Project REACH App Challenge (Monetary Prizes)

?????????To enter this contest, you’ll need to create a new mobile application that is scalable to homeless people in need of services, caregivers who support them, and essentially anyone looking for local resources within their community.  We will begin accepting submissions on March 22nd.  Finalists will be the first five applicants who meet the selection criteria.  See the rules for specific details about how to submit your application.

The five finalists, each winners of a $10,000 prize, will be announced by August 24.  Those finalists will then have the opportunity to compete for the $25,000 Grand Prize during a two month “beta test” phase.  The finalists’ applications will be piloted at a real shelter in New Jersey with real caregivers.  The Grand Prize winner will be the application, which receives the highest user satisfaction ratings from the shelter staff and competition judges.

Just like any contest, the rules are important and you can read them on this website.  If you have any questions about the rules, please contact us using the moderated blog, also on this website.

As a participant in this contest, you have an opportunity not just to win a substantial prize, but to help make real and important changes in the way the homeless receive access to care and resources within their communities. In other words, it's not just about the money. It's about making a difference.

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Patents for Humanity Challenge

For over two centuries, strong patents have provided business incentives that encourage technological progress to build our modern world.  As we struggle against humanitarian issues plaguing many of the world's poor, patents play an essential role in creating lasting solutions.

Patents For Humanity is the USPTO's voluntary prize competition for patent owners and licensees.  The pilot program encourages businesses of all kinds to apply their patented technology to addressing the world's humanitarian challenges.  As an incentive, winners will receive a certificate for expedited processing of certain matters before the USPTO.

Participants will submit applications describing how they have addressed humanitarian needs with their patented technology.  Judging will be performed by researchers from academia and Federal labs donating their time.  Up to 50 winners will be chosen in the pilot year, with winners receiving a certificate for accelerated processing at the USPTO.

Applications will compete in four categories of global issues:

Medical TechnologyFood & NutritionClean TechnologyInformation Technology

Eligible technologies may include life-saving medicines and vaccines, medical diagnostic equipment, more nutritious or heartier crops, food storage & preservation technology, water sterilization devices, cleaner sources of household light and heat, or information devices promoting literacy and education, among others.

The program is open to all types of organizations.  Universities and small businesses are at the forefront of humanitarian endeavors, pioneering innovative new ways to reach people in need.  Patents for Humanity seeks to recognize the important contributions made by a diverse range of organizations.

For more information, see the Patents for Humanity program page at USPTO.

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Let's Move Video Challenge

The Let’s Move! Communities on the Move Video Challenge invites faith-based, community, and other non-profit organizations working with children to create short videos (one to three minutes long) highlighting their participation in Let’s Move! and efforts to reverse the trend of childhood obesity. Participating organizations are encouraged to create videos that showcase programs related to Let’s Move Faith and Communities that are creative, effective, sustainable, replicable, and inspirational. Videos should focus on at least one Let’s Move Faith and Communities focus area of activity, including efforts to promote healthy eating, physical activity, and access to healthy, affordable food for children. The goals of the challenge are to:

Recognize community efforts to help reduce the trend of childhood obesityEncourage healthy eating through USDA’s MyPlate icon and nutrition information found on http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ Highlight the work of Let’s Move Faith and Communities and participating organizations in promoting healthy lifestyles for kidsIncrease participation in faith- and community-based efforts to prevent childhood obesity.

Note: To participate, you must be a faith-based institution, community-based institution, or other non-profit organization, operating at the local or national level, and organized and domiciled in the United States. Each individual appearing in your video must provide a Video Image Release form and the person who created the video must complete a Video Copyright Resease form. For details on eligibility, please review the Official Rules.

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Startup America Policy Challenge

Background

Startup America is the White House initiative to celebrate, inspire, and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation.

Startups are engines of job creation.  Entrepreneurs intent on growing their businesses create the lion’s share of new jobs, in every part of the country and in every industry.  President Obama has called on both the federal government and the private sector to dramatically increase the prevalence and success of entrepreneurs across the country.

The Obama Administration is taking concrete actions to improve the environment for high-growth entrepreneurship, in five key areas:

Unlocking access to capital for high-growth companies;Connecting mentors to entrepreneurs;Reducing barriers and making government work for entrepreneurs;Accelerating innovation from lab to market for federally funded R&D; andUnleashing market opportunities in industries like healthcare IT, clean energy, and learning technologies.  (That’s where you come in…)

For more information about Startup America, visit www.whitehouse.gov/startupamerica.

In the spirit of the Obama Administration’s commitment to open and participatory government, the White House is announcing the Startup America Policy Challenge in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Education.

Major transformations are underway in the U.S. economy, opening up unprecedented opportunities for entrepreneurs:

Education is shifting from paper to digital.Energy is shifting from dirty to clean.Healthcare is shifting from volume to value.

How do we get there faster?

A lot of entrepreneurs have an idea about how the federal government could help knock down some of the barriers they face every day.  But they probably don’t have time to translate this idea into a rigorous policy proposal – after all, they’ve got businesses to run.

Meanwhile, other members of the public, including students, have time to do that research.  But they may not know what barriers are most important.

Enter the Startup America Policy Challenge:  President Obama’s Administration will ask entrepreneurs and the American public how to knock down barriers to innovation in healthcare IT, clean energy, and learning technologies. Entrepreneurs and other members of the public will post their ideas online. The public, including students and other solvers, will be invited to translate the best ideas into "Policy Business Plans," which will be shared with President Obama's Cabinet.

How to Participate

Phase I: Entrepreneurs and others: Post your response to the White House and Cabinet Secretaries:

http://www.quora.com/Aneesh-Chopra-1/Startup-America-Policy-Challenge-We-Want-to-Hear-from-You

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/12/12/startup-america-policy-challenge-learning-technologies

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/12/13/startup-america-policy-challenge-clean-energy-0

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/12/16/breaking-down-barriers-health-it-through-entrepreneurship

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/06/we-want-hear-you-quora-annnouncing-strartup-america-policy-challenge

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/06/america-s-ideas-support-entrepreneurship-education-energy-and-health-care

Phase II: Help turn America's ideas into a "Policy Business Plan" and compete to be the best!  Consistent with the Startup America Policy Challenge, a network of universities (http://policychallenge.asu.edu/) has decided to analyze the issues posed by the Cabinet Secretaries.  These universities will make the responses from Phase I available to students and solvers across the country.  Solver teams will choose an idea and develop detailed "Policy Business Plans" for Federal government action.  The winning Policy Business Plans will be shared with the relevant Cabinet Secretary: Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (Dept. of Health and Human Services), Secretary Arne Duncan (Dept. of Education), or Secretary Steven Chu (Dept. of Energy).

See more here: http://policychallenge.asu.edu/  

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