Silicon Valley seeking innovators from Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust COO Iván Ríos-Mena. (Credit: © Mauricio Pascual)
The Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust announced Thursday the upcoming Mar. 7 start of an open call-for-entries for innovators to take part in the local edition of the Singularity University Global Impact Competition.
This is an international event that seeks to identify the most innovative proposals for technological solutions aimed at improving the living standards of billions of people worldwide over the next five to 10 years.
Contest participants may be entrepreneurs, scientists, architects, students, any person residing in Puerto Rico with an innovative proposal to solve problems in areas considered to be of the utmost importance to the planet, such as: education, energy, the environment, food, health, prosperity, security, water, space, resilience in the face of natural disaster and governance.
The proposals should also take into consideration and respond to the priorities established in the research areas outlined in national transversal programs in the areas of science, technology, and technological innovation: biotechnology, environmental science and technology, materials science and technology, basic sciences (biology, physics, math and chemistry), information and communications technology, and the development of biodiversity, Science Trust officials said.
The winner of the Global Impact Competition in Puerto Rico will be invited to take part in the Global Solutions Program competition in Silicon Valley, all expenses paid for with funding from the Trust, including enrollment fee, travel, food and lodging, for a period of ten weeks.
The most innovative proposals will have the opportunity to be developed further as startups and accelerators in Singularity Labs so as to receive venture capital investment from the Silicon Valley community of investors.
“Innovators in Puerto Rico are developing ideas that can exponentially advance knowledge and the development of humanity, and many are doing so in total anonymity,” said Iván Ríos-Mena, COO of the Trust and organizer of the event in Puerto Rico.
“The Global Impact Competition is designed to identify these innovators and their projects and provide them with a powerful platform from which they may scale their projects to the rest of the world. It also seeks to inspire other entrepreneurs and motivate them to continue the arduous task of research, technological development and innovation,” he said.
Researchers interested in obtaining detailed information about this program and submitting their proposal, should do so directly via Singularity University’s digital platform, which will be available as of Monday, when the call officially opens.
The deadline to submit proposals is Mar. 28; the winner will be chosen by a panel of judges made up of renowned professionals from Singularity University and Puerto Rico, on April 27. The program runs from June 18 through August 24 in Silicon Valley.
