World Bank Group Youth Summit 2017 – Pitch your ideas in Washington DC, USA

August 22, 2017

Application Deadline: 29 September 2017

World Bank Group Youth Summit 2017: Technology and Innovation for Impact

Established in 2013, the Youth Summit is an annual event that serves as a platform for conversation and action to make the World Bank Group more relevant to the global youth and to better involve young people in the work of the World Bank Group. The Youth Summit Organizing Committee is comprised of young World Bank Group employees and is supported by World Bank Group senior management.

The 2017 Youth Summit, Technology and Innovation for Impact, will take place on December 4-5 2017.

This year’s Youth Summit will seek to provide youth with a forum to voice their concerns, share their ideas and learn from one another while discussing the challenges and opportunities created by this technological shift.

Structure of the Youth Summit

The two-day Summit will be held on the 4-5 December 2017 in Washington DC and livestreamed globally. The 2017 Youth Summit will have three components:

Plenary: The Summit will include dynamic high-level plenary sessions which aim to ignite conversation on fulfilling the opportunities of technological innovation. The plenary session will juxtapose youth representatives and speakers from the World Bank Group, the private sector, government, academia and civil society with the objective of engaging a plurality of views on how to reap sizable technological dividends.

Workshops: Attendees will participate in workshops that delve into the Summit’s three subthemes, giving participants an opportunity to share ideas and experiences and debate how to maximize the potential of Information Communication Technologies all around the globe.

The subthemes are:

Transforming the Jobs and Skills of Tomorrow
Leveraging Information & Communication Technologies
Igniting Youth Entrepreneurship.

Competition: On the second day of the Summit, the live final of the Youth Summit Competition ‘Technology and Innovation for Impact’ will take place. The competition finalists will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas to the audience of attendees and an expert jury.

IDEAS WANTED

Rapid technological changes have created both challenges and opportunities around the world, we must take advantage of the inherent transformative potential of technology to make the world more prosperous and inclusive for all.

If you could take advantage of today’s technology and solve any problem or need, what would it be?

Would it support the WBG twin goals of ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity?

Contribute to building the inclusive tech-world of tomorrow by sharing your idea!

Who Should Participate?

The competition is open to individuals or teams of 2 to 4 people aged 18 to 35, from all over the world. Prior entrepreneurial experience or business background is not required. All individuals with the drive to innovate are encouraged to participate, including professionals from business or policy, students and academics, NGO leaders, government officials and start-up founders.

How to Enter the Competition?

Participants should propose an innovative and action-oriented idea on how to provide a solution to a developmental challenge adapted to the realities of the 21st century. The proposed solution can be aimed at business (private sector) or policy (public sector) and should relate to at least one of the subthemes of the Youth Summit 2017:

Transforming the Economic Landscape
Leveraging Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs)
Igniting Youth Entrepreneurship

Deadlines & Process

Stage 1 – Submit your Idea (Deadline: 29 September 2017)

Participants must submit their proposal by September 29 2017, 11.59 pm EST. Proposals will be evaluated by an Expert Committee. Shortlisted individuals/teams will be announced by mid-October 2017 and will proceed to the next stage.

Stage 2 – Refine your Idea & Prepare your Pitch (Mid-October to Early-December 2017)

Individuals/teams shortlisted in Stage 1 will receive feedback on their proposals and may be asked to submit further information, refine their proposals and/or submit short ‘pitching’ videos. Based on that, the Expert Committee will select the ‘Finalist’ individuals/teams who will proceed to Stage 3.

Stage 3 – Pitch your Idea at the Youth Summit 2017 (4-5 December 2017)

Finalists will join the Youth Summit 2017, taking place at the World Bank Group Headquarters, Washington DC. The entire morning of the second day of the Summit (December 5th,2017) will be dedicated to showcase Finalists’ ideas. Finalists will present their proposal in front of a Judging Panel and Summit attendees – presentations will be live-streamed. After the presentations, winners will be selected by a combination of votes from the judging panel and the audience.

Ready to Apply?

To share your idea and enter the Youth Summit 2017 Competition, you shall:

1. Make sure that you/your team meet the Eligibility Requirements:

The Competition is open to individuals or teams of 2-4 people, aged 18 to 35 inclusive as of 11.59 pm EST on September 29, 2017.
Teams and individuals are limited to one submission each.
The Competition is open to nationals of ALL countries of the world.
Active staff of the World Bank Group (at the time of the submission up until the closing of the Youth Summit 2017), including Consultants and Interns, are not eligible to participate in the Competition.

2. Prepare a proposal that outlines your idea, as per the following Submission Rules:

Proposals must be created by and owned by the Participants.
Proposals must be submitted in English.
Proposals shall provide an innovative and action-oriented business-level or policy-level idea aimed at solving a problem/need that will support at least one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and one of the World Bank’s Twin goals of (1) Reducing poverty and (2) Boosting Shared Prosperity.
Proposals must comply with at least one of the following criteria:
- The problem/need to be solved must have been caused by a technological transformation, and/or;
- The idea/solution must use a technological component (such as ICTs) to solve the developmental problem/need.
The problem/need and the proposed solution outlined in the Proposals must relate to at least one of the subthemes of the Youth Summit 2017 and should apply to a least one client country of the World Bank Group.
Proposals must (a) provide a short 2-5 sentences summary of the idea, (b) describe which Sustainable Development Goal it will support and which YS Subtheme it relates to, (c) describe the specific problem/need that the proposed solution seeks to address, and (d) describe the solution proposed to address this specific problem/need (e.g. a product, service, program, policy, course, initiative etc.).
Proposals will be judged based on the following Judging Criteria: (1) Clarity, scope and relevance of the problem and of the proposed solution; (2) Innovation and originality; (3) Feasibility of implementation and whether it is sustainable in time; (4) Potential for impact. Please refer to the Competition Rules and Regulations for further information about the Judging Criteria.
Proposals must be between 1,000-2,500 words in length, all-inclusive – i.e. including all bodies of text, titles, headings, tables, textboxes, footnotes, endnotes, references, appendices etc. – and must not exceed 4 pages in total.
The following information must be provided at the top of the first page of the Proposal: (a) the names of the Participant(s) submitting the Proposal – for teams, all team members’ names shall be listed; (b) the final word count (all-inclusive).