Thursday
Oct092008
The Challenge: 2008 / 2009 Environmental Contests
Thursday, October 9, 2008 at 9:31AM | Share Article | By Steve Auger, BlogOnSmog | Sphere: Related Content | ||||||||
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| The XPrize Foundation pioneered "revolution through competition" with the challenge to private companies to demonstrate an orbital launcher. Now other companies have stepped up to the plate and are formalizing new competitions. Many of these challenges have an environmental theme. In fact there are so many out there that XPrize is now challenged to dream up new subjects to compete over! In this post I provide an overview of the environmental challenges I have found that meet the following general requirements: (1) open to international contestants; (2) have an environmental theme; (3) submission date within the next year. I have omitted student competitions because there are too many to cover. I apologize for this but I hope to do some justice to some of the more major student environmental competitions in the near future. If you plan on entering one of these competitions then please be aware that there are country restrictions due to this type of activity being illegal in those locations. DISCLAIMER - I take no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided. Always check with the competition sponsor for submission requirements, deadlines and prizes. |
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YouTube Green Ideas X Prize |
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| Yes - the X Prize Foundation, the same organization behind the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize, is running out of ideas. So they have now created an eco challenge for YouTubers called "What's your crazy green idea?" | Deadline: Oct 31, 2008 Elegibility: N/A Submission: Criteria Grand Prize: $25,000 |
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| You can win simply by posting a two-minute video about an eco-friendly concept.In order to have a chance to win you must answer three questions: (1) What is the worldwide problem that you are trying to solve?; (2) What is the specific prize idea, with rules and judging criteria?; (3) and how will it benefit humanity? |
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Progressive Automotive X Prize |
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| The X Prize Foundation is at it again with a new challenge named the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize. This competition is open to international teams attempting to design a new generation of viable, super fuel-efficient vehicles (100mpg fuel efficiency). Product viability is paramount for this competition. |
Deadline: Mid-2009 Elegibility: See Guidelines Submission: Car info, bus. plan Grand Prize: $10,000,000 |
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Why an X Prize for automobiles:
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The Earth Awards |
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| The Earth Awards is dedicated to the search for designs that will improve several aspects of our life, including ecological quality, collective social, cultural and economic. There are multiple categories for submission. These include architecture, product design, alternative energy and others. |
Deadline: Oct 31, 2008 Elegibility: English only Submission: Description, artwork / video Grand Prize: $10,000 |
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| Theme: Submit a plan for a product or service that reduces/removes anthropogenic greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The plan should include technical details and financial estimates so that the idea can be completely scrutinized. | |||||||||
Create the Future Contest |
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| The Create the Future Contest was launched in 2002 by NASA Tech Briefs magazine to help generate ideas and reward engineering innovation. There are six submission categories: Consumer Products, Machinery Equipment, Medical Products, Safety and Security, Sustainable Technologies and Transportation. |
Deadline: Oct 17, 2008 Elegibility: Criteria Submission: 500 words + illustration Grand Prize: $20,000 |
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| The category of interest is Sustainable Technologies which solicits "products that help reduce dependence on non-renewable energy resources, as well as products designed for other purposes using environmentally friendly materials or manufacturing processes." - quote from NASA Tech Briefs. | |||||||||
Inspire-Empower Challenge |
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| Intel has introduced the Inspire-Empower Challenge for technology solutions in four areas of global need: education , healthcare, economic development and the environment. The Challenge is for individuals or organizations to deliver new ways to apply technology to these issues. |
Deadline: Jan 31, 2009 Elegibility: Criteria Submission: Executive summary Grand Prize: $100,000 seed capital |
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This challenge is connected to the Intel "World Ahead Program - to connect people to a world of opportunity." - quote from the InteL Challenge home page.
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Live EDGE Global Environmental Challenge |
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| To enter the Live EDGE Global Environmental Challenge your design must be original and innovative, use electric and/or electronic components, and positively impact the environment i.e. better energy efficiency or reducing carbon emissions. | Deadline: Jan 31, 2009 Elegibility: Criteria Submission: Hi level design Grand Prize: $25,000 + support |
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Project 10 to the 100th |
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| This project is in celebration of Google's 10th birthday. It is named after the googol which gave Google its' name. The challenge includes several categories including green energy, sustainable ecosystems, improving education and housing/shelter. |
Deadline: Oct 20, 2008 Elegibility: Individuals only Submission: see FAQ Grand Prize: A pat on the back |
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| The selection criteria includes how many people it would affect, how urgent the need is, how simple and cost effective it is, and how long the idea's impact will last. 100 of the best ideas will be selected by judges and then the public will be asked to choose 20 semi-finalists. Following this selection process an advisory board will select five final ideas. Google has committed $10m to the project and may develop some of the ideas in conjunction with appropriate companies. |
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Fix Our Energy Addiction |
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The Metropolis Fix Our Energy Addiction call for entries challenges designers with 10 years or less experience to come up with solutions that connect us, make us more efficient, more humane. The focusis on areas that needs fixing—products, interiors, buildings and landscape, communication systems.
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Deadline: Jan 30, 2009 Elegibility: Designer less than 10 yrs. exp. Submission: see FAQ Grand Prize: $10,000 |
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| "The Metropolis Next Generation® Design Competition was created in 2003 to promote activism, social involvement, and entrepreneurship in young designers. Metropolis saw the need for a new type of competition, one that went beyond the usual beauty pageants for finished projects, a competition that would generate and reward ideas. Metropolis celebrates the next generation by rewarding imaginative young designers at large companies and recognizing the hard work of those striving with their own young firms or on their own as well as students—while some designers have a proposal ready and waiting, others are at the beginning of the process with an undefined desire to create and can use a kick start." - quote from Metropolis Next Generation Design Competition. |
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Discarded Dreams Mattress Recycling |
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| Architecture for Humanity and Rubicon National Social Innovations are challenging us to come up with an innovative way to convert used mattresses into useful products. |
Deadline: Dec 5, 2008 Elegibility: N/A Submission: see guidelines Grand Prize: $1,000 |
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| The competition encourages entrants to create a consumer product with instructions detailing how to make the product, and a plan for production on a larger scale. | |||||||||
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Reader Comments (2)
It will be interesting to see what the winners come up with!
Nice summary - I had heard of the google contest, but did not know there were so many other green contests.