Its called Project 10 to the 100th. Google is putting a call out to the find a new innovation sourced from its users. Google is putting out a $10 million bounty for a winning idea in one of the following categories:
- Community: How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures?
- Opportunity: How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families?
- Energy: How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy?
- Environment: How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem?
- Health: How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives?
- Education: How can we help more people get more access to better education?
- Shelter: How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live?
- Everything else: Sometimes the best ideas don’t fit into any category at all.
Other than picking a category, the rules are very open. They seem to want an answer to five basic questions as well:
- Reach: How many people would this idea affect?
- Depth: How deeply are people impacted? How urgent is the need?
- Attainability: Can this idea be implemented within a year or two?
- Efficiency: How simple and cost-effective is your idea?
- Longevity: How long will the idea’s impact last?
Sometimes the Google thinktank runs empty of ideas. Asking the world for their ideas is a great idea. Google’s philosophy of “Don’t be evil” extends to wanting to help as many people as possible.
Hopefully Google will find an idea that can help the whole world. Whether social, technilogical, environmental, or educational, the impact of such a large project could see a ripple throughout the world for years to come.
