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2023 Community Challenge

A densely populated urban settlement in Hong Kong
© GettyImages-LewisTsePuiLung

Tackle some of the most pressing challenges of our time with the collective power of innovation!

Cities are vital for economic development and social progress, with over 50% of the world's population living in urban areas. However, rapid urbanisation is putting a strain on infrastructure, resources, and services, leading to overcrowding, pollution, and other negative impacts.

Climate change poses a significant threat to cities worldwide, with sea levels projected to rise by up to 1 metre by the end of the century, putting coastal cities at risk of flooding and storm surges. Bridging the infrastructure gap is also essential, as many cities worldwide lack sufficient investment in this area, with Nigeria alone needing to spend about $3 trillion over the next 30 years.

We called on all entrepreneurs, thinkers, and doers within the community of Germany alumni to develop innovative and entrepreneurial ideas to address such challenges. Solutions that can help cities become more sustainable, equitable, and resilient are needed.

Challenge timeline

1. Attending the online course on social entrepreneurship (optional)
2. Submission of ideas
3. Harnessing the innovative power of the community
4. Presentation of the favored ideas
5. Professional entrepreneurial mentorship

Our criteria for choosing the best ideas

How do we decide which ideas are admitted to the pitching event?

The ideas are selected through a two-stage process:

1. Jury selection: Our jury, made up of professionals from various fields including urban planning, architecture, social and economic development, waste and water management, energy, transport, entrepreneurship and finance, is guided by the following criteria:

  • Problem space clarity: What is the setting/context for this idea? How clear do they seem about the problem space they operate in?
  • Solution: Do they have good assumptions/hypotheses behind the solution? Have they conducted or devised experiments to test those hypotheses?
  • Uniqueness/Defensibility: Do they undersand what are some existing solutions in the market? How do they plan to differentiate?
  • Feasibility: What are the chances for the idea to be implemented?

The judges' scores will be weighted 50% in the final decision.

2. Community voting: The 29 published ideas are open to community voting. Community members will be able to vote for a maximum of 3 ideas. The community votes will be weighted 50% in the final decision.

The ideas with the highest overall scores will be selected as the winners.

Our jury

FAQs

What are some of the challenges cities are facing nowadays?
How can social entrepreneurship help to address the challenges cities are facing?
What is crowd innovation?
What is SDG 11?
 

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