Enterprise + Social Impact: Midwest Social Innovation Start-Up Challenge

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!! Rewarded $25,000 to fund their impact ideas to change the world.

Highlights from Aug. 15^th presentations, judging, and awards.

Press Release capturing the event from the Journal Sentinel Online.

Click here for photos of the Aug. 15th event.

1st place: Jail Education Solutions is developing video production and a lead generation system for those in jail to give them the best opportunity to make a successful transition back to the community and therefore reduce recidivism. It was formed by Brian Hill, a law and MBA student at Northwestern University. First place and audience "boost" winner received $15,000 total.

2nd place: Project SAM is developing an inventory tracking system for rural health clinics based on text messaging. It was started by Victor Kung, Daniel Yu, and Team, graduate students at the University of Chicago, and received $7,000.

3rd place: Million Dollar Scholar is an online platform that offers services to help high school and college students succeed in the scholarship application process. It was founded by Derrius Quarles, a Morehouse College graduate. The company received $3,000.

Midwest Social Innovation Start-Up Challenge is an opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to submit a business model that includes a social or environmental impact that makes the world a better place! The challenge is open to any ambitious team or individual who has an idea to create positive social change.

And we promise not to forget about the fun! The challenge provides excellent networking and learning opportunities as the Round 2, June 6th events convened at ManpowerGroup world headquarters with business executives, funders, mentors, local entrepreneurs, and prominent national figures in social innovation. The Round 3, August 15th event again brought together select individuals interested in social innovation, convening at Marquette University.

The Midwest Social Innovation Start-Up Challenge is presented by the Marquette Social Innovation Initiative in collaboration with the Brady Corporation, The Business Journal, Cardinal Stritch University, Dell Inc., Greater Milwaukee Committee (MiKE), Johnson Controls, MIAD, MSOE, and the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and parallels the national platform founded by Dell Inc. and the University of Texas – Austin.

Timeline and details

May 20, 2013 (noon) Plan Submission Deadline: Submissions are now closed.

ROUND 1
May 24, 2013 Selection Announced: Up to 20 teams/individuals selected to present at Flying Car Innovation Week, June 6th, ManpowerGroup world headquarters, Milwaukee.

ROUND 2
June 6, 2013 Semi-finals pitches and judging: 12 teams/individuals participated in an afternoon in Milwaukee, WI as part of Flying Car week.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SEMI-FINALISTS!!!!: 5 teams were chosen to share $15,000 in cash, present their start-up idea at the evening reception, participate in summer workshops and mentoring, receive complimentary tickets to the Flying Car Gala, and advance to the Brady Midwest Regional Championship in August.

The Semi-Finalists:

Countries without Cavities – Ryan Twaddle – Marquette University
- Click here to see part of Ryan's presentation
Culture – Jared Clemens and Yan Wang - University of Chicago

Click here to see part of Jared and Yan's presentation

Drop Top – Mike Mcfadden – Lake Villa School District #41
- Click here to see part of Mike's presentation
Interactive Mobile Activity Station – Paul German – AV Milwaukee
- Click here to see part of Paul's presnetation
Project SAM – Victor Hung, Daniel Yu, Dhoorti Vyas, and Hope Bretscher -University of Chicago
- Click here to see part of Daniel and Victor's presentation

Press coverage of the event:

The Business Journal article

JSOnline article

Click for a slideshow of the presenters and viewers throughout the day

Click for a slideshow of The Wherehouse social event following the challenge

June – August: Bi-weekly mentoring and networking for the 5 semi-finalists with Translator and experienced Brady Corporation coaches.

ROUND 3

July 29, 2013 (noon) Plan Submission Deadline. : Submissions are now closed.

Aug 1, 2013 Selection Announced: 5 additional teams/individuals selected to present at the Brady Corporation Midwest Regional Championship.

Aug 6, 2013: 8 -10am Pitch Practice and Training at Translator.

August 15, 2013 Brady Corporation Midwest Regional Championship: The 5 Semi-Finalists and up to 5 additional teams presented their revised and improved business plans.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!!!! Three teams shared $25,000 cash to fund their ideas and change the world.

First Place - $14,000 prize: Jail Education Solutions

Learn more

Second Place - $7,000 prize: Project SAM

Learn more

Third Place - $3,000 prize: Million Dollar Scholar

Learn more

Audience Choice - $1,000: Jail Education Solutions

Meet the judges

Questions? Elise.chapman@marquette.edu

About flying car

The Midwest Social Innovation Start-Up Challenge is one of many Flying Car Innovation Week events in Milwaukee, June 1 -10, 2013.

Flying Car is an annual SXSW-style destination event celebrating the year’s greatest breakthroughs in technology and innovation. Part TED-style summit, part World’s Fair exhibition, part citywide party, this ten-day extravaganza brings together incredible minds and their inventions — with special events highlighting Cream City as an emerging hub of progress.

Why Flying Car?
The notion of the “flying car” has been long been held up as the epitome of the future. When cars can fly, or so the tongue-in-cheek saying goes, mankind will finally have “arrived.” In the spirit of this future-focus, the Flying Car event presents the best in new technology that seems so much like fiction, but is actually now fact.

Presented by

In partnership with:

Cardinal Stritch Logo

Dare to innovate: the conference for social entrepreneurship

It is refreshing and inspiring to see social innovation and impact entrepreneurs taking root to make a difference in Milwaukee, the Midwest, the greater USA and across the globe. For example, a social innovation movement gaining momentum simultaneously on the Western coast of Africa in Guinea:

Snuggled in next to the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone and Senegal, Guinea is a country blessed with a wealth of natural resources, minerals and an even richer, bloodied history. After decades of colonialism, 25 years under a communist dictator and 25 more under a military dictator, Guinea is now finalizing its transition into Democracy since 2010, but ranks 178 out of 186 countries on the Global Human Development Index. Its economy is just as underdeveloped, lacking a population with basic business skills and financial knowledge of any kind for development from the inside-out. Moreover, youth, who make up more than half of Guinea's population, have an unemployment rate of 70%.

In this context, Peace Corps Community Economic Development Volunteers have set out to motivate the country’s next generation of entrepreneurs with Dare to Innovate: The Conference for Social Entrepreneurship. Planned for this August, the mission of this conference is to create a community of socially minded individuals and entrepreneurs that fosters the exchange of ideas, knowledge and resources, catalyzing and promoting the social entrepreneurship movement in Guinea. It will challenge youth to become actors in their economy while combating social issues. Through partnerships with thought-leaders in the field of social entrepreneurship, the conference will be an opportunity for Guinean youth to access top-level training and to jump-start a social entrepreneurship sector in Guinea.

Our Midwest community can offer support, mentorship, and interaction through the website, blog, and social media with words of encouragement and ideas-sharing for the Guinean entrepreneurs. Think globally with your ideas, think collaboration across countries and across oceans: the potential markets and economies for creating social impact are endless.

Follow: @daretoinnovate.