Here at Her Campus, we love entrepreneurship and innovation, so I’m pumped to be here in Austin to cover the Dell Social Innovation Competition and awards ceremony. What is the Dell Social Innovation Competition, you ask?
Dell, in conjunction with the University of Texas at Austin, hosts a competition each year for student social entrepreneurs to gain access to mentors and invaluable tools, as well as the chance to win one of many monetary prizes. A social innovation according to the competition is “an idea that significantly improves results around existing social or environmental problems”. After multiple different rounds of judging, the five finalists were chosen and flown in this past weekend for workshops, to meet with mentors, and to do a final pitch of their business plan. I was lucky enough to watch the final pitches and presentations today, and let me tell you, collegiettes — I was blown away. Each company is aiming to improve an existing social problem, many of which I didn’t even know about, and it was incredibly inspiring to hear them present. You can read about them here or watch this clip about the challenge:Â
The interesting thing about this competition is that all of the contestants are still current students, but their experiences are all immensely unique and varied. One team is comprised of 5 current undergrads while another is a team of two highly experienced, well traveled women, both with or in the progress of getting an advanced degree. Despite their differences, all of their companies and ideas are incredibly innovative — whether it’s filtering out arsenic from water in Bangladesh that girls at a local school can then sell to their community in a sustainable microfinance company or creating a way to transport vaccines to those who need them most without the hindrance of refrigeration. The competition is open to students worldwide, so if you’re a collegiette with an idea that you want to make a reality, you should definitely check out the competition here. Â
The awards ceremony is tomorrow night in one of the coolest places in Austin – the Austin City Limits Live venue. I am SO excited to attend – mostly to see who wins, but also because there will be an appearance from apl.de.app of the Black Eyed Peas (obvi I will do my best to get a photo)! If you’re interested, you can watch the awards ceremony live here — it’ll almost be like you’re all there with me!Â