart city, and at 5 p.m. Oct. 28, Startup Weekend facilitator John Sechrest will host a pitching workshop.

While the workshops are free, there is a $100 fee to participate in Startup Weekend, with a discounted rate of $50 for high school and college students. For more information about this year’s Startup Weekend, visit kirklandchamber.org/project/kirkland-startup-weekend-2016 or kirklandstartup.org.