2012 Social Innovation Solutions Challenge

Feb 09, 2012  |  Author: Eric D. Gerdts

The second annual Social Innovation Solutions Challenge was a competition for graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University who are interested in applying social innovations to some of the world’s biggest problems relating to basic human needs. Organized by CMU's Institute for Social Innovation and Project Olympus, the competition featured teams of students from across the University competing for cash prizes.

The 2012 competition attracted 6 teams of masters and PhD students, from across campus, including 17 students from Heinz— 8 PPM, 7 MISM, 1 MAM, 1 HCPM — plus students from CIT, SCS, CFA, and Tepper. The teams had to develop ideas for new products that addressed basic human needs such as food, education, healthcare, water and shelter for a region of the world (Africa, China, India, Inner City US, Latin America). 6 teams were selected to present at the final judging round.

First prize winners for $1000, Team Neer: Amy Badiani (Heinz, PPM), Rahul Chavan (CIT, ETIM), Ancha Vishnu (CIT, ETIM), Sandeep Munnangi (Heinz, PPM), Surabhi Jain (Heinz ISM) with their idea for a scalable and accessible water purification system for rural India.

Second prize winners for $500, Team Uba: Alexander Blair (Heinz, HCPM), Jessamyn Miller (CFA, Design), Ligia Nistor (SCS, CS), Ashkay Katti (CIT, ECE) for their idea of the UbaPatch, a psychological and innovative patch that motivates exercise for people in inner-city US.

Third prize winners for $250, Team Er-an: Anirudh Bhargava (Heinz, IS), Vinay Prabhu (CIT, ECE), Sreeram Kurup Unnikrishna (CIT, EPP), Shuzhao (Carson) Yan (Heinz, IS) for their RFID organic food tagging system in China.

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