Crowdsourcing Contest to Shape a Better Future

Published Dec-28-14

Breakthrough:
An app for blood donors and a web portal to provide information on citizens’ rights in Brazil are two of the winning concepts in Coca-Cola’s public good global crowdsourcing contest.

Company:
The Coca-Cola Company, United States

The Story:

The Coca-Cola Company has long been a supporter of crowdsourcing and open innovation, for example, working with online communities to generate new marketing ideas and content. The soft drinks behemoth also sponsors an open innovation contest to help turn ideas into innovative solutions that will help make the world a better place.

The Power of Collaborative Teams

The 'Shaping a Better Future Grant Challenge' is specifically for members of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community, young leaders aged between 20 and 30 who are organized into networks of more than 300 city-based hubs. These are collaborative units that work creatively to pinpoint the needs of their local areas and come up with novel and highly practical solutions. This expanding community numbers approximately 4,000 people and the contest is now in its second year.

The 2014 incarnation sought solutions for challenges in several different areas, including youth employment, education and protecting the environment. On offer was $50,000 seed money for the winner and $10,000 for each of the four other finalists.

Submissions went through two rounds of voting and a judging phase. They were assessed according to the severity of the issue addressed, the number of lives that could benefit from the solution, its efficiency and scalability.

Winning Ideas

The grand prize was awarded to the Chandigarh Hub in India for Kalpa Vriksha, a constellation of mobile applications that allow donors to connect with NGOs and people in need. One of their current apps is blooddonor.me that aims to raise awareness of blood donation and help bring donors and recipients together on one platform. The hub is also working on other initiatives, including sustainable transport and sensitizing the Chandigarh population on societal challenges and solutions.

Among the other finalists were:

Politize! – from the Florianopolis hub in Brazil: this is a web portal with lots of educational content on citizen related matters such as consumers’ rights and electoral rules. It is aimed at a lay audience that has little or no relevant education or information about these matters.

I Give a Crap – from San Juan hub in Puerto Rico: an ecological sanitation project that addresses the public health, environmental and societal needs of rural and urban farmers. Umbrella projects as part of this initiative include converting human waste into organic waste that farmers can use, the design and development of ecological sanitation and compost sites, and reducing a community’s water footprint.

Implementing Good Ideas

What characterises all of the winning finalists were their innovative approaches and breakthrough ideas, highlighting what can be achieved when teams work together.

The grant money awarded will help to further improve and develop the concepts, giving them the momentum they need to succeed.

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