How it Works

WHO CAN ENTER

Anyone and everyone can join our growing online social innovation community and support students on their projects. Only currently enrolled university and college students may create project entries and compete in our annual grand prize competition.

Our Dell Social Innovation Challenge annual competition is open to ALL university students in the world–-it doesn’t matter what school you attend or what you’re studying.  And you don’t need a venture plan to enter.  Everything from early-stage ideas to mature projects that are up and running can compete to win. Your innovation project could be vested in starting a nonprofit organization, a for-profit business, a campaign, community volunteerism, university club or even other informal or formal operations. Your individual user profile gives you an option to find project team members, join existing teams, attract support and help others on their projects.  

Competitions & Awards

We offer and give out over $350,000 annually in cash and in-kind prizes. Our Grand Prize Awards are chosen by judges, offering five cash prizes totaling $140,000. 

View Prizes and Awards for the Dell Social Innovation Challenge Grand Prize Awards and People's Choice Awards here: http://www.dellchallenge.org/about/2013-prizes-and-awards.

Dell Education Challenge

The Dell Education Challenge rewards university students who develop the most innovative ideas to transform learning in today’s primary schools. Finalists will be flown to Austin, Texas in December 2012 to make their final pitch at Dell World, a gathering of more than 4,000 global Dell customers. Teams will pitch live to a panel of judges for one of these cash awards:

  • $10,000 Grand Prize
  • $5,000 Second Prize
  • $2,500 Third Prize 
Plus, Dell will select a handful of additional "Promising Projects" and provide cash awards from $500 to $2,000 designed to enable field-testing of the most promising ideas. Learn more about the Dell Education Challenge at dellchallenge.org/k12.

PROJECT COMPETITIONS: FOUR PHASES

We offer four project entry categories to reward and support innovations at all phases of social impact development. You can submit as many project entries as you’d like in any phase.

Define: social impacts and the innovation driving them exist conceptually in your head, or you've a few general ideas with limited research at this point.

Design: impact potentials are taking shape as project execution assumptions are tested with potential customer/beneficiaries, beginnings of formal internal and external teams and some details on project pilot locale and test elements are captured.

Pilot: the innovation project has been tested with a small group of customer/beneficiaries and is getting verifiable impacts. Team continues making project improvements based on live experience in the field.

Scale: the innovation has proven successful at achieving social impacts in more than one geographic area. The project has sustainable financial and human resource models with strong leadership and strategic partner support in place.

JUDGING CRITERIA

We’re looking for social innovations. What’s a social innovation? It’s an idea that significantly improves results around existing social or environmental problems. We’re looking for innovations that can grow to create global impacts, so your passion and abilities to drive such growth are also as important as your innovation idea.

Our DSIC-Certified Judges will evaluate projects using three primary criteria:

  1. Clarity of the innovation and significance of social impacts potentials.
  2. Demonstration of a high probability of success.
  3. Potential impact from winning DSIC.

HOW TO ENTER

Entering is free and easy! You can enter as many projects as you’d like, in any phase. 

Join. Complete your profile here.
Build. Create your team by adding members, or find a team to join.
Create. Complete your project page, which serves as your official competition entry.
Learn. Build your influence to learn new skills for improving your project.
Connect. Explore our community to find interesting people and projects worldwide.  

DATES & DEADLINES

January 28     

Deadline to Enter the 2013 Challenge

February 18

Semi-Finalists announced

March 18    

 Semi-Final Round Challenge assignments due. 

May 13

 People's Choice Awards voting ends

April 8

Announcement of Top 40 Teams, Specialty Award winners, Phase Winners and 5 Grand Prize Finalists

May 11-16   

 Finalist Week in Austin, Texas

May 14

 Final Awards event in Austin, Texas
application/pdf iconDSIC12-13 Brochure.pdf