Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Skild’s Online Contest Management Supports Fund for Rural Prosperity Innovation Challenge


While Skild would love to be a part of every online contest management, sometimes others get the lucky opportunity to share the innovation. The MasterCard Fund for Rural Prosperity innovation competition, is one in particular that Skild didn’t work on but still extremely proud of such a phenomenal challenge. This online contest software, “requires proposals that seek to design, pilot, test and launch new financial products and services that can effectively meet the financing needs of people living in poverty in rural and agricultural areas,” according to their website. Basically, the MasterCard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity will give $50 million to whoever wins this challenge by successfully helping people living in poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa with financial services. Strategy for people in poverty Many people in Africa are living in extremely poor situations with no idea how to change this path that they are on.
https://luciuscambell.wordpress.com/2016/02/15/skilds-online-contest-management-supports-fund-for-rural-prosperity-innovation-challenge/

CappSci’s Inventors Contest Software Winner Dr. Prasoon Diwakar’s Laser Detector


In December, the winners of the 2016 CappSci’s Inventors contest software were announced distributing $1 million to 10 inventors over a five-year period. Through the Skild platform, the administrators of the contest chose to single out one finalist who has been making an exceptional pursuit with his invention - Dr. Prasoon Diwakar."" His invention is a Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Detector (Say that five times fast). Bringing science to the people Diwakar is a research scientist who has dabbled with the use of lasers for quite some time. Needless to say, lasers are not new to him. When he was an intern at CNR-TEMPE he studied soot formations in fames using laser diagnostics. This later motivated his epic laser creation – The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Detector.
https://luciuscambell.wordpress.com/2016/02/09/cappscis-inventors-contest-software-winner-dr-prasoon-diwakars-laser-detector/

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

A Look back at 2015 Service Year and Higher Ed Innovation Competition Winners


2015 was a successful year for the Service Year and Higher Education innovation competition. The competition was designed to connect young adults in school with performing charitable services in order to gain course credits. Through this competition platform, people had the opportunity to send in their project ideas that would help students do a service through something that they may be passionate about so they could take those skills with them to future job positions. According to the website, the 2015 finalists for each category and the ideas they Proposed were: Community Colleges – Miami Dade College Proposed a Changemaker Corps, a peer to peer mentoring and support program that helps youth who have aged out of foster care mentor other foster care system students, with the goal of helping them stay in school, graduate, and develop employ ability skills.
https://luciuscambell.wordpress.com/2016/02/03/a-look-back-at-2015-service-year-and-higher-ed-innovation-competition-winners/

43North Competition Platform ’14 Winner included in Forbes’ 30 Under 30


The 43North competition platform that Skild was a part of was a huge success. The winners have since been working on their projects – some catching the eyes of big businesses. One founder in particular, Daniel Shani of Energy Intelligence has recently been put on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 issue in the Energy Category. Energy Intelligence Origin Story In 2014, Shani had the opportunity to share his idea by entering the 43North Competition management system. The main purpose for Energy Intelligence is to harness the energy wasted on a braking car and put it towards something useful. With this incredible idea, Shani received $500,000 after becoming one of the winners of 43North’s challenge through their competition software.
https://luciuscambell.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/43north-competition-platform-14-winner-included-in-forbes-30-under-30/

Monday, March 28, 2016

Skild Recognizes Green and Sustainable Chemistry Innovation Contest Finalists


The Elsevier Green and Sustainable Chemistry innovation contest is helping make living easier for those in underdeveloped countries. The competition has narrowed down the finalists from 61 candidates to only 5! This was not an easy process for the judges who had looked over 500 innovative inventions in the beginning of their judging. Skild, who is managing the competition, found this contest to be extremely inspirational and wants to commemorate the finalists for their hard work and brilliant minds. The Director of the Institute of Sustainable and Environmental Chemistry at Leuphana University, Professor Dr. Klaus Kümmerer stated: We are delighted with the response that we received from participants all over the world. The great number of submitted proposals does not only underline the importance and relevance of this topic but demonstrates that fantastic ideas and initiatives exist already, which – with more support – could make a tremendous difference.
https://luciuscambell.wordpress.com/2016/01/25/skild-recognizes-green-and-sustainable-chemistry-innovation-contest-finalists/

Solving Real Problems with the Social Justice Hackathon


Putting the bad guy away and receiving justice is a big reason why we have legal aid in the united States. But unfortunately there have been cases where justice has not been served. Sometimes people don’t have the money to get the proper legal aid they need. Law student at Seattle University, Miguel Willis, was really troubled by this situation and believed that the answer lied in getting people better access to legal aid. But how? By creating the Social Justice Hackathon. In November, the Social Justice Hackathon began by bringing brilliant minds together to rack up new ways to bring justice to all. For two days, 70 technology innovators as well as law professionals addressed issues within the legal aid system.
https://luciuscambell.wordpress.com/2016/01/20/solving-real-problems-with-the-social-justice-hackathon/