global crowd

World Vision Challenge: Efficient and Reliable Counting of Improved Latrines

The lack of adequate sanitation facilities is a global problem with an estimated 2.3 billion people using unimproved toilets or no toilets at all when eliminating waste. One United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is to globally achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation for all and to end open defecation by the year 2030. World Vision is one of many organizations and governments working towards the achievement of this goal throughout rural low- and middle-income communities but there is a need for efficient and reliable methods to verify and track progress against this goal. World Vision, supported by SeaFreight Labs, is seeking to address this need and the objective of this Challenge is to design a monitoring approach that is optimally cost-efficient, time efficient, reliable and generalizable for rural communities in low- and middle-income countries. Do you have ideas? Enter today!

Hackatón por el agua

El evento Hackatón por el Agua busca entregar soluciones innovadoras y escalables a diversas problemáticas instaladas en comunidades a lo largo de todo Chile, relacionadas con la temática del agua, a través de prototipos desarrollados por equipos de estudiantes de diferentes regiones del país.

A2A Challenge: Glass Recycling Noise Reduction

Have you ever been woken-up by the glass collectors tipping bins full of used glassware into their truck and making an ear-shattering racket in the process?  The Italian-based seeker is looking for economic and environmentally sustainable solutions which help reduce noise pollution from bottle collecting activities in cities through-out Italy. Solutions could include innovative design proposals, novel collection systems, or muffling add-ons to existing collection equipment. Efficient glass recycling has a significantly reduced carbon footprint in comparison to traditional glass production techniques, with effective collection procedures an important aspect of a green urban future.

EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women

As the world leader in advising, guiding and recognizing entrepreneurs, EY knows that access to successful role models and business-building networks is critical for enabling entrepreneurs to realize their ambition. In these unprecedented times, we remain committed to helping female founders with the challenges of the “now,” and help them prepare for the opportunities in the “next” and “beyond.” The EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women™ Europe 2021 program seeks a new cohort of ambitious women entrepreneurs to provide them with the advice, resources and access they need to unlock their full potential and reframe their future.

Seeking Commercially Available Zinc-Rich Materials

Zinc is a metallic element with many uses from metal alloys to nutritional supplements to chemical additives. It is the 24th most common element in the Earth’s crust and the Seeker for this Challenge is interested in finding sources and potential partners to supply zinc-rich materials for use in oil based systems. The material may either be a metal organic, particulate or colloidal material, which is ideally readily soluble in oil or could, subject to simple chemical modification, be made to be soluble in oil. It must be at least 15% zinc by weight and should be readily available on at least a 100 ton per year scale. This is an electronic Request-for-Partners (eRFP) Challenge. The Solver will write a preliminary proposal (about 2-4 pages, including supporting non-confidential information and contact details) to be evaluated by the Seeker with a goal of establishing a collaborative partnership. Upon completion of the evaluation, the Seeker may contact selected Solvers directly to work out terms for a collaboration contract. The monetary value of the contract will vary depending on the amount of work to be delivered and the agreed upon time frame.

XPRIZE Carbon Removal

Do you feel like you have the innovative ambition, technical expertise, and scientific know-how to save the world?...

Shackleton Polar Challenges

Shackleton Challenges are a unique expedition travel and training programme that we have designed to complement the range of Shackleton expedition-grade outdoor apparel. Building on the legacy of legendary explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, the challenges' goal is to enable people of all abilities to develop their skills and experience in some of the world’s most spectacular and extreme environments in both the Arctic and Antartica. Sir Ernest Shackleton lived his life as a series of extraordinary challenges. He set himself audacious goals, then strived to the utmost to achieve them. The founders of Shackleton believe it’s only when faced with a challenge that we discover who we really are, what we’re capable of and how much we can endure. A challenge is a powerful force for us all – for progress, for the world, for good.

Government Innovation Awards

These awards celebrate the transformative government projects, individual change agents and industry partners that are reimagining public-sector IT. If you are an industry innovator, a rising star, or a public sector innovator, these are the awards for you! The challenge is looking for:

Biodiversity Innovations for Sustainability Improvement at Renewable Energy Plants

Enel Green Power is looking for new tools and techniques, enabling strategies aimed at improving the environmental sustainability and biodiversity preservation of its renewable installations, as photovoltaic plants both on land and floating, wind farms and/or hydroelectric plants. These solutions could be applied at all stages throughout a project’s life cycle, from early design, through the construction, operations and the decommissioning for new and existing plants. Do you have ideas? Apply below!

Open Innovation Challenge: Greenhouses

In the past year, the pandemic has highlighted Quebec’s dependence on imports of essential goods. Food self-sufficiency has therefore become a priority issue for the Quebec population, and that is why Hydro-Québec has decided to act as a catalyzer to help the most promising projects come to fruition. InnovHQ is Hydro-Québec’s subsidiary mandated to stimulate innovation in Quebec, with the aim of accelerating the energy transition. InnoHQ will therefore work with Cycle Momentum as part of this challenge to help companies in the greenhouse sector develop commercial offers that incorporate the proposed innovations. In parallel with the “Open Innovation Challenge: Greenhouses,” Écotech Québec is offering a unique networking event in Quebec whose goal is to generate business opportunities between agri-food companies and clean technology innovators.

US Navy Challenge: Rapid Design Tool for Advanced Manufacturing

Handwheels are regularly used on Naval ships and any particular ship may have hundreds of different variations. They’re used to open and close a wide variety of valves in all types of service locations and conditions, and can be made from a number of different materials from polymers to metals. These factors lead to a challenge for ships since it is untenable to keep a stock of every single variant onboard and this may result in delays as critical equipment lays dormant for want of a particular part. The viability of using additive manufacturing and other advanced techniques to produce a variety parts on demand has been demonstrated but challenges remain for both certification and design.

Automated Maintenance of Protection Systems (AMPS) Challenge

Can you help further Reclamation’s mission to protect their hydroelectric plants? Do you want to work on a big infrastructure problem? This Challenge gives you the opportunity to improve the safety and reliability of hydroelectric powerplants and to win your share of the $250,000 prize purse.\ To participate, you will need to create a prototype that automates maintenance testing of the plants’ protection systems. Your solution will improve the safety and reliability of the plants, keep the energy flowing while the tests are run, and allow engineers and operators more time to address other important issues.\ \ Up to 10 solutions will win $10,000 and will move forward to phase 2--enter today!

SHV Sustainable Fuels

SHV Energy is a leading global distributor of off-grid energy such as fossil-based LPG and is also active in the area of sustainable fuels and renewable energy solutions. This challenge is exploring the following bio-based and renewable fuels: bioLPG, bioLNG, rDME, hydrogen and future fuels, such as ammonia, methanol and novel e-fuels. SHV Energy is calling for partners from the open innovation ecosystem to join the company in the exploration of novel and improved routes to biobased and renewable fuels.

SHV Cylinders Challenge

Health and Safety is considered the highest priority at SHV Energy. Their vision regarding Health and Safety is to have zero incidents in our entire value chain and manual handling is currently a key focus area to raise their standards. They are exploring technological solutions that enable safe transfer of cylinders between cages which are currently done manually by employees. Manual handling during transferring of cylinders between cages is Health and Safety risk to our employees. The employee faces manual handling outside the power zone of the body while conducting their task of transferring cylinders between cages with the potential to develop musculoskeletal disorders and encounter safety hazards.

Natural Gelatin Challenge

Mondeléz International is looking for a plant based natural and/or Kosher/halal gelatin substitute. Gelatin is used as an additive in a variety of foods, as a gelling agent in candies and sweets, or as an aerating agent for dairy products such as cream cheese. But current methods for sourcing gelatin are not vegetarian or compliant with kosher/halal dietary requirements. Do you have ideas for new plant-based ingredients that can be used? You could partner with Mondeléz International in your innovations!

The Future of Mobility for All

Calling all students! HeroX, Base 11, and Dessault Systemes are looking for new innovations for mobility that includes all users and all situations. How can we create a future of mobility that includes everyone, and protects our Earth for future generations? Enter today and you could have the chance to present your work at the Next Frontier Conference & Expo in October 2021 as well as win a $10,000 prize!

EPA Water Toxicity Sensor Challenge

The effective removal of hazardous chemicals and substances from drinking water is vital in safeguarding human health and wellbeing. With many natural and man-made contaminants being released into the environment on a daily basis, how can we ensure that the water we drink is free from nasty chemicals? Hosted by the US Environmental Protection Agency, this challenge is requesting design solutions for a water toxicity sensor which can detect hazardous substances in drinking water. The sensor will need to be able to rapidly detect contaminants and quantify the magnitude to which one or more human toxicity pathways could be affected. A toxicity pathway is a series of inter-cellular events which regulate biological functioning and if sufficiently perturbed by a contaminant, can result in adverse health effects.

Bounce Back Challenges

With a year of the COVID-19 pandemic past us, the world has begun to respond to our “new normal” in a variety of innovative ways--from online learning to schemes to support local businesses to new systems to reduce virus transmission. With cuts to employment and overall working hours being seen at levels four times those seen during the 2009 financial crisis, the biggest recovery challenges still lie ahead. The Bounce Back Challenges consist of two innovation challenge programmes: Bounce Back Ideas and Bounce Back Awards. The Ideas Programme seeks to find the best new ideas for addressing the socioeconomic effects of the pandemic, while Bounce Back Awards honours the individuals and organisations already leading our recovery, making sure we "bounce back" in an inclusive way.