Appplication Deadline: May 12 2013
Innovate Kenya: Empowering Kenyan Youth to solve pressing challenges within their own communities.
Identify a local problem and think up a local solution
The Innovate Kenya competition is looking to identify and support innovative solutions to issues within the fields of Health, Energy, Education, Agriculture, Transportation, Telecommunications, Civic Media, and Engineering in Kenya.
The innovation challenge will encourage and help Kenyan students create prototypes of their solutions while providing them with capital, mentorship and other resources during the process.
We are not only interested in solutions to big problems. Important change can happen on a small scale, and even the biggest projects begin with small steps. The most important change a country can achieve—something the Innovate Kenya project looks to inspire—is towards a creative and innovative mentality. Innovate Kenya is about doing just that.
How it works
Any Senior Secondary School in Kenya can nominate up to two teams of 3-5 students as finalists for the competition. Up to 5 teams will be selected by an internationally acclaimed panel of judges to receive up to US$ 500 each to make a prototype of an engineering solution to a well-defined local problem over a 2 month period.
The finalists selected along with our Action Awards by the judging panel will be funded to further develop their prototypes. Teams will need to provide details of how the prototype will be developed and why they are well suited to accomplish the project. Each team will be assessed based on the recommendation from the school nominating them.
At the end of the competition cycle, up to two finalist teams may be selected as winners. Each winning team will receive up to US$ 1,000 to further develop their engineering prototype. Funds can be used towards buying materials and machining costs. The award price is not meant for personal use of team members and must be used only for the project.
Official Rules
- Innovation solutions must attempt to tackle problems in the fields of Health, Sanitation, Energy, Education, Agriculture, Environment, Transportation, Arts & Design, Telecommunications, Civic Media, and Engineering.
- Project proposal must be in English.
- Teams should consist of 3-5 students in ANY secondary school.
Proposal Requirements
- Contact Information: Provide each team member’s name, your school’s name, address and detailed contact information. Remember to indicate who is the team leader.
- Introduction: A brief overview of your project
- Problem: What is the problem that you are trying to solve through this innovation?
- Problem Motivation: Why is this problem important to you?
- Proposed Solution: How are you planning on fixing this problem? And is it scalable?
- Detailed Budget: What would the costs be to completing your project?
- Plan of Action: What steps are you planning on taking to make this project a reality?
- A letter of recommendation/endorsement from the principal of the school.
- Name and contact information of 2 mentors and/or supporting teacher.
Proposal Guidelines and Hints:
- Illustrations and drawings are encouraged.
- Proposals can either be typed up or written by hand. If proposal is written by hand, ensure that the writing is legible.
- Examples of proposals can be found here: http://www.gmin.org/innovate-salone/2012/finalists
- Keep the budgets realistic and focus on what is strictly necessary.
Submission:
Teams must submit their proposals either by:
- E-mail as an attached document to info@innovatekenya.org with the subject “Project Proposal – School Name”. Application form can be downloaded here.
- Submitted directly online by clicking here.
- Mailed to: “Isabell Eischeid, PO Box 7693, 40100 Kisumu”
- In hard copy to an Innovate Kenya representative or to one of the national drop-off points listed below: