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    Whether you are an entrepreneur, established company, academic faculty, student, or a creative person, you can help build technology solutions to improve our world in collaboration with the United Nations.

    The ideas, tools and proposals submitted through this challenge will be carefully researched and selected by a diverse panel of reviewers. One or more ideas may receive support to become a project which will be prototyped and tested in proof-of-concept scenarios and may receive support for going to market.

    The selected ideas and tools as well as the key individuals and organizations who originated the ideas and contributed to their implementation in each phase of the challenge will be featured at United Nations events and websites.

    The Challenge

    Phase 1: Idea generation, concept design and research. Open to everyone. (2 months, ends 03 July)
    Submissions in this phase may include ideas for ICT tools and business process innovations related to Circular Economy, which can result in rapid and far-reaching improvements for society. Your submission should describe how your proposed ideas and/or tools fulfill a need and can impact millions of people. The Unite Ideas Community online will be invited to comment, review, and “like” entries.

    Phase 2: Rapid Prototyping. Open to everyone. (2 months, ends 03 September)
    Based on the analysis of the proposals and research carried out on Phase 1, a number of ideas will be selected by the Panel of Reviewers for this challenge for rapid prototyping. In this phase, you and everyone in the Unite Ideas community (private sector, academia, general public, etc.) are invited to submit rapid prototypes of the selected ideas for evaluation. The prototypes submitted should attempt to simulate the interaction of users with the proposed tool or business process and function as closely as possible to reality. Working prototypes are preferred, but also wireframes and presentations are acceptable.

    You can enter the challenge in this phase even if you did not submit and idea during the previous phase. You can implement a prototype of an idea proposed by someone else as long as you respect the license (all submissions to the challenge are open source or creative commons) and acknowledge that you are using the intellectual property of the owner according to the relevant license.

    The prototypes will be reviewed by the challenge team and by the Unite Ideas Community online who will to identify pros and cons for each prototype and suggestions for enhancements. The best prototypes will be selected as finalists by the Panel of Reviewers of this challenge and will be showcased at an event gathering experts from the private sector, academia, and Government.

    Phase 3: Business Models and Implementation Strategies. Open to finalists only.
    Based on the selection of promising prototypes from the previous phase, the finalists will be invited to develop business models and implementation strategies. The challenge team may provide advisory and support to the finalists as applicable, including assisting in contacting potential partners and experts in technology and other domains.

    At the end of this phase, the business models and implementation strategies of all the finalist will be reviewed by the Panel of Reviewers who will recommend one or more projects to continue to the proof-of-concept phase.

    Deliverable:
    The only deliverable for this phase is a “Business Plan”. You can find resources and examples here. To submit your business plan just edit your idea.

    Phase 4: Proof-of-concept implementation. Open to finalists only.
    Based on the strategies devised in the previous phase, the finalists will be invited to implement proof-of-concept experiments to try out beta versions of their tools or services in a real-world scenario with a limited scale and scope. During this phase the finalist may seek advice and support from the challenge team, including assistance seeking implementation partners in technology and other domains, as well as financing partners for the development and implementation of the proof-of-concept.

    The resulting proof-of-concepts will be showcased at an event gathering experts from the private sector, academia, and Government, and venture capitalists. [Date to be announced]

    Phase 5: Go-to-Market support. Open to finalists only. (3 months)
    With support, and in close collaboration with the challenge team, the finalists will develop their go-to-market strategies and seek implementation partners. The challenge team will provide support in this endeavor and accompany the entrepreneur towards a market implementation.

    The best ideas and projects throughout the challenge will be announced and showcased at United Nations events and websites.

    Open Source & Innovation Principles
    All the inputs and outputs of this challenge must be covered by recognized open source and creative commons licensing. As a participant you will be asked to accept terms and conditions prior to submitting any content. It is encouraged that teams leverage and extend existing open source frameworks.

    Throughout this challenge, the participants will be encouraged to follow the Principles for Digital Development, which have been developed by United Nations Agencies Funds and Programmes and endorsed by International Organizations worldwide. See: https://digitalprinciples.org

    Why should you participate?
    Your participation in this challenge will generate a series of outputs beneficial to our society:

    • A study which will compound and analyze opportunities for implementation of technology solutions in Circular Economy.
    • Various open-source technology prototypes, suitable for being adapted or re-purposed for projects worldwide.
    • Various business models under creative-commons licensing which will be available for discussion and adaptation for other projects worldwide.
    • New tools and business processes candidates for market implementation.
    • This challenge is an opportunity for you to apply your creativity, technology and business skills to help Circular Economy.
    • With the support from the challenge team and other entities, this challenge is an opportunity to turn your interest in solving societal issues into your own enterprise, with the potential to impact the lives of millions of people.

    Contact points
    Challenge core team - UNTIL Finland
    Razi Latif

    Contact by creating your account on Unite Ideas.

    Panel of Reviewers
    A panel composed of subject matter experts as well as business and technology specialists will review the ideas proposed.

    Challenge team:
    Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth
    United Nations Technology Innovation Labs – UNTIL Finland

    Congratulations to the winners of the Challenge. Check them out!


    Grow Your Own Cloud  

    Most out-of-the-box thinking.

    Platform for Grassroots Aid Distribution Coordination

    Most direct human impact.

    Million Urban Farms  

    Most experienced team.

    HULA combines exchange and technology in order to contribute to a more sustainable world

    Most technically developed solution.

    2 to 3

    Best Applied Research Project.

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    Phase:
    00 DAYS 00 HRS 00 MINS
    Challenge ended
    No Ideas have been selected.
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