Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile: UC will participate in an international contest to promote social entrepreneurship
Promoting entrepreneurship with social impact is the main objective of the HUC Social Ideas Challenge, a contest aimed at students from six of the 14 houses of study belonging to the Hemispheric University Consortium (HUC) , an alliance made up of the Catholic University and other higher education institutions. From the american continent.
In this first version of the contest, the schools that will participate apart from the UC are the University of Miami (United States) , the Austral University (Argentina) , the Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico) , the Andrés Bello University (Chile) and the University San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador) . The focus of the initiative will be on seeking answers to socio-environmental challenges in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, which were defined by the United Nations . Therefore, the ideas seek to improve the quality of life of people and also the environment that surrounds us.
“The HUC-Social Ideas Challenge is a collaborative effort between different universities to promote social entrepreneurship. We believe that this is a very powerful tool for transforming our societies, and if it is done collaboratively between different countries, even better”, explains the Professor Luis Cifuentes, Director of Social Responsibility of the UC Faculty of Engineering . He also adds that in the context of an increasingly complex world with many needs, the contest becomes an “excellent opportunity for our students to show their full potential by submitting proposals. A good idea can contribute to building a better world. “
“The HUC-Social Ideas Challenge is a collaborative effort between different universities to promote social entrepreneurship. We believe that this is a very powerful tool for transforming our societies, and if it is done collaboratively between different countries, even better” – Luis Cifuentes , UC School of Engineering
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The contest will consist of different stages. The first one is the launch of the competition in which the registration process will begin. This opening event will take place on Wednesday, September 22 at 6:00 p.m. (Chilean time) and will be transmitted via streaming ( register here ). During the activity, which will be in English, the purposes and characteristics of the contest will be presented. Outstanding exponents of the world of entrepreneurship will participate in this launch, among which are Karim Pichara, co-founder of the Chilean company NotCo , Ricky Cassini, co-founder of Michroma, a biotechnology firm, the president of the eMerge Americas platform , Melissa Medina, and the CEO from eMerge Americas, Felice Gorordo.
These experts in social entrepreneurship will share their experiences in this field, highlighting the importance of this type of innovation and its impact on society.
After the registration process, various workshops will be held and each university must pre-select the teams that will participate in the local final, and then choose the winner and representative of the institution in the final. Finally, the closing of the contest will take place in a face-to-face meeting hosted by the University of Miami, in which the finalist teams will compete.
According to what the organizers of the event report, “social entrepreneurship represents an invaluable tool when it comes to solving the main problems of our society and the world. Therefore, we consider that the first step is to propose ideas. Although these might not initially translate into projects or social ventures, learning to propose solutions can be essential to help change lives ”.
Those who want to participate in the event must have between two to four members in their teams. These members must be undergraduate or graduate students from the universities participating in the contest. Each group must also have a representative who will maintain contact with the organizers of the contest. According to the rules, the same person can present more than one idea and be a member of different teams that apply, but for the second stage they will only be able to choose one project.
Proposals must be innovative and solve problems contained in the following SDGs: Health and well-being (3), quality education (4), clean water and sanitation (6), affordable and non-polluting energy (7), reduction of inequalities ( 10), sustainable cities and communities (11), responsible consumption and production (12), climate action (13), underwater life (14), life in terrestrial ecosystems (15), peace, justice and strong institutions (16) .