Global Issues

We want to support students who see problems as opportunities to create new systems that can improve the world around us.  We have identified five issue areas in which to solicit creative solutions to pressing problems.

Learning

Humankind’s innate curiosity has been responsible for humanistic, social, and scientific advances throughout history.  We seek new ways to educate, motivate and inspire humans around the world.

Energy & Environment

To accommodate our ever-increasing world population we must create sustainable ways to fuel our world while counteracting the human impact on the globe.  We need ideas that will provide safe, clean alternatives to existing energy systems, and we need ways to try to ameliorate the impact of human activity on the environment. 

Health

On a global basis, we have to discover and implement new ways to deliver affordable health care to every citizen. Doing so will require new technologies, new business models, better education, and ways to alter destructive behavior. We seek ideas that offer the prospect of universal and affordable health care.

Disaster Preparation & Relief

As the human footprint expands across the globe, higher numbers of people live in disaster-prone areas.  We are looking for new ways to prevent disasters, to provide earlier detection, and to make post-disaster services more effective and efficient.

The Arts

Artistic expression has long performed the essential tasks of opening our eyes and minds to the human condition and questioning the status quo.  We are interested in supporting ideas that creatively utilize artistic expression in the service of communicating and addressing the growing social and environmental problems around the world. In particular, we seek ideas that are linked to the four issue areas identified in the Challenge.