October 2, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Google has asked people to submit their ideas for changing the world and helping as many people as possible — and it will put up $10-million to bring the best ideas to life.
One idea the company highlights as the kind of creative solution it’s looking for: the Hippo Water Roller, a relatively inexpensive 24-gallon container that can be easily wheeled on the ground, easing the burden on women and children in developing countries who often have to carry fresh water long distances in jugs and other containers on their heads.
People who submit ideas will be asked to place them in one of eight categories — community, education, energy, environment, health, opportunity, shelter, or the catch-all “everything else” category.
Google will cull the submissions to a top 100, which will be posted online on January 27. Public voting will select 20 semifinalists.
An advisory board of five to seven experts in the contest categories will choose up to five winning projects based on the number of people likely to be affected, the urgency of the problem the idea seeks to solve, whether the idea can be attained within a year or two, the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of the idea, and how long-lasting its impact will be.
Once the winning ideas have been chosen, Google will issue a request for proposals to identify the organization or organizations to carry out the idea.
The people who submit the winning ideas will not receive a monetary award, but “you get good karma and the satisfaction of knowing that your idea might truly help a lot of people,” the company writes on the competition’s Web site.
The deadline for submissions is October 20.
For more information: Go to http://www.project10tothe100.com.
