What innovation would you develop to solve a global grand challenge using exponential technology that would impact the lives of a billion people in the next 10 years?
2019 Winner
Jakub Swierk
Project: eDrop
In a world of limited water resources, eDrop is providing the smart tool to help people become smarter water users, saving their home budget and what’s more important our global resource!
“We applied to the GIC because we believed our project fits perfectly the mission of the program focusing on impacting the lives of people not only in Poland but globally. Aiming at water scarcity as a global challenge requires a solid and experienced partner with a worldwide network and that is why we chose SU.”
Overview
Global Impact Challenges (GICs) are incentive competitions organized by partners in countries around the world to identify innovative startups & solutions using exponential technology to solve the world’s pressing challenges.
The purpose of the SingularityU Poland Global Impact Challenge is to foster innovations and startups that positively impact the lives of people living in Poland and the Central and Eastern Europe region with an ability to scale and impact a billion people worldwide in 10 years.
The challenge is open to citizens and residents in the Central and Eastern Europe region: Poland, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Austria, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria.
What innovation would you develop to solve a global grand challenge (environment, energy, water, food, health, disaster resilience, governance, learning, space, security, prosperity, and shelter) using exponential technology that would impact the lives of a billion people in the next 10 years?
Why host a GIC in Poland?
Poland and the greater Central and Eastern Europe region is one of the most innovative, up-and-coming startup hubs in the world. Central and Eastern Europe demonstrates strong potential to scale and promote innovation value in the European market. For the second year in a row, we are launching the SingularityU Poland Global Impact Challenge to mobilize CEE-based startups that leverage exponential technology to positively impact humanity.
With enormous talent, digital capital, innovative solutions, and entrepreneurial frameworks, Poland and the CEE region are considered by the World Bank as the third best place to launch and develop a startup in the world. The region’s successes on the world stage hope to inspire hundreds of Polish and CEE entrepreneurs to think and scale their startups globally for the greater good.
Apply to this challenge by submitting your innovative idea to improve the standard of living of 100 million+ CEE citizens over the next 3-5 years using exponential technology.
The prize
The winner of the SingularityU Poland Global Impact Challenge will win a seat to attend SU’s Global Startup Program free of charge.
The GSP helps future-focused entrepreneurs transform radical ideas into tangible impact on a global scale. It’s a structured, immersive program offering startup-focused educational resources and world-class mentorship from SU’s faculty, staff, and industry experts—in a safe, nurturing environment. The program aims to scale startups into global businesses.
The GSP brings together entrepreneurs from around the world for structured, immersive workshops and intensive fieldwork in multiple locations around the globe, as well as continued access to support and resources via a best-in-class connectivity platform.
The GSP will start by helping to cultivate a new mindset and toolset to overcome the challenges of technological disruption. Next, the program will work with you to accelerate your time to product-market fit, transform your startup from an idea to a venture that can help a billion people (“billion-scale”), and connect you with a global community to catalyze results. In short, GSP is designed to help you create a 10x startup at a global level.
Additionally, as part of InCredibles program created by Sebastian Kulczyk, the winner of the SingularityU Poland Global Impact Challenge 2019 will be able to participate in the following events:
- A two-day trip to Google for Startups in London for sessions with mentors and investors (October 29 – 30,)
- Participation in the European Conference “Slush” for Startups in Helsinki (November 21 – 22)
- Participation in the Masters and Robots Conference, Warsaw, combined with access to the mentoring session with three foreign experts (October 8 – 9)
The 12-Month GSP Journey
3 Weeks of Activate (in person)
- Expand into ideation at the billion scale
- Dive deep into bleeding-edge exponential technologies
- Discover the GGCs, concepts like abundance and 6Ds, and more, while pushing your mind to solve the greatest issues facing our planet
- Substantially evolve your communication and storytelling skills
3 Weeks of Accelerate (in person)
- Create a clearly differentiated value proposition
- Take your vision to prototype through customer validation
- Build a valid business plan and product roadmap
- Turn your solution from moonshot idea to minimum viable product (MVP)
- Develop your go-to-market planning, supported by mentorship and networking
1 Year of Connect (virtually)
- Leverage SU digital courses, webinars, virtual meetups, and more
- Work with best-in-class faculty, staff, and mentors
- Connect with SU’s international Chapters and community
- Join global meetups
Find more information on the Global Startup Program here.
Dates and timeline
Applications Open: July 4, 2019
Applications Close: September 20, 2019
Live Pitch Event & Winners Announced: October 7, 2019
Organized by:
Sponsored by:
Hosted at:
Honorary patrons:
Partners:
Media partners:
Rules & Criteria
Applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- The challenge is open to residents and citizens in Poland and the CEE region
- Poland, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Austria, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria.
- You must be age 21 or older on the first day of the GSP
- You must be fluent in written and spoken English
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Your venture is a fully formed entity in seed, idea-stage or scale-up stage and has at least 1-2 full-time co-founders.
- You must be able to participate in the entire Global Startup Program prize
- Applicants selected as finalists will be interviewed by a panel of judges on October 7, 2019.
We will be really thrilled to find:
- SU mission alignment: You have a startup in one of the global grand challenge (GGC) spaces.
- Team: Your startup has at least two full-time co-founders.
- Experience: You have expertise in an exponential technology and/or a key GGC space.
- Time: Your venture is a fully formed entity, and is in the seed-stage or idea-stage.
- Traction: You have demonstrated market traction (LOIs, purchase orders, validated trials, sales, etc.).
- Eagerness to learn: You’re looking for a substantial shift in mindset and skill set, and are eager to globalize your startup and 10x your impact.
- Availability: You’re available to the GSP Activate (three weeks) phase starting in Q1 of 2020, and the SU campus in Mountain View for the Accelerate (three weeks) phase.
The GSP is for startups aligned with global grand challenges (GGCs) that want to 10x their current startup and scale it globally. We’re looking for startups that have experience with exponential technology, some level of demonstrated market traction, and an eagerness to radically level-up their business. Cohorts include founders from different countries, backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, and cultures, and you’ll find gender diversity in cohorts.
We will evaluate submissions using the following criteria:
- Degree of the solution’s relevance to the theme of the challenge
- The regional relevance in solving the challenge in Poland and the CEE region
- Project or Idea leverages exponential technology to solve the problem
- Feasibility, viability, and coherence of implementing the idea
- Entrepreneurial and innovative potential, with a focus on technological novelty
- Impact & compelling need and potential to scale globally
- Committed existing team
- CV or resume
- Summary of accomplishments
- An abstract of the project idea
- Video (provide url) of the project idea
- Applications Open: July 4, 2019
- Applications Close: September 20, 2019
- Live Pitch Event & Winners Announced: October 7, 2019
GIC Organizing Team
Jowita Michalska
CEO, Digital University
SingularityU Warsaw Chapter Ambassador
SingularityU Poland Global Impact Challenge 2019
Paulina Gawryszewska
Head of Executive Learning, Digital University
SingularityU Warsaw Chapter Leadership Team
SingularityU Poland Global Impact Challenge 2019
Magdalena Marchwicka
Head of Programmes & Speaker Relations, Digital University
SingularityU Warsaw Chapter Leadership Team
SingularityU Poland Global Impact Challenge 2019
Sabina W. Siwy
Head of Marketing, Digital University
SingularityU Warsaw Chapter Leadership Team
SingularityU Poland Global Impact Challenge 2019
Frequently Asked Questions
Global Impact Challenges (GICs) are incentive competitions organized by partners in countries around the world to identify innovative startups & solutions using exponential technology to solve the world’s pressing challenges. The winner of this challenge receives a full sponsorship to attend Singularity University’s 2019 Global Startup Program (GSP).
The GSP is for startups aligned with global grand challenges (GGCs) that want to 10x their current startup and scale it globally. We’re looking for startups that have experience with exponential technology, some level of demonstrated market traction, and an eagerness to radically level-up their business.
Intellectual property resulting from a GIC belongs to the applicant(s).
The selection process is two to three phases depending on the competition. The first phase involves a review of all applications to determine 5-10 finalists, and the second phase involves final judging to select the winner at a pitch event.
Yes, there is an expectation for winners to continue working on their winning projects.
The winner is responsible for their own travel expenses to/from SU.
In all cases where a GIC winner cannot attend GSP, the winner forfeits his or her GSP seat to the first runner-up and would then need to reapply for admission in a future year.
For more information, see the Global Solutions Program.
Still have questions?
Get in touch with the SingularityU Poland GIC organizers by emailing them at poland@gic.su.org, or contact the Global Impact Challenge team at SU at gic@su.org.