The Ocean Plastic Innovation Challenge to Win $100,000 from National Geographic 2019

National Geographic - Sky Ocean Ventures’ partnership opened the application to The Ocean Plastic Innovation Challenge to reduce plastic waste. The challenge asks problem solvers from around the globe to develop novel solutions to tackle the world’s plastic waste crisis.

About the competition:

More than 9 million tons of plastic waste ends up in our oceans each year, and without interventions, this number is expected to almost double to 17 million tons per year by 2025. The Ocean Plastic Innovation Challenge will focus on three strategic ways to address this growing crisis: designing alternatives to single-use plastic, identifying opportunities for industries to address plastic waste throughout supply chains, and effectively communicating the need for action through data visualization.

Teams will compete for aggregate prize purses of up to $500,000, and qualified participating teams may have the opportunity to receive a minimum of $1 million in aggregate investment from Sky Ocean Ventures.

Ocean Plastic Innovation Challenge Tracks:

The challenge is a one-year competition composed of three complementary tracks that will run simultaneously:

1. Design Track: The Design Track challenges teams to identify pragmatic, investable solutions to improve food and beverage packaging and containers.
2. Circular Economy Track: The Circular Economy Track challenges teams to develop scalable business models and technology solutions, applicable across industries, to reduce plastic packaging waste and encourage the reuse and repurposing of plastic alternatives instead of discarding them after one use.
3. Data Visualization Track: The Data Visualization Track challenges teams to represent a relevant, credible data set related to the global challenge of plastic waste as data visualization.

Eligibility criteria:

1. For all three (3) Tracks, an eligible entry must be a solution that is originally developed and implemented by the team. It can be based on an existing product or research, or it can be a novel project.
2. Eligible entry must not violate any applicable law or regulation or infringe any third-party rights, including any third-party intellectual property rights.
3. Eligible Entry(ies) must be submitted in English.
4. All team members must be eighteen (18) years of age or older, and may not be citizens of any restricted countries or areas (mainland China, the province of Quebec, or any OFAC-sanctioned countries: North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Syria, Sudan, the Crimea region controlled by Russia, and others as may be updated by the United States government.)
5. Employees of Sponsor, National Geographic Partners, LLC (“NGP”), SOV, any Judges, their corporate entities, each’s subsidiaries and affiliates, and each’s immediate family members (spouse, parent, child, sibling, and their respective spouses, regardless of where they live) or persons living in the same households of such employees, whether or not related, are ineligible.

Prizes:

A panel of expert judges will identify up to 10 finalists in each Track, who will each win $5,000. Finalists will then compete for the grand prize of $100,000 and up to two second-place prizes of $45,000 each.

See more available grants on For9a

See more available events and conferences on For9a