Seven campus teams will vie on November 30 for the Syracuse University Hult Prize to tackle a huge societal problem in the world’s most prestigious social entrepreneurship competition. The event, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.will be in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons, Bird Library, and is open to the community. It is coordinated by the Blackstone LaunchPad.
The winner of the campus event will automatically advance to compete in one of fifteen regional finals happening in major cities around the world in March 2019. One winning team from each host city will then move onto a summer business accelerator program at Hult Castle in the United Kingdom, where participants will receive mentorship as they create prototypes and develop their ventures. The final round of the Hult Prize will be hosted at the United Nations in September 2019, with a $1 million grand prize awarded to the winning team.
For the past two years, two Syracuse University teams have advanced to the global regionals in Boston, Toronto and San Francisco.
Each year the Hult Prize announces a grand challenge for the competition. This year’s theme is youth unemployment, and for the City of Syracuse is partnering with the Blackstone LaunchPad on this year’s Hult Prize campus competition. Mayor Ben Walsh, a Syracuse University alum, has prioritized youth unemployment, which perfectly aligns with this year’s challenge. City officials worked with the Syracuse University Hult Prize steering committee and will be sitting in on the final pitches on November 30th to see which ideas could be a good fit in Syracuse. The city is interested in potentially working with the winning team to implement a pilot program here in Syracuse.
Judges for this year’s competition are: Adria Finch, Director of Innovation, City of Syracuse; Maria Lewis, Constituent Services Advocate, City of Syracuse; Amy Fazackerley, Co-Founder/CEO Lay-n-Go; Adam Fazackerley, Co-Founder/COO Lay-n-Go; Derek Wallace, Co-Founder/Leader of Partnership Development and Co-Founder/CEO of Kalamatas Kitchen; and Hasan Stephens, Founder/ CEO of Good Life Foundation. Amy, Adam and Derek are SU alumni.
Blackstone LaunchPad Global Fellow Audrey Miller is leading the Syracuse University Hult Prize competition, working with Emma Rothman, Blackstone LaunchPad Engagement scholar.
Learn more at: http://hultprizeat.com/syracuse
Photos above: Hult Prize workshop with the City of Syracuse
Photo above: Emma Rothman (left) and Audrey Miller (right)