Three Syracuse University teams were selected to advance the global regionals of the prestigious Hult Prize. The teams were selected out of 200,000 applications from around the world to compete at the regionals which are being held this spring at 25 cities around the world. The three Syracuse University teams – CLLCTVE, Forum Foods and Strive — qualified for the Boston, San Francisco, and Toronto regional competitions.
Hult Prize is a global initiative to encourage students to create ideas to help solve global issues through social entrepreneurship. It is the world’s biggest engine for the launch of social impact startups emerging from universities around the world. Each year Hult Prize picks a major global problem and challenges students to build teams and offer innovative solutions. This year’s Hult challenge is youth unemployment. Students will pitch their solutions at the upcoming regionals for the opportunity to participate in an eight-week accelerator at Hult Castle in London, and compete for a $1 million grant prize next fall at the United Nations.
CLLCTVE, founded by Kelsey Davis (Newhouse) and Ryan Williams, placed first in the campus qualifier competition and will be competing in the Boston regional. Following their winning presentation, CLLCTVE Agency, Inc. was also invited by the Syracuse’s Mayor’s Office to jointly develop a pilot program to work on a youth leadership initiative with the City.
Forum Foods came in second place in the campus competition and will be heading to San Francisco. The team includes Morgan Eaton (Maxwell), Lainie Duckworth (Maxwell), Jaime Ciesinski (Whitman), Jack Ramza (Whitman and Newhouse).
Strive was selected for the Toronto competition after applying through an online application following the campus competition. The team includes Audrey Miller (Maxwell), David Fox (iSchool), Emma Rothman (Falk) and Nick Barba (Whitman). Miller and Rothman ran the Syracuse campus competition, and Miller is the official Syracuse University campus ambassador.
The Blackstone LaunchPad, part of SU Libraries, sponsors the Hult Syracuse University annual competition. This year’s Hult Prize Syracuse campus judges included: Adria Fitch, City of Syracuse Innovation Office; Liam Kirst, City of Syracuse Office of Neighborhood and Business Development; Mark Jackson, Syracuse University Office of Community Engagement; Derek Watson, founder of Kalamata’s Kitchen; and Amy and Adam Fazackerley, CEO and COO of Lay-n-Go, LLC. Past Syracuse University Hult campus winners included Thrive Projects, which went on to the regionals in Boston, Farm to Flame, which went on to the regionals in Boston, and Drop Top, which went on to the regionals in Toronto.
Funded by Bertil Hult, a Swedish billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist, the annual, year-long competition challenges college students around the world to solve a pressing social issue related to topics such as food security, water access, energy, and education. The Hult family donates $1,000,000 in seed capital to help the winning team launch its social enterprise. The Hult Prize Foundation has been featured in a TIME Magazine Cover Story highlighting the “Top 5 Ideas Changing the World.”