Competitions

Open and inclusive by nature, HUBweek competitions seek solutions to various global problems that we as a society face, as well as present opportunities for startups and organizations alike to take their concepts from idea to impact. The MIT Inclusive Innovation Competition and MIT Climate CoLab are currently closed for new entries, but you can still take part in the MIT Climate CoLab by casting your vote for the most high-impact proposal today. Both the MIT Climate CoLab and MIT Inclusive Innovation Competition will culminate at HUBweek 2016, with over $1M being awarded to contest winners. New competitions will be announced over the summer.

MIT Inclusive Innovation Competition

Celebrating organizations that create economic opportunity in the digital era.

MIT Climate CoLab

Over a dozen contests focused on addressing different aspects of climate change.

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MIT Inclusive Innovation

The MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE) is pleased to present the first annual Inclusive Innovation Competition (IIC). Developed in collaboration with the MIT Innovation Initiative (MITii), the competition identifies, celebrates, and awards prizes to organizations that are inventing a more inclusive, productive, and sustainable future for all.

The IIC seeks solutions-focused organizations that have harnessed the modern toolkit of technology and developed breakthrough approaches to raise economic prospects for middle- and base-level earners. The competition is being funded with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the NASDAQ foundation, and Eric & Wendy Schmidt. Both for-profit and non-profit organizations of any size, age or type and from any nation will be considered for prizes totaling $1 million to be awarded in the following four categories:

Skills

: How do we re-skill members of our workforce to prepare them for opportunities of the future?

Matching

: How do we connect qualified individuals with open opportunities for work? How do we better match labor supply with demand?

Humans + Machines

: How do we use technology to augment human labor so that the outcome is greater than either human or machine could achieve alone?

New Models

: How do new operational practices and business models revolutionize the existing labor market and thus create new economic opportunities?

Four grand prize champions, one in each of the four categories, will be selected to receive $125,000 awards. Sixteen competition winners will also be selected, four in each category, to receive $25,000 awards. In addition to the grand prize champions and competition winners, IIC judges will select a handful of uniquely inventive organizations to receive “Judges’ Choice.” Winners will be awarded in a celebration at HUBweek 2016.

MIT Climate CoLab

On MIT’s Climate CoLab, you can join an online community of over 50,000 people from around the world who are developing, evaluating, and selecting high-impact ideas on what to do about global climate change. Even if you don’t have new ideas yourself, you can add to or support the ones you find most promising.

Over a dozen contests sought proposals for how to address aspects of the climate change problem, including reducing emissions from key economic sectors, adapting to the impacts of climate change, engaging the public, and many more. Winners will be invited to MIT as special guests during HUBweek 2016. See

last year’s conference

for more info.

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