Students with a unique idea that implements positive social change can find support to jumpstart their plan right through the annual ASU Innovation Challenge.
The annual challenge is a competition for a grant that aims to cultivate budding student entrepreneurs dedicated to making positive differences in their local and global communities.
Finalists for spring 2011 will be announced Jan. 22, and winners will be confirmed at the end of February. Spring 2011 winners will receive their grants in March. Students can earn up to $10,000 to turn their ideas into reality.
“Programs like the Innovation Challenge are giving students an opportunity to transform an idea into a real change in their communities,” said Regina Duran, student consultant for the ASU Innovation Challenge.
The ASU Innovation Challenge was created in 2009. More than 150 applications were submitted in November 2010 for this year’s contest, said Audrey Iffert, communication director for the ASU Innovation Challenge.
One winner from 2010, FAVE (Fruit and Vegetable) Bags, is a company that provides women in rural El Salvador economic opportunity while eliminating waste through the use of reusable produce bags.
ASU sustainability graduate students Aaron Redman and Erin Frisk and interaction design graduate student Christen Forrester created FAVE Bags. Each FAVE bag is stamped with the project’s motto, “Empower Women — Protect the Planet.”
The reusable produce bags are crafted and managed by groups of Salvadoran women.
There are currently seven groups of women involved in FAVE Bags throughout the country’s La Paz region. Each group consists of two to six women, Frisk said.
Money from the Innovation Challenge helped fund the legal process of starting the organization. Frisk and her team were awarded a grant of $2,000 in March 2010 for their organization.
“We have used the contacts through the challenge to help guide us through the export/import process, as well as our business set-up,” Frisk said.
Spring 2010 applicants competed for 15 $2,000 awards, and one $5,000 award.
A distinguishing feature of ASU’s approach to entrepreneurial education is its accessibility to both undergraduate and graduate students, said Jacqueline Smith, director of social embeddedness at the Office of University Initiatives.
During the application process, students collaborate with peers and faculty, develop a project proposal and present and defend their ideas to a group of local entrepreneurs, social innovation experts and community leaders, said Adriana Delgado, student outreach specialist for the ASU Innovation Challenge.
Writing the Innovation Challenge proposal allowed Frisk and her team to develop and solidify their idea for FAVE Bags.
“The question we were pondering was: How do we bring entrepreneurial opportunities to the countryside that strengthen the social capital already present while also improving the livelihoods of the families and communities?” Frisk said.
The diversity of students who apply to the Innovation Challenge range from those based in the Phoenix Metropolitan area to others abroad. Some students support for-profit ideas and others non-profit, Smith said.
“Arizona State University encourages students of all majors to use entrepreneurship as a means to solve local and global challenges,” Delgado said.
However, all of the Innovation Challenge applicants do have one thing in common: a passion for tackling societal challenges and establishing positive social change, Smith said.
Participating in the ASU Innovation Challenge is one of the many ways students can move their ideas forward and express their creativity, leadership skills and passion for making a difference at the University, said Iffert.
“The best way that a student can get involved is to take the entrepreneurship classes that ASU offers and apply to funding programs,” said Duran.
ASU offers over 90 entrepreneurship courses available across campuses, including interdisciplinary classes, Delgado said.
“Reading this year’s Innovation Challenge applications made me feel very proud to work at ASU and to be a part of a community that thinks big and takes action,” Smith said.
Reach the reporter at cksilves@asu.edu
