The University of San Diego will hold the final event Saturday in its Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge, offering university student teams the chance to receive up to $50,000 in seed funding for their business proposals.
The competition, named for USD Board Chair Ron Fowler and his wife Alexis, encourages students to use entrepreneurship to solve modern social, cultural and environmental issues. This year’s competition includes proposals such as plant-made bioplastics, online education for refugees and methods of reducing traffic fatalities and oceanic trash.
Two teams from USD are competing in the final event after beating 10 other teams of students last month. Teams from UC San Diego, San Diego State University and the NewSchool of Architecture and Design will also compete in the event. All told, the competing student teams represent more than 25 universities in 12 countries on six continents.
The student teams will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges that will include executives from organizations such as the San Diego Blood Bank, ManPower SD, Kitchens for Good and Mission Driven Finance. The judges will then choose winning teams and decide how much funding they will receive.
The competition will be held at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, located at 5998 Alcala Park. The event is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
–City News Service