A couple of very interesting prize-based competitions have been announced in the past week. The first — with Vint Cerf, U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, and former Congressman Tom Davis among the judges — calls for innovative ways for IT to improve government:
The Merit Awards is a new innovation contest that challenges the world to come forth with ideas on how to use IT to improve the quality of government. Focused on incenting people to get involved in their government, the award offers a $50,000 prize for smart, new thinking. But the program is not only open to Americans. Innovation knows no borders — nor does it need a green card. We invite Chinese, Indian, any nomination from the four corners of the globe.
The Merit Awards program is structured in eight categories. MeriTalk will recognize a winner in all categories. The best overall idea will receive the $50,000 award. The submission process is easy — you can tweet your idea or submit here.
Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2011.
And the second is called the 2011 StarLight Tech Prize:
…a $50,000 dollar cash award for a promising new high-tech business idea. The winner of the prize may use the award for any purpose — paying off student loans, buying a new car, whatever. Getting started is simple. Just submit a four-page (maximum) proposal online. See the Proposal Format section of [the competition website] for the details… [The contest] closes July 29, 2011.
[The focus is on] transferring technologies from academia into real-world applications.We’re interested in robotics, artificial intelligence, green technology, secure and robust web technology, mission-critical smart energy grid technology, mobile applications, cloud computing, business analytics, and aerospace.If you have a great idea outside of these fields, please feel free to tell us about it. If the idea is a real winner we can be flexible.We have a broad range of technical and business expertise to draw upon in order to make your idea successful in the marketplace.
For more details, click the links above.
(Contributed by Erwin Gianchandani, CCC Director)
