Big Ideas Challenge 2020

According to the decision of the jury, the idea “Contacting Agro-Cam” won, the authors of the mentioned idea are Salome Nepharidze and Ekaterine Khetaguri, students of the Faculty of Business Engineering of the Georgian Technical University. The project management team congratulates the authors of the idea on the victory.The winners will be awarded with cash prize of 500 £ and continue their path in “Big Idea Challenge 2020” competition in Georgia.

The jury also identified the top 10 ideas from a total of 18 teams based on the relevant criteria. These ideas and their authors will continue their participation in the competition throughout Georgia.
– top 10 ideas in GTU:

1. Smart Air Monitoring Display System;
2. “Miniatures”;
3. Smart Lamps;
4. Little Grower;
5. Multifunctional ”Delta pen”;
6. Contacting Agro Camp;
7. SmartWear;
8. Greenline;
9. „Tablet soap“;
10. Ecar support.

The competition was being held as part of the British Council’s ”Creative Spark” programme within the partnership of Georgian Technical University and Keele University​.

There will be three competition categories:

1. Digital Technology;
2. Social Impact;
3. Creative;

The winners for each category will be announced first by GTU, then by country, and then by project as a whole.

• One of the best teams at the Georgian Technical University will receive a cash prize of £ 500 (pounds sterling equivalent to lari GEL);
• The winner in the country (Georgia) will receive 2000 £ (pounds sterling);
• People’s favorites will receive £ 2000 (pounds sterling).

Finally, one winner team across Georgia, will travel to London (UK) for a study visit to London Metropolitan University, provided by the project’s internationalsteering group.

Applications will be accepted until April 3, 2020.

The program is fully funded by British Council.

For further information, please contact “GTU Innovations Center”; GTU Administrative Building, 1st Floor, Room N144.

E-mail:  innovations@gtu.ge

Call us : 2 36 51 29.

FB: https://www.facebook.com/InnovationsGTU

1. Key Dates – enter in your diaries February to April 2020 Ideation Workshops, Pitching Bootcamps & Local mini competitions to select 10 applications 2 March 2020 Creative Spark Big Idea Challenge – open for applications 18 May 2020 Creative Spark Big Idea Challenge – close for applications 20 May to 25 May 2020 Country finalists selection 1 June to 15 June 2020 Country People’s Choice public vote 8 June to 15 June 2020 Country Category Winners, County Champions and International People’s Choice Winner Selection 17 June to 25 June 2020 National events for all Country Winners 31 August to 6 September 2020 London trip, Start-up Sprint programme and International Category Winners and Grand Champion selection September 2020 to May 2021 Ongoing support for winning teams

2. Competition Phases

a) February – April 2020: Local Mini Competitions Between February and April 2020 each participant institution should select its 10 best applications. These applications will be put forward to the Creative Spark Big Idea Challenge.
Each partner can pick their preferred selection method to identify their 10 best applications. Running ideation workshops, pitching bootcamps and local mini competitions throughout this period is a recommended approach in order to demonstrate fairness and transparency in the selection. To help current and new partners taking part in the challenge, a guide describing how to run a local mini competition will be shared in the upcoming weeks.

b) 2 March 2020: Creative Spark Big Idea Challenge Starts Applicants will be expected to provide a 60 second video pitch of their business idea where they demonstrate their commitment to the idea, its feasibility, impact and quality. A brief supporting written application will also be required. In addition, each team member must complete a consent form in order to take part in the competition.
There will be three competition categories: Digital Technology, Social Impact and Creative. Each team will need to decide which category they would like to enter depending on the nature of their idea (each idea can enter one category only).

o Digital Technology includes ideas involving the development and application of new software or hardware. o Social Impact is for ideas that tackle social inclusion and gender equality or target under-represented communities and the world beyond. This could be an environmental or social idea that helps those most in need. o Creative is for ideas for a new product, an exhibition or a way to make the cultural environment more vibrant. Ideas that help creative people reach new audiences will also be considered in this category.

c) 18 May 2020: Creative Spark Big Idea Challenge Closes By this date, all institutions must have submitted their 10 best applications through the Creative Spark Big Idea Challenge website; they should also have ensured that all team members involved have completed their consent form (will also be available on the website in due course).

d) 20 – 25 May 2020: Country Finalists Selection In each country, a local judging panel will select nine finalists for their country (three applications in each category from seven countries in total).

e) 1 – 15 June 2020: Public Vote for Country People’s Choice The nine finalists for each country (63 teams in total) will enter a People’s Choice public vote on the Creative Spark Big Idea Challenge Website and participants will be expected to promote their own teams. Public relations linked to the People’s Choice public vote will also be supported by partners and British Council country offices. Following the vote, each country will identify the most popular video as their Country People’s Choice winner.

f) 17 – 25 June 2020: Country Judging Events and Awards UK partners will support and guide their local partners in organizing either a virtual or ‘faceto-face’ award ceremony that will take place in each country between 17 and 25 June 2020. This will involve the announcement of three Country Category Winners and, from these, one Country Champion; the winners will be chosen by an international panel of judges.
The Country People’s Choice public vote winner will also be announced in this period.

The international panel of judges will also select an international People’s Choice Winner amongst the seven Country People’s Choice Winners. This choice will be made by selecting the application that best matches the competition’s criteria and the winning team will not necessarily be the one with the most votes overall, as countries with a larger number of partners might have an advantage.

g) 31 August – 6 September 2020: London Start-up Sprint Trip Representatives of the seven Country Champions and one International People’s Choice Winner will travel to London to participate in a ‘Start-up Sprint’ programme in early September 2020, and a prize package of support and grant funding will be offered to these eight teams.
At the end of the ‘Start-up Sprint’, an International Category Winner for each category and the competition’s Grand Champion will be announced and awarded their prizes.

3. Toolkit A toolkit to support partnerships, British Council local offices and participants will be provided in the Creative Spark Library and will include: ○ Marketing toolkit to promote the opportunity including a proposed marketing schedule ○ Social Media toolkit for participants to promote their idea for the People’s Choice public vote ○ User guide for developing pitch videos ○ Diversity toolkit to help competition partners work with local, regional and national employers – as well as investors to capacity build towards a more diverse workforce; this will also include guidance on attracting a wide cross section of society and representative split of men and women into the competition ○ An entrepreneurship and innovation specialist English language glossary ○ A toolkit on how to run an awards event successfully ○ Guidance on running ideation workshops. video pitching bootcamps and local mini competitions ○ Pre-recorded visual instructions on how institutions need to apply on behalf of their 10 selected business ideas and how applicants must fill out their consent form

4. Participant Eligibility

● Individuals or teams must comprise no more than three people; applications in teams is strongly recommended.

● English of a standard suitable for participation in English medium education programmes and presentations is required from all members of teams entering the competition.

● The participants must be at least 18 and no older than 35 years of age by 2 March 2020.

● The participants must be citizens and of either Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

● Competition entrants must be members of Creative Spark partner institutions and be put forward for entry by their institutions.

● Participants will usually need to have taken part in activities offered as part of the Creative Spark programme.

● Participants will be either students, graduates or young entrepreneurs.

●Partner institutions are responsible for ensuring that participants they nominate meet the criteria outlined above and the partner institutions are compliant with procedures, such as consent and data protection.