Google issues Global Impact Challenge for U.K. startups

Steven Loeb · March 25, 2013 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/2e50

Four startups to receive £500,000 prize for "using technology to make the world a better place"

Google is really dedicated to nonprofit tech innovators. It started last year, when Google launched the Global Impact Awards to reward startups that used tech innovation to tackle world issues. Now, Google has decided to extend those awards, giving out more money to a new group of startups, albeit a smaller amount this time around.

Google is calling on United Kingdom based startups to participate in the new Global Impact Challenge, it was announced on Sunday.

The challenge involves startups pitching Google on how they would use technology to transform lives. Four winners will eventually be chosen: three by a judges panel, and one voted on by fans. Applications opened Sunday and 10 finalists will be announced on May 22.

There are three criteria that Google says it is looking for in its top 10 finalists:

1. How you will use technology and innovation to make the world a better place. Is it creative and data-driven? We’re looking for projects that use technology to solve a specific social issue on a grand scale.

2. How you will implement the Global Impact Award. Is the project feasible and realistic? Is it rooted in research that identifies the size of the problem and how the proposed idea will help solve it? Does the roadmap explain what challenges might stand in the way and how they will be overcome?

3. How your team will execute your plan immediately and successfully.
We’re looking for signals that your team is poised for success. Do you have partners and collaborators? Does your team have a strong track record?

After the 10 have been chosen, regular people across the U.K. can learn more about the projects of the top 10 finalists, donate to the ones they like and cast a vote for fan favorite.

On June 3, the top 10 finalists will pitch their concepts to a judging panel that will include: Jacquelline Fuller, director of Google Giving; Matt Brittin, VP, sales and operations, Northern and Central Europe, at Google; Sir Richard Branson; Sir Tim Berners-Lee; and Jilly Forster. The judges will pick three nonprofits, and they, along with the fan favorite, will each win a £500,000 Global Impact Award, as well as Chromebooks and technical assistance from Googlers.

"Technology can help solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges and we’re eager to back innovators who are finding new ways to make an impact. Today we’re starting the hunt in the U.K., but we also know that nonprofits all over the world are using techy approaches to develop new solutions in their sector. Who knows, the Global Impact Challenge might head your way next," Fuller and Brittin wrote in a blogpost.

In December, Google launched the first Global Impact Awards. It awarded $23 million to seven organizations that were dedicated to tackling some of the world’s biggest issues and problems. The seven that won the first awards were charity: water, Consortium for the Barcode of Life, DonorsChoose.org, Equal Opportunity Schools, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, GiveDirectly, and the World Wildlife Fund.

The Google Impact Awards and Global Impact Challenge are a part of the Google.org, the charitable wing of the company, which has donated money to relief organizations during natural disaster, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Its major projects include Google Crisis Response, which issues Crisis Maps, Person Finder and Public Alerts; Google Flu & Dengue Trends, which indicates flu activity around the world in real time; and Google For Nonprofits, which offers discounted or free products for nonprofits in order to help them with their organization.

(Image source: https://globalimpactchallenge.withgoogle.com)