30 projects from 20 countries have made it into the next round of the competition from the 729 eligible entries submitted at the end of April. They represent a wide range of sectors and activities, from ideas reinventing tourism or urban life to innovative initiatives that tackle environmental or education challenges, to projects inviting women and girls to become programmers and more.
Semi-finalists include:
Connectech, Hungary
Teaching local 14-to-18-year-olds with orthopaedic impairment coding knowledge and IT skills
Erase all kittens, UK
A web-based platform game, designed bottom-up to inspire girls to code
GoFundEd, Ukraine
A platform for young people to transform their schools into powerful learning environments
High tech preaccelerator for students, Bulgaria
A means for students to explore IoT, 3D print, VR etc.
Inspiring the next generation of female technologists
Konexio, France
Connecting refugees with citizens in their communities through a collaborative e-learning platform for digital literacy
Svago, Turkey
A social platform where young people with specific technical skills (e.g. fishing, weaving) given training for curious people who want to start a new hobby or participate in unique events
Youth Smart Village, Armenia
An innovative youth technology laboratory teaching tech and IT skills to young people in a remote region of Armenia
… and many more.
Over the coming months, the semi-finalists will receive tailored coaching and attend an intensive three-day academy, which this year will take place in Cluj. During the training programme they will learn from experienced social innovators and entrepreneurs, they will have the opportunity to further develop their projects into a viable business propositions and learn how to pitch for investment.
The Judging Panel
The competition’s international jury in 2018 is composed of:
- Mikkel Andersen, Danish Social Innovation Club (Denmark)
- Sabine Biesheuvel, BlueCity (The Netherlands)
- Tuija Hirvikoski, Laurea University of Applied Sciences (Finland)
- Mirna Karzen, Social Innovation Lab (Croatia)
- Norbert Kunz, Social Impact (Germany)
- Constance Laisné, Alt Gen (United Kingdom)
- Vincenzo Linarello, Goel (Italy)
- Carina Lopes, d-LAB (Spain)
- Klaus Schach, Centre for Social Innovation (Austria)
- Stavros Tsompanidis, Phee (Greece)
- Taoufik Vallipuram, OuiShare (France)
- Magdalena Zawodny-Barabanow, Urbact Network BoostInno (Poland)
The same panel of judges will select a shortlist of 10 finalists to be announced in September and three winners that will be awarded in November.
Questions about the competition can be addressed to [email protected]
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