CU Social Innovation Competition Announces 10 Finalists from Around the Globe to Advance Sustainable Development Goals

Bangkok, Thailand— Chulalongkorn University announces the ten finalists of its Social Innovation Competition entitled “Engaging Our Future – Innovation Challenge for Sustainable Society”.

The Competition is a global engagement program launched by Chulalongkorn University, in partnership with SDGx, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Yunus Foundation, to encourage university students from around the globe to work together towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

118 teams of 400 student social innovators from 26 countries submitted project ideas for the competition.  As an integral process of the competition is to help students get to a deeper level of understanding about SDGs, an international webinar entitled “Leading our Futures Through Sustainable Development” was organized on 31 July 2020.  Participants included experts and committed practitioners of social innovation, all joining as speakers from diverse backgrounds.

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At the Webinar opening, Prof. Bundhit Eua-arporn, President of Chulalongkorn University, highlighted the university’s commitment to contribute to society and support the SDGs, by nurturing future leaders, producing impactful research and innovations, and practicing sustainability.

Professor Mohammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, whose name is synonymous with social entrepreneurship that creates economic and social development from below, addressed the participants and pointed out that, “Your work is the future—it is new thinking that will take us to the new frontier, so you have the responsibility to make it happen.”  Mr. Renaud Meyer, Resident Representative of UNDP Thailand noted that we all are the ones who will achieve the 17 SDGs through our actions.  “This innovation challenge provides an opportunity to help us re-think and engage our societies,” he said.

The 10 project finalists and their countries of origin are:

Merca. (Thailand / USA)
FLOCKCHAIN (Indonesia)
Growing House (United Kingdom)
Terafic (Philippines)
CareConnect (Thailand)
Termtem (Thailand)    
 DONEST (Thailand)
 Alpha Protect (Thailand)
NeoPlastic (France/ Hong Kong)
Synapse (United Kingdom)                                 

Each team will be provided with a mentor to help advise and shape the projects prior to the Final Pitching Competition, which will take place on 22 August 2020. The winners will be awarded US$10,000 (first prize), US$3,000 (second prize), and US$1,000 (third prize) to advance their projects.  A Judges’ Award will also be given to the project team selected to appear in a partner platform.

For further information about the program, visit https://www.eventpop.me/e/9142 or contact EngagingOurFutureCU@gmail.com.  The Social Innovation Competition Program was launched in June 2020 as a global engagement program of Chulalongkorn University, a joint initiative by the Office of International Affairs and Global Network (OIA) and the CU School of Integrated Innovation (Scll). 

For information on the webinar on 31 July 2020, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVOM7sv8UiQ. 

                                

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