Kickoff Event: The Born Global Foundation’s Competition for Innovation in Sustainability

Boston University’s College of Engineering is pleased to announce a novel design competition for innovations to impact the global challenge of sustainability, The Born Global Foundation’s Competition for Innovation in Sustainability. The competition is jointly run by the College of Engineering and the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Boston University. The competition is open to Boston University undergraduates and masters students and submissions must come from interdisciplinary teams. First place will receive $5,000, second place $2,500 and third place $1,500. Winning teams will bring an interdisciplinary approach to create a newly formulated solution to a real world sustainability problem. The interdisciplinary teams must include engineering students as well students from non-engineering majors such as students from the Questrom School of Business, the College of Arts and Science, the School of Public Health, or the College of Fine Arts. This year while projects related to all aspects of sustainability are welcome, the particular focus area is on innovative improvements in carbon recycling processes and materials. Related focus areas are in CO2 sequestration and how to reduce carbon footprints. Another area of interest as to its potential impact on CO2 levels in the atmosphere is application of biomimicry, in which natural and biological phenomena are emulated in an innovative way to address a sustainability challenge. Winning teams will be judged on the efficacy of the technical innovation itself along with a business model for how such an innovation might become economically and ecologically feasible compared to current methods. The competition is made possible via a generous gift from the Born Global Foundation headed by Dr. Kimberly Samaha, an alum of BU’s College of Engineering. A kickoff event for the competition will be held Sept. 23rd from 5-6PM in 110 Cummington Mall, room 245 (ENG 245) at which Dr. Samaha will speak. The event will give students a deeper sense of the motivation and goals for engaging innovation in this space. The timeline for the competition will also be discussed including deadlines for pre-proposals and the down selection process. Pizza will be served. RSVP if you intend to come to the Town Hall to hear more about this societal challenge and the competition.