Deadline: August 19, 2022
Are you working on game-changing solutions for a sustainable blue economy? Apply for the Ocean Changemakers Challenge 2022 and showcase your ideas on a global stage.
The world needs innovative, passionate leaders to foster a sustainable blue economy and ensure a healthy future for our seas. Economist Impact’s World Ocean Initiative—with support from Destination Canada—is excited to host the third annual Ocean Changemakers Challenge, a competition showcasing leading changemakers working to develop business solutions to ocean-related sustainability challenges. It is aimed at early-career researchers or professionals.
Three finalists will be invited to present their business idea and vision for a blue economy during a special ocean changemakers session at the World Ocean Tech and Innovation Summit in Halifax, Canada, in October 2022. By “blue economy” they mean a sustainable ocean economy that harnesses marine ocean resources for long-term economic development and social prosperity while protecting the environment in perpetuity. This year’s challenge is supported by Destination Canada.
Benefits
The judges will select three winning applicants, each of whom will receive:
- Travel and accommodation, in order to attend the World Ocean Tech and Innovation Summit in Halifax, Canada, in October 2022;
- An opportunity to present the innovation to the World Ocean Tech and Innovation Summit audience during a dedicated session;
- A dedicated “pod” where they can introduce and showcase their innovation to the World Ocean Tech and Innovation attendees; and
- Mentoring from a high-profile ocean mentor, who will work with them over a 12-month period to help refine their ideas and shape their leadership skills.
Eligibility
- Open to researchers, early-career professionals, entrepreneurs and innovators with solutions to tackle some of the ocean’s greatest challenges, including for example marine pollution, overfishing and overexploitation of marine resources, unsustainable aquaculture, marine engineering and oil drilling, and destruction of ocean habitats.
- Individuals who have been recognised by local communities but not yet by the international ocean community.
- Individuals who are driving change locally and have innovative solutions others could learn from to scale ocean solutions rapidly.
Selection Criteria
Applicants will be judged according to how well their ideas meet the following criteria:
- Impact on blue economy: clear link with sustainable development of the ocean
- Innovative: original idea—or clear improvement on existing idea—focused on progress
- Viable: should be feasible in the medium to long-term
- Scalable: can be scaled up and applied in different contexts
- Investable: offers opportunities for growth
Application
To enter the Ocean Changemakers challenge, applicants need to submit a short video of no longer than 1 minute in which they address the following question:
“How are you contributing to the sustainable development of the ocean economy? How would you benefit from an ocean leader as a mentor?”
The video should highlight how your work or academic study is creating innovative, viable, scalable and action-oriented business solutions to sustainable blue-economy challenges.
The video should be sent as an unlisted video link on YouTube or Vimeo, or uploaded in a common video format, such as AVCHD, AVI, FLV, MKV, MOV, MP4, WEBM or WMV.
For more information, visit Ocean Changemakers Challenge.
