Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Business & Economy
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Business & Economy

Blackstone LaunchPad Hosts Syracuse Qualifier for Hult Prize Competition

Thursday, November 30, 2017, By Pamela Whiteley McLaughlin
Share
Blackstone LaunchPadentrepreneurshipStudents

The Blackstone LaunchPad at Bird Library will host a Dec. 11 campus qualifier for the Hult Prize, the world’s largest student competition for the creation of new social businesses. Known as “The Nobel Prize for student startups,” the Hult Prize awards $1,000,000 in start-up funding to the team of students that develops the most innovative idea to solve one of the world’s toughest challenges.

Hult logoIn partnership with the United Nations, the Hult Prize hosts campus events around the world in search of the next game-changing start-up. The Hult Prize focuses on one grand challenge, inviting applicants to respond to that theme. This year’s challenge is “Harnessing the Power of Energy.”

The registration deadline for the qualifier, open to Syracuse University and SUNY ESF students, is Dec. 4. The winner of the campus competition will advance to compete in one of 15 regional finals in March 2018. One winning team from each host city will then move into an eight-week summer residency at the Hult Castle accelerator in the United Kingdom, where participants will receive mentorship, advisory and strategic planning as they create prototypes and set up to launch their new social business. A final round of competition will be hosted in September 2018 at the United Nations, where the winning team will be awarded the $1,000,000 prize.

Read more about the Syracuse competition and apply on-line here by Dec. 4.

Applicant teams will pitch their ideas on Monday, Dec. 11, from 2-4:30 p.m. in Bird Library. They will be judged by a panel of distinguished civic entrepreneurs on their innovative approach to building a scalable, sustainable social enterprise that harnesses the power of energy to transform the lives of 10 million people by 2025. This year’s challenge includes six core areas ripe for transformation through energy-powered innovation, including:

  • connectivity;
  • mobility;
  • farming, food and agriculture;
  • water collection, storage and transport;
  • health and the human experience; and
  • education.

“Energy is the lifeline of humanity. When you harness the power of energy creatively, you can change the world,” notes the Hult Prize committee. “The world has enough latent capacity for energy-powered innovation to shift the trajectory of global development. This year’s six dimensions of energy affect all of humanity.”

“Solving the world’s most pressing challenges is not just the right thing to do, it is also good business,” says Ahmad Ashkar, CEO of Hult Prize, who conceived of the competition in 2009 as an enterprising MBA student at the Hult International Business School.  Ashkar’s idea—to leverage the crowd to generate startup ideas from young people that will sustainably solve the world’s most critical social challenges—has grown the Hult Prize into the world’s biggest engine for the launch of for-good, for-profit student startups.

Funded by Bertil Hult, a Swedish billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist, the Hult family donates $1,000,000 in seed capital to help the winning team launch its social enterprise. The Hult Prize Foundation has been featured in a TIME Magazine cover story highlighting the “Top 5 Ideas Changing the World.”

This year’s challenge, coordinated by Kennedy Patlan, Blackstone LaunchPad Engagement Scholar, is described in greater detail here. Applicants are strongly advised to download and read the complete challenge package to understand the parameters of the competition.

To sign up for more information about the Hult campus competition and other upcoming opportunities, please e-mail LaunchPad@syr.edu. To learn more about the Hult Foundation and the Hult Prize Competition, visit www.hultprize.org.

  • Author

Pamela Whiteley McLaughlin

  • Recent
  • Alumni Draw on Their Military Experience in Their Roles as Teachers
    Thursday, May 26, 2022, By Martin Walls
  • Bringing ‘CSI’ Into the Classroom
    Thursday, May 26, 2022, By Dan Bernardi
  • Eugene ‘Gene’ Anderson to Depart Syracuse, Tapped to Lead University of Pittsburgh’s Business School
    Thursday, May 26, 2022, By News Staff
  • Newhouse Creative Advertising Students Win 195 Awards in 1 Year, Setting a New School Record
    Thursday, May 26, 2022, By News Staff
  • “Syracuse University to rename the Carrier Dome – what name would fans choose?”
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Lily Datz

More In Business & Economy

Rabia Razzaq G’23 Wins 2022 Intelligence++ Inclusive Design Competition

Rabia Razzaq G’23, a multidisciplinary designer and graduate student in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, won the 2022 Intelligence++ Showcase Competition, held in the Whitman School of Management on April 26. The interdisciplinary competition—which encourages design and business…

Whitman School Receives STEM-Designation for Master’s in Professional Accounting Program

The Martin J. Whitman School of Management’s master’s in professional accounting program has received STEM-designation. The class of 2022 will be the first to graduate with this new STEM certification. “We have made notable innovations to our master’s in professional…

Whitman’s Full-Time MBA Program Achieves Highest U.S. News Ranking Since 1998

The Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University is now ranked No. 57 in the nation for its full-time MBA program by U.S. News & World Report. This is the highest ranking for the Whitman School since 1998…

Stocks and Finance Immersion Offers A&S | Maxwell Students a Window Into Finance

When Jehan Muhialdain ’22 moved to the United States from Iraq five years ago, one of the major differences she noticed in her new country was the focus put on financial literacy and wealth management. She says living in Iraq,…

Applications Open for RvD iPrize and Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Competitions

The School of Information Studies (iSchool) with support from the Blackstone LaunchPad at Syracuse University Libraries (LaunchPad) are now accepting applications through March 15 for the Raymond von Dran (RvD) iPrize pitch competition and the Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2022 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.