Description of Contest
Many UC Berkeley faculty and students are interested in addressing the toughest societal challenges of the 21st century, such as health, poverty alleviation, global warming, sustainability, human rights, and social justice.
In many instances, tackling these problems will require new or expanded collaborations between UC Berkeley and non-profit organizations or social enterprise, in the same way that UC Berkeley currently partners with companies to foster commercial innovation.
These partnerships might have a number of elements. For example:
The goals of a social enterprise help motivate a UC Berkeley research project.
A social enterprise is involved in deployment or scale-up of Berkeley technological or social innovation.
UC Berkeley researchers help provide rigorous, independent evaluation of the effectiveness of social enterprise.
UC Berkeley students work on projects that address needs of social enterprise as summer internships, capstone projects, independent study, etc.
UC Berkeley and social enterprise develop joint proposals to foundations, philanthropists, or government agencies to support the collaboration.
For this contest, students must propose a new or expanded collaboration with a non-profit or social enterprise, describing both the rationale for the partnership and short-term and longer-term opportunities. As part of this proposal, students may attach a letter of support from the relevant NGO or social enterprise.
Deadline
All submissions are due 5:00 p.m., April 14, 2008. Late entries will not be accepted. All entries should be submitted electronically to:bbbsocial@gmail.com in HTML, Word, or PDF.
Length
White papers should be 5-10 pages in length, not including appendices.
Prizes
A total of $20,000 in cash prizes is available, which will be allocated as follows:
- First prize: $10,000
- Second prize: $6,000
- Third prize: $4,000
Prizes will only be awarded if there are high-quality submissions. The cash can be used to support the proposed project or idea (e.g. research, travel, workshops, miscellaneous expenses).
Winners will also be able to post their project on the Big Ideas marketplace, which allows people and organizations to make online donations to support specific student projects and initiatives.
Eligibility
At least one member of the team must be an undergraduate or graduate student from UC Berkeley.
Decisions of the Judges
Decisions of the judges are final and not subject to appeal.
Faculty Advisor
Winners who intend to use the money to support their proposed idea or project will be required to have a faculty advisor. This is not required at the time of submission.
Required Information
The following information must be required (which does not count against the 5-10 page limit):
Names and brief bios of team members, including major and student status (e.g. undergrad, grad)
Contact information for primary contact.
Whether or not you consent to public, online dissemination of your white paper.