Deadline: 11 June 2017
The New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize is currently inviting designers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and academics to create a plastics system that works.
The New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize is led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and was launched in collaboration with HRH The Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit. The Prize is funded by Wendy Schmidt, Lead Philanthropic Partner of the New Plastics Economy Initiative.
Participants may apply for any of the following two challenges, namely:
- $1 million Circular Design Challenge
- $1 million Circular Materials Challenge
The Circular Design Challenge
The Circular Design Challenge, led by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation and hosted by OpenIDEO, is calling upon a global community to submit ideas, innovations, and new technologies with the potential to transform the plastics economy.
The Circular Design Challenge seeks to inspire creatives to design solutions for plastics packaging to stay in the economy, and out of the environment.
A solution could target one or several of these use cases, and could for example work by eliminating the need for small-format packaging that cannot be recycled, or where redesigned formats enable packaging that is economically viable for recycling and not prone to escape into the environment. Some possible conceptual angles could be:
- Delivery formats – for inspiration, consider for example the invention of the stay-on tab for aluminium cans in the 1970’s. Eliminating the sharp-edged and wasteful pull-off tab, this redesigned the total recyclability without fundamentally changing the drinking experience.
- Delivery and business models – for inspiration, consider for example how the Splosh! refill model changes all aspects of the supply chain.
Solutions
For this Challenge, the following solutions are not in scope:
- Strictly end-of-pipe solutions such as novel collection systems, unless they are an integral part of a redesigned format/delivery model/system
- Re-design of large packaging items or other packaging that is already widely recycled (even though in some regions still with low recycling rates, such as beverage bottles)
Evaluation Criteria
Submitted ideas to the Circular Design Challenge will be evaluated by an experienced Judging Panel according to the following criteria:
- Circular economy for plastics: Does the proposed solution enable the elimination of non-recyclable small-format plastics waste?
- Innovative: Is the idea new and unique?
- Human Centered: Is the idea poised to make life easier for users?
- Scalable: How well could the idea be accelerated and scaled up?
- Regionally relevant: Does the idea solve a real local problem on the ground?
Award Details
- Ideator’s Award
- Early-Stage Ideas – $10,000 (up to ten awards of $10,000 each)
- Future of Plastics Design Award (2 Levels)
- Mid-Stage Ideas – $100,000 (up to three awards of $100,000 each)
- Advanced Ideas – $200,000 (up to three awards of $200,000 each)
Eligibility Criteria
- The Competition is open to all individuals over the age of 18 and to all validly formed legal entities which are permitted to participate by their governing documents. Directors, trustees, employees and family members of the Sponsors, the Judges Panel, and any of their respective affiliates and subsidiaries are not eligible to enter this Competition. Responses from companies (small to large), students, academic researchers, other research institutes, consultants, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs or inventors are welcome.
- Participants are not required to pay a fee to participate in the Competition.
- Participants are solely responsible for all hardware, software, and internet service connections and any service fees associated with such access necessary to submit and file your submission as well as all costs incurred by you or on your behalf to participate in the Competition.
How to Apply
Interested participants must apply online via given website.
For more information, please visit Circular Design Challenge.
