Hosted by the Biomimicry Institute, the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge is an annual competition that invites people around the world to address critical sustainability issues using nature as a guide.
By applying nature's design principles, we can create solutions that help support a healthy planet. The Institute's goal is to build an artery of sustainable innovation inspired by nature and to help bring more biomimetic solutions to market.
Every two years, the Biomimicry Institute selects a key sustainability issue as a broad theme and focus for the Global Challenge. The theme for the 2017 edition is "Climate Change".
Earth has always been a changing planet, but the climate and ecological changes humans have set in motion in the last century are like nothing our species has experienced before. Hungry for energy, food, and other resources, our growing populations are pushing Earth's systems toward a frightening and well-documented tipping point. The science is clear, and so is our imperative. To avoid the worst consequences of climate change, the human community must find ways to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change—and ideally reverse it’s dangerous course altogether.
Create a nature-inspired innovation (a product, service, or system) that combats climate change by either helping communities adapt to or mitigate climate change impacts (i.e. those forecasted or already in motion), and/or reversing or slowing climate change itself (e.g. by removing excess greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere).
The competition features two rounds, a design concept round and a prototype round, and includes both Open and Student categories.
Entry fees:
• Early bird rate (by 31 March 2017): Student 40 USD, Open 100 USD.
• Standard rate: Student 50 USD, Open 120 USD
Eligibility
Open worldwide to students and professionals. Please note: this is a competition based on teams of 2 to 8 persons (individual entries will not be accepted). Each team may submit only one entry.
Prize
Up to 10 finalist teams will receive a 2,000 USD award and be invited to participate in the Biomimicry Accelerator program, which begins in October and lasts for a period of one year.
Accelerator participants will receive business training and/or incubation support, mentorship support, access to software tools, legal support, and coaching and technical consultations valued in excess of 12,000 USD. At the culmination of the annual Accelerator program, participants will compete for the Ray C. Anderson Foundation's 100,000 USD Ray of Hope Prize.
