Dell Student Social Innovation Competition
The Dell Social Innovation Competition (DSIC) is a global competition that identifies and rewards talented university students who will address many of the world's most pressing problems with their innovative ideas. Inspiring a new wave of social entrepreneurs depends not only on world-class teaching and training but also on providing students with opportunities for strategic partnerships and start-up capital. For this reason, the DSIC offers mentoring and fellowship opportunities in addition to seed funding. The Dell Social Innovation Competition is a partnership between Dell and The University of Texas at Austin. More at www.dellsocialinnovationcompetition.com
NASSCOM Student Social Innovation Awards
NASSCOM Foundation pioneered the NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours in 2008, to recognise innovation in the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for social development. The Annual Honours aims to showcase projects that demonstrate best practices through exemplary use of ICT in areas of social transformation. It aims to identify projects where innovation could be in the form of a process or an application or product. The Foundation aims to understand systems based on transfer and sharing of knowledge across the public, private and nonprofit sectors. For any further information visit www.nasscomfoundation.org
TATA NEN First Dot
TATA First Dot, powered by NEN' is India's first national mentoring and recognition platform for student startups. A unique initiative that promotes, mentors and showcases India's most dynamic and youngest entrepreneurs, TATA First Dot is run by the collaborative efforts of Tata Group of companies and NEN Trust. www.tatafirstdot.com
Changemakers
Ashoka's Changemaker's Powering Economic Opportunity: Create a World that Works, an online competition to source the most innovative market-based solutions creating economic opportunity for disadvantaged populations. These innovations may include technology platforms that connect people with jobs, new marketplaces that increase employment and income, and training programs that allow people to better their skills and then match them to jobs etc. Five winners from this competition will receive US $50,000 in unrestricted funds, with potential for longer-tern funding and partnership with eBay Foundation. For more information, visit www.changemakers.com/economicopportunity.
Sankalp Forum
Sankalp Forum in an initiative by Intellecap, a social advisory firm that works in underserved markets. The annual Sankalp Summit brings together to discuss emerging trends, and to recognize the best social enterprise models through the Sankalp Awards. The Sankalp Forum is holistic ecosystem designed to catalyze impact investments into sustainable and scalable social enterprises globally. Our mission is to create an enabling platform that supports socially relevant small and medium enterprises. We provide year-round access to investment opportunities, capacity building, knowledge and crucial networks. www.sankalpforum.com
ISB Idiya
A national Social Venture Ideas Competition that aims to stimulate, enable and develop high-impact, self sustaining social businesses in India. iDiya is targeted exclusively at working professionals in India and focuses on business ideas that create measurable social impact. Industry experts, ISB faculty and entrepreneurs train iDiya winners for challenges they would face in bringing their ideas and ventures to realization. Teams are interfaced with potential investors and are matched with entrepreneurs and organizations that will mentor them post-boot camp. www.isb.edu/idiya
Ennovent- Innovations for Sustainability
Ennovent promotes for-profit innovations for sustainability at the base of the economic pyramid. We work with a global network of entrepreneurs, investors and experts to discover, finance and scale up the best innovations. Our focus sectors for sustainable impact are: energy, water, food, health and education. www.ennovent.com
XLRI Conference
Last week of January each year XLRI, Jamsedhpur sets the stage for a series of dialogues propagating social development. National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship is an annual feature at XLRI to provide a common platform for stakeholders from the social sector to share, learn and interact. The objective of such a conference is to serve two purposes - to showcase innovative social models and to provide a common platform for all stakeholders in the social sector to interact. www.xlri.ac.in
Villgro Innovations Foundation
Villgro is a not for profit company and incubator empowering rural development by actively identifying and incubating innovations that have the potential to cause social impact on rural markets. In its effort to impact rural life, Villgro actively promotes social entrepreneurship and works with different stakeholders to create and support an eco-system that empowers social entrepreneurship by means of seed funding, mentoring, networking and recognition. www.villgro.org
Samhita Social Ventures
Samhita Social Ventures is a philanthropic initiative of the Nadathur Trust. Though samhita.org is meant for all stakeholders in the social sector, our first phase of activity will focus on providing greater visibility, more resources and a support system for social organizations (with an initial focus on NGOs). More at www.samhita.org
