Singularity University Launches The SU Global Water Impact Challenge

published
July 30, 2015

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (July 30, 2015) — Singularity University, a Silicon Valley Benefit Corporation that creates impact through educational programs, innovative initiatives and its global community, has teamed with California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom to call on entrepreneurs around the world to submit exponential technology solutions to address California’s water supply challenge.Three winning teams will be selected to be Entrepreneurs in Residence at SU Startup Lab, and will interact with Singularity University’s startup community, corporate partners and other humanitarian-focused partnerships to springboard solutions for global impact and sustainability. Three runners-up will have the opportunity to pitch their solutions at SU Startup Lab to the SU Community, providing access to a valuable network of technological expertise and potential financial support.“We can think of no greater effort than asking our global community to address the challenge of increasing the availability of water supplies in California,” said Rob Nail, SU CEO and Associate Founder. “We are particularly pleased to be working with Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and his team, who can provide the pipeline of leadership to insure that the winning solutions have a direct line to decision-makers and the infrastructure of California to get them quickly into practice.”“California produces almost half of all the fruits, nuts and vegetables grown in the United States therefore the impact of our solutions are both local, national, and global,” said Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, author of the 2013 book Citizenville, which calls on government to collaborate with private citizens in order to reap the most innovate solutions. “In the spirit of the Orteig Prize of 1919, my goal in working with Singularity University is to activate the incredible talent and ingenuity of Californians and the SU global community to solve twenty-first century challenges with twenty-first century solutions.”“The SU Global Water Challenge will be particularly impactful, as it takes just a single drop of water to start a wave,” remarked Gemma Bulos, Executive Director of the Global Women’s Water Initiative. “One person with one idea when united with others with the same passion can start the ripple and it can gain momentum to ensure the wave will change people’s lives around the world.”This Challenge is open to teams from around the world and will be judged on the use of exponential technology, technical feasibility and rigor, innovation, market viability, scalability and design and utility functionality. Preference will be given to applicants that demonstrate their proof of concept in the form of a working prototype to validate their solutions.Proposals must be submitted by September 15, 2015, and the winning teams will be announced by September 30.For more information on submitting a proposal and other details, refer to the SU Global Impact challenge website: https://su.org/gic/or contact impact@singularityu.org.ABOUT SINGULARITY UNIVERSITYSingularity University’s (SU) mission is to educate, inspire and empower leaders to apply exponential technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges. Since 2009, SU has hosted students and industry leaders from more than 90 countries and has prepared both individuals and organizations for exponential technology changes through a series of events, conferences and education programs and SU Labs. SU’s Founding Corporate Partners include Genentech, Autodesk, Cisco, ePlanet Ventures, Google, Kauffman Foundation and Nokia.To learn more, visit www.SingularityU.org and follow us on Twitter @SingularityU.Media Contact: Diane Murphy (diane@singularityu.org); 310.658.8756