Innovation Challenge
Overview
The Innovation Challenge is about one big idea - our belief that the talent and creativity of college students can make the world better. The Innovation Challenge is a unique opportunity for college students to transform their ideas into innovative solutions to address society’s critical challenges, and to develop into the leaders of a new generation of courageous thought-leaders, problem-solvers and change-makers.

Innovation for Social Change
College students developing innovative solutions to address society’s critical challenges may seem like a daunting, if not impossible, task. But by combining the passion, talent, and creativity of college students with our Innovation Challenge Program, we believe the task becomes not only possible, but probable. The cornerstone for success lies in our focus on creating an environment that enables, inspires, and encourages creativity. This philosophy is embedded in all the elements of the Innovation Challenge.

Participants work in small teams, called “Challenge Teams”, with the goal of proposing an innovative solution for addressing one of society’s critical challenges. All Challenge Teams will be focused on the same social challenge, providing a common theme for all challenge teams. The Social Challenge will be intentionally broad in scope (such as homelessness. the refugee crisis, human trafficking, etc.), allowing each Innovation Challenge Team the flexibility to identify a specific problem within the social challenge to solve, as well as to define their own unique compelling goals and tangible results that they seek to achieve.

Each Challenge Team is competing against the other teams to develop the solution proposal with greatest potential for social impact. This element of competition adds an important dynamic that enhances the creative process and adds to the overall energy of participants. The single social challenge that all teams are focused on also enhances this competition.
The competition is judged on two levels. First, a winning proposal from each school will be selected, with that winner moving on to the national competition. The winner of the national competition will receive sponsorship and funding to implement a proof-of-concept pilot of their ideas.

Throughout the program, Challenge Teams are given incredible freedom when working through the Innovation Process and are encouraged to utilize their collective talents and creativity to customize their approach to developing a proposed solution. While experimentation and risk-taking throughout the process is necessary to discover the most impactful solutions, the actual experience of effectively “stepping outside of the lines” is also an invaluable learning for our participants.

Experience and Experiences
The process of developing innovative solutions to address society’s critical challenges is an incredible and life-changing experience. But while the Challenge Teams are working to change the world, we will be working equally hard to provide a variety of activities for them to participate in that will embrace learning and development, inspire conversation and personal discovery, nurture mind-body growth, and be fun and energizing. These activities will not only support the creative process, but will also round-out the experience and experiences offered by the Innovation Challenge, helping participants develop into the leaders of this new generation of courageous thought-leaders, problem-solvers and change-makers.

These activities are designed to provide inspirations, experiences, and insights that will cause pause, reflection, awareness, and perhaps even inspire new ways of thinking, new ways of approaching problems, new ways of looking at our world, and new ways of defining courage, success, and leadership. We will not dictate what to think, or even suggest how to think, but rather will provide participants a variety of lenses from which to see the world and themselves. Our goal is to provide the “aha!” or “Eureka!” moments that change lives.

Value
The Innovation Challenge is designed to create value in several ways, for both students and society. The dual objectives of giving back to society and giving back to the students sets the Innovation Challenge apart as a unique lever of social change.

For our student participants, value comes from the experience and experiences of the Innovation Challenge Program. This comes from their efforts to create impactful social change, as well as from their participation in the other activities we provide. Participation in the program will enable them to differentiate themselves as problem-solvers, change-makers, and leaders as well as inspire them to discover what courage, success, and leadership means to them.

For society, our work to develop innovative solutions with measurable impact on society’s critical challenges provides the most obvious and sought after benefits.  However the dialogue, discovery, and ideas that that are part of all proposed solutions also provides lasting value. This wealth of ideas will enable and inspire further conversation and new ideas in a cycle that ultimately leads to impactful change. Additionally, the knowledge and sensitivity for society’s critical challenges that our participants will develop throughout the process as well as their validation that they can make a difference will serve society for generations.

Why we do it
We do this to create a better world. Society faces so many critical challenges such as hunger, violence, poverty, homelessness, lack of clean drinking water, and the refugee crisis. We feel an accountability and an obligation to use our talents, passion, and ideas to address these challenges and to make the world a better place.

We do this for the college students with a passion to make a difference. We believe students are not only a rich source for fresh perspectives and creative ideas, but the best source for discovering the best ideas. Unfortunately, students and their ideas are too often under-appreciated or ignored. Inspiring students into action by providing the right opportunity for them to engage and make a difference is the first step in changing the world. We aspire to make this not only the right opportunity for students with a desire to make a difference, but also their best option.

We do this because inaction is not an option. We need this program, not because no one is trying to solve these problems. Quite the contrary, there are many people and organizations working heroically to address all of these social challenges every day. We need this program because there will never be too many ideas; there can never be to many change-makers, and there can never be too many unique opportunities to make a difference. Arguably, the greatest challenge we face may be inaction, and this is not necessarily because people do not want to engage. We believe that people will engage when they see the right opportunity for them. We truly believe that the Innovation Challenge will be the right opportunity for some of our worlds most talented and passionate students.

We do this because we know we can have an impact. So, if we don’t do this, we would be letting down society, these students, and ourselves.

Our Purpose
Our purpose is to...
- Engage young people who have the passion to make a difference in the world.
- Empower young people to take action by leveraging their passion, talent, and ideas.
- Educate young people through experience, experiences, and opportunities.
- Enable young people to discover what courage, success and leadership look like.

Our Structure
We are a non-profit organization because...
- We are driven by our mission rather than by profit.
- Our owners are young people with a passion to change the world.

Our Values
We value...
- Creativity
- Collaboration
- Community
- Ideas (all ideas)
- The creativity and talents of young people
- The depth and complexity of everyone regardless of role or belief
- Each person’s unique view of courage, success, and leadership

Our Projects
New Planet Project will launch the Innovation Challenge Program as our flagship initiative.