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Invent Your World

Invent Your World 2009

***June 2009 UPDATE: If you would like to apply for seed funding for your invention or adapted technology project, please email bcarr@youthventure.org to request an application.***

Good or bad, small or big, inventions have defined our modern world.

Just think what life would be like without light bulbs, telephones, cars, airplanes, and computers!

What’s next? That’s up to you! Ask yourself…

What can you invent to make life easier, the planet greener, and the world better?

The Challenge

Come up with an invention – a new or adapted technology – and enter the Invent Your World Challenge.

Ashoka GenV and the Lemelson Foundation will support 50 young inventors in using their inventions to create positive change – by providing mentorship, seed funding, networking opportunities, and even a $20,000 scholarship.

Submit your one paragraph idea ~~before March 15, 2009~~. Ideas are reviewed on an on-going basis and projects can be launched anytime.

Here’s the step-by-step guide for how to take part in the Invent Your World Challenge:

Dream It
Come up with a new technology or adapt an existing technology to make life easier, the planet greener, or the world better. Need inspiration? Click on the Invention tab above.
Submit It
Send us your idea in just 200 words. Tell us: what’s your invention and how can it create positive change. If you can, send us a photo of your prototype. Submit now!
Plan It
Once we receive your idea and we choose to support it, we will send you an action plan so you can apply for funding.
Do It
Submit your action plan and present your project to a panel of mentors to receive feedback and advice. Once approved, you will receive your grant, and you are then ready to launch your invention venture. Do it!

Email Bret Carr bcarr@youthventure.org to request an application now!

Invent Your World Winners

View more Microsoft Word documents from Youth Venture.

Judges

Nate Ball

Nate Ball
Host, PBS Design Squad
Winner, 2007 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for Invention
Inventor of the ATLAS Ascender
Nate, a mechanical engineering graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-founder of Atlas Devices, LLC, has been the energetic and engaging host of the award-winning Design Squad, produced by PBS station WGBH-Boston.

Design Squad is a PBS reality competition series that plugs eight high schoolers into the big, wild world of engineering. Over 13 weeks, the teams learn to think smart, build fast, and not totally freak out when their stuff falls apart. Working in groups of four, each team has just two days to get it done! Visit pbs.org/designsquad to watch full-length episodes of Design Squad online, play games, and learn how you can build your own projects.

Anil Chitrakar

Anil Chitrakar
Founder, Environmental Camps for Conservation Awareness
Anil is an Ashoka Fellow who launched the Environmental Camps for Conservation Awareness (ECCA) in Nepal. It mobilizes Nepal’s youth to fundamentally change the way the Nepalese interact with their surrounding environment.

Anil also campaigned successfully for seven years to change the investment strategy in hydropower in Nepal as member of the Alliance for Energy. In 1993 he was one of the 100 “Global Leaders for Tomorrow” awardees at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Anne Swift

Anne Swift
Founder and President, Young Inventors International
Glamour Magazine named Anne a visionary who will change the world for her work with Young Inventors International. Anne’s passion lies in innovation, bringing new technologies to market, and cleantech entrepreneurship. Anne is the founder of Young Inventors International (YII), a not-for-profit organization, and has created networks and programs that have assisted thousands of innovators and social entrepreneurs around the world. Anne founded YII in her second year of undergraduate studies as she was developing a flexible keyboard and grew the organization to over 2,000 members around the world.

Eric Wilhelm

Eric Wilhelm
CEO, Instructables
Co-founding partner of Squid Labs
Eric earned his SB, SM, and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT, where he developed methods to print electronics and micro-electromechanical systems using nanoparticles. Eric co-founded Squid Labs in order to have impact through early-stage innovation. He spun Instructables out of Squid Labs as an independent comapny, which he now runs with a passion. He loves building kite-powered contraptions, cooking breakfast and demystifying technology so that even his Grandmother can use it.

Prizes and Opportunities

Rules and Guidelines

Project ideas are evaluated and grants are awarded on an ongoing basis. The final deadline is March 15, 2009.

Eligibility Criteria

The challenge is open to all youth between the ages of 12 and 20 in North America and Europe and 12 and 24 everywhere else. (Proof of age will be required before grants can be approved.)
Each participant is limited to one grant.
Each participant will be required to submit an action plan showing what activities will be carried out and how the grant will be spent.
Each participant will need to form a team with at least two other youth to qualify for funding.
Participants under age of 18 must have parental or guardian support and approval to receive grants and launch projects.
Ideas and action plans should be submitted before March 15, 2009 in English, Spanish or French.
Invention should be a tangible product, not an innovative process. Software, websites, training programs do not qualify. If you are adapting technology, you should demonstrate a good reason for doing so – to make it cheaper, more appropriate, more green, etc.

Assessment Criteria

Grants will be awarded to projects that best meet the following criteria:

Innovation – Project uses a new or adapted technology to address a local or global challenge.
Impact – Project has potential to produce significant or measurable impact on the issue it addresses.
Sustainability – Project has potential to produce on-going positive change. In other words, it’s not a one time event.
Youth-led and youth-driven – Leaders of the project should be between 12 and 20 (North America and Europe) and 12 and 24 (everywhere else).
Global Roundtable on Climate Change – A panel of distinguished judges will choose five of the best invention ventures to participate in a global roundtable on climate change at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Scholarship Grand Prize – From the pool of invention ventures, judges will also award one team a $20,000 scholarship to pursue their university education.

General Guidelines

Deadline – The last day to submit a project idea is March 15, 2009.
Grants – Up to 50 grants will be awarded for this challenge.
Entries – Submit an idea first. If your idea meets our criteria (see above), we will send you an application (an “action plan”) to apply for a grant. We welcome all ideas, even if they are similar to ideas other youth have submitted.

Disclaimer — Compliance with Legal Restrictions

Ashoka GenV complies fully with all U.S. laws and regulations, including Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations, export control, and anti-money laundering laws. All grants will be awarded subject to compliance with such laws. Ashoka will not make any grant if it finds that to do so would be unlawful. This may prohibit awards in certain countries and/or to certain individuals or entities. All recipients will comply with these laws to the extent they are applicable to such recipients. No recipient will take any action that would cause Ashoka to violate any laws. Additionally, Ashoka will not make any grant to a company involved in the promotion of tobacco use.

Submit Your Idea

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