RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.– The $10,000 CO-OP THINK Prize has been expanded for 2015 and is now open to anyone, including CU employees, members and the public at large.
CO-OP THINK Prize 15: The Challenge, co-sponsored by MasterCard, is open now. The $10,000 prize will be given to individuals who offer the best ideas in response to an open challenge managed by OpenIDEO, a part of IDEO, a global design and innovation company.
OpenIDE) enables people everywhere to collaborate in developing innovative solutions to pressing social issues. OpenIDEO has hosted about 30 challenges, convening nearly 80,000 participants from more than 200 countries.
CO-OP said it’s “reimagined approach” in 2015 to the THINK Prize focuses on “inspiring fresh ideas on a key industry and societal issue by capitalizing on the trend of crowd-sourced design thinking.” The issue to be addressed is “How might we use the power of communities to financially empower those who need it most?”
“In its fifth year, we wanted to find a way to generate broader participation in the CO-OP THINK Prize and get a wider variety of people involved – especially the consumers we seek to serve,” said Stan Hollen, President/CEO of CO-OP. “We are also endeavoring to change the way people think about problem solving – to show how communities can be mobilized to collaboratively address important challenges.”
nearly 80,000 participants from more than 200 countries.
Participation is taking place at: https://openideo.com/challenge/financial-empowerment-challenge/brief.
The challenge is proceeding in four phases over the course of nearly three months, according to OpenIDEO’s crowd-sourcing format: Research, Ideas, Refinement and Top Ideas. Participants may enter into the process anytime, and new ideas can be submitted any time before the end of phase two, April 28.
Important dates to watch:
- Phase 1: Underway now and extending through March 31: Research phase enables anyone to share personal perspectives and examples on the challenge topic.
- Phase 2: April 1-28: The Ideas phase is open, enabling anyone to submit and comment on new ideas.
- Phase 3: May 5-June 2: A shortlist of participants enter the Refinement phase, with these finalists to be announced at the THINK 15 Conference, being held May 5-8 in Colorado Springs, Colo.
- Phase 4: June 9: Approximately five Top Ideas are announced, with the $10,000 CO-OP THINK Prize 15 to be shared among the individuals responsible for originating the solutions.
After June 9, CO-OP said the challenge will remain live for a Phase 5, “Impact,” enabling the community to continue collaborating and sharing progress.
More information about OpenIDEO’s challenge process can be found at https://openideo.com/content/how-it-works.
For info on The THINK 2015 meeting: http://co-opthink.org.