World Bank Group Big Data Innovation Challenge 2016 for Climate Resilience ($USD 20,000 Cash Prize)

Application Deadline: November 9th, 2016.

The World Bank is announcing a global call for big data solutions and prototypes that address climate change-related issues pertaining to food security, nutrition, landscapes, forestry and watersheds. The World Bank seek to identify and support the implementation of high-potential solutions and prototypes developed by academics, citizens, entrepreneurs, businesses, and nonprofits addressing these critical areas of sustainable development. These issues are high priorities in service to the World Bank’s goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity, and are also identified priorities of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The Big Data Innovation Challenge aims to identify and recognize innovative big data solutions that leverage new sources of data such as government-released open data, satellite imagery, mobile network data, anonymized private sector data, social media data and surveys among others. The big data solutions will need to address specific Climate Change-related issues pertaining to the nexus areas of

1) Food Security, Nutrition and Agriculture, or
2) Landscapes: Forestry and Watersheds. These issues are of high
priority towards the World Bank’s goals of reducing poverty and improving prosperity globally, the World Bank’s 2016 Climate Action Plan and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Applications submitted to the Big Data Innovation Challenge should address at least one of the following objectives:
• Address one or more of the issues defined in the Program’s Challenge Statements.
• Enable the World Bank Group and its clients to utilize big data innovations to support specific challenges in its operational and research work.
• Improve the ability of the World Bank Group in understanding, forecasting or raising awareness on one of the defined issue areas.

Requirements:

Applications submitted to the Big Data Innovation Challenge should address at least one of the following objectives:
The Innovation Challenge Submission Period will begin on September 22nd, 2016 and end on November 9th, 2016.
• The Big Data Innovation Challenge is open to individuals and organizations from member countries of the World Bank.
• Each Solution or Prototype must leverage or create some type of data. Combinations of traditional and new or unconventional data sources will be acceptable.
• Submissions may be any kind of data-driven solution, be it for the web, a personal computer, a mobile handheld device, console, SMS, or any software platform broadly available to the public. APIs and algorithms will also be accepted.
• Submissions may incorporate open source or proprietary technology.
• Participation is Free. Contestants must register at www.bigdatainnovationchallenge.org to register for the Innovation Challenge and complete the submission form containing their application.
• Winners will be announced in November, 2016.

Judging Criteria

The following criteria are weighted equally as part of the judging process.

Practicality of use, impact and potential for scale
The applicant demonstrates the potential of the big data solution to use data to transform their solution context.
Technically feasible
The big data solution is technically viable and has a working prototype to further show the functionality and usability.
Relevance to challenge focus areas
The applicant shows that he/she understands the specific context of the challenge statement to which they are applying and their solution’s potential within that context.
Innovativeness
Creativity and originality of the idea compared to solutions that are currently in use.
Team (background, capabilities)
The applicant has the applicable technical background and the capability to take this big data solution to the next phase of implementation

Innovation Challenge Awards

The World Bank Group will evaluate all submitted applications and select between 5 and 10 Applicants and Submissions as Challenge Winners.
Two of the Challenge Winners will receive $10,000 in cash each as prize.
All winning Submissions will be recognized through public communications from the World Bank Group and may be mentioned as part of a high-profile international development event.
The World Bank Group may also decide to invite various participants
to present their work at a workshop to facilitate knowledge exchange. The final decision on the winning solutions or prototypes will be entirely of World Bank Group representatives.
Challenge Winners will be selected and awarded for the following categories:
1. Challenge Winner: Best big data solution in the nexus area of Food Security, Nutrition and Agriculture
2. Challenge Winner: Best big data solution in the nexus area of Landscapes: Forestry and Watersheds
3. Honorable Mention Winner: Most innovative big data solution
4. Honorable Mention Winner: Recognition award
5. Honorable Mention Winner: Recognition award
Two cash prizes of $10,000 each will be awarded to two winning big data solutions or functional prototypes:
1) Best big data solution on Food Security, Nutrition and Agriculture, and 2) Best big data solution on Landscapes: Forestry and Watersheds. These solutions or functional prototypes will need to satisfy the Innovation Challenge judging criteria in order to be awarded the cash prizes. The cash prizes will be allocated with the expectation that the teams will provide the World Bank Group with a license for access, leverage and use of their winning solution or prototype by the World Bank Group.
The winning solutions and prototypes will also have the opportunity to be featured on the World Bank Big Data Innovation Challenge Website, World Bank Data Website and World Bank social media.
Innovation Challenge participants are encouraged to also use relevant indicators and datasets, and to be creative in exploring approaches for realizing the objectives of addressing the issues defined in the Innovation Challenge.