Big Ideas Alumni Premieres Documentary on Formerly Incarcerated Students

UC Berkeley alumna and 2016 Big Ideas Contest winner Skylar Economy and her film crew—consisting of co-producers Sheila Wagner, Tristan Caro, Christian Collins, and Clarence Ford—are adding a new perspective on how the country can address mass incarceration.

The UC Berkeley premiere of FITE Film is October 12th in Stanley Hall room #105. A panel discussion featuring the individuals in the film will follow immediately after the screening  to  put real faces to real issues. Seating is limited! Click here to purchase tickets.

With more than 2.3 million people in the prison system, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Americans make up 5% of the global population but, shockingly, our prisons hold 25% of the world’s prisoners. The National Institute of Justice reports that many former offenders will return to incarceration— some as soon as the end of their first year post-release.  Recidivism, or a person’s relapse into criminal behavior, is a contentious issue amongst policymakers looking to resolve the problem of overcrowded prisons in the U.S. UC Berkeley alumna and 2016 Big Ideas Contest winner Skylar Economy and her film crew—consisting of co-producers Sheila Wagner, Tristan Caro, Christian Collins, and Clarence Ford—are adding a new perspective on how the country can address mass incarceration. They are shedding light on recidivism through “From Incarceration to Education” — the FITE Film — their in-depth documentary on formerly incarcerated students and their journey in higher education.

Ms. Economy first learned about recidivism from  an article highlighting the Underground Scholars Initiative, an organization on campus that connects and supports formerly incarcerated UC Berkeley students. Initially, FITE Film started as a short documentary Economy created for a class. As she learned more about the topic and delved deeper into the issue of recidivism, she and her co-producer decided to develop a longer film with the goal of screening it in prisons and in film festivals.

“One of our main goals is to show that it is possible to get out of the system and achieve higher education. We wanted to really bring this message to people on a different emotional level,” Economy stated. “With film, the audience is able to see and hear the people on screen. Paired with the panel, I believe this will really help to foster that personal connection between the audience and the individuals in the film.”


Not only is FITE Film an educational resource for currently and formerly incarcerated individuals, it is also part of a larger vision. Economy and her team have been actively creating a network of online resources by partnering with mentorship and advocacy organizations such as the Berkeley Underground Scholars Initiative and  Root & Rebound in order to aid currently and formerly incarcerated individuals in their transition back to society. “You can make a documentary about all kinds of different issues to inspire people, but it’s not until you give people that second step, the answer to ‘Now what?’, that they will be able to do something about the issue,” Economy said.

However, tackling an issue like recidivism does not come without challenges. The team strives to make the film accessible to individuals in the prison system, those who “need it most.” However, to be shown in prisons and other correctional institutions, the film must adhere to strict protocols in order to be approved by prison wardens. For example, Economy explains that instead of labeling the film a documentary, it must be referred to as an “educational film”. Yet, these hurdles will not stop the team from pursuing their goal to have FITE Film reach its intended audience.

FITE Film won first place in both the Big Ideas Art & Social Change category and at the Grand Prize Pitch Day in 2016. According to Economy, the value of participating in the Big Ideas contest went far beyond just the award. “Big Ideas really gave us confidence in our idea and in ourselves in order to make this project a reality,” Economy stated. “Through Big Ideas, we were given more than just funding: they gave us support from diverse, passionate people who also wanted to make a positive difference in the world.”
Since winning Big Ideas, the FITE Film project and team has grown exponentially. In the past two years, the film was chosen as a commitment in the annual Clinton Global Initiative University 2016, became finalists for Fast Company’s 2017 World Changing Ideas Award, and was also chosen as a finalist for Red Bull Amaphiko Academy 2017. The team launched a successful Indiegogo campaign that raised $15,805 online and won a highly-coveted grant for editorial assistance from the Berkeley Film Foundation.  

Looking beyond the Bay Area, Economy and her team hope to partner with other centers and prisons across the country for screenings as well. “Our ultimate goal is a self-sustaining program.  We hope in the future that anyone will be able to acquire the screening and hold a panel by themselves.” Economy said. “Hopefully, the film will pick up more attention, and more people will start to understand that no, having been incarcerated is not an end-all be-all. There are options, resources, and people that can and will support those affected by incarceration go to a better place.”

After the film screening, a Q&A panel will be led by the filmmakers, Skylar Economy and Christian Collins, and the four formerly incarcerated students from the film: PhD student David Maldonado, graduate student Clarence Ford, undergraduate student Shalita Williams, and undergraduate student Richard Rodriguez. The panel will be followed by an introduction of FITE Film’s collaboration with Root & Rebound, a legal advocacy group, where the FITE Film team will connect the audience to resources available for formerly incarcerated persons, through the use of Root & Rebound’s “Roadmap to Reentry”.

In addition to its 2017 fall premiere, FITE Film is looking to launch nationwide in 2018. Keep an eye out for FITE Film in theaters near you!

***For more information on how to support FITE film, please visit their website. ***http://www.fitefilm.com/donate

Big Ideas 2018 Contest: Where Impact Begins

Big Ideas is an early-stage university-based innovation contest that connects students—the world’s next generation of social entrepreneurs—with the mentorship, training, and resources needed to successfully conceptualize, deploy, and scale social innovations. Big Ideas plugs student entrepreneurs into a robust innovation ecosystem of high-caliber mentors, academics, scientists, tech experts, industry leaders, and investors, enabling them to access the full spectrum of resources needed to bring their ideas to fruition.

The Rudd Family Foundation Big Ideas Contest launches on Sept. 13!

Big Ideas is an early-stage university-based innovation contest that connects students—the world’s next generation of social entrepreneurs—with the mentorship, training, and resources needed to successfully conceptualize, deploy, and scale social innovations. Big Ideas plugs student entrepreneurs into a robust innovation ecosystem of high-caliber mentors, academics, scientists, tech experts, industry leaders, and investors, enabling them to access the full spectrum of resources needed to bring their ideas to fruition. The program is a time-tested, highly effective mechanism to connect with this generation—to meet them at the place and time in their lives when they are most ready to take on a challenge and to give them the skills, tools and opportunities for achieving great impact now and throughout their lives.

Each November, students submit their solutions for the world’s most pressing social and development challenges to Big Ideas. Proposals are vetted, and promising concepts are refined and nurtured over a year-long process of advising, mentorship, and development. In May, winners are selected, and the top social innovations are reviewed by multidisciplinary panels of industry experts, with winning teams receiving seed funding ranging from $2,000-$15,000.  Since 2006, Big Ideas has invested a total of $2M of seed funding across 435 ventures. That funding, coupled with the support of the Big Ideas ecosystem, has enabled teams to demonstrate milestones on their projects that have attracted over $300M in additional funding.

Prospective applicants should attend a Big Ideas Information Session, scheduled to take place at 6:00pm (PT) on Wednesday, September 13th and Tuesday, September 26th in Blum Hall, B100 (Plaza Level).

For many students, Big Ideas serves as the first step in turning a dream into a viable product, service, or organization. Between September and May, undergraduate and graduate students take advantage of workshops, receive valuable feedback, work with mentors at the top of their fields, and have multiple opportunities to expand their professional networks.

Big Ideas’ unique approach supports a diverse portfolio of innovators and social ventures. It is multidisciplinary—attracting engineers, social science majors, business majors, in addition to students from over 100 majors—and supports a variety of social ventures including for-profit enterprises, non-profit organizations and community-based initiatives. The contest challenges students to step outside of their traditional university-based academic work, take a risk and use their education, passion, and skills to work on problems important to them.

“The recognition I received from Big Ideas was critical for the launch of my company, Copia, a tech-enabled food recovery company with a mission to end hunger. The initial Big Ideas prize funding, coupled with invaluable entrepreneurship mentorship, enabled me to mature my good concept into a viable business.” said Komal Ahmad, founder and CEO of Copia. Since winning the Big Ideas Contest in 2012, Copia has expanded greatly by partnering with 16 companies and is currently on its way to feeding 1 million people.

In this twelfth year of Big Ideas, 11 universities will participate, including all 10 campuses of the University of California system and Makerere University in Uganda.  With most categories open to over 300,000 students, the Big Ideas Contest is one of the largest interdisciplinary student innovation competitions in the world.

Expanding Reach Across the UC System through Innovation Ambassadors

This year, Big Ideas is launching a new program with the goal of further fostering and supporting student-led social innovation across all 10 UC campuses. Big Ideas recognizes that dedicated and talented representatives stationed at each participating campus is essential to students’ skill-building and success. Each UC school will have a designated student Innovation Ambassador responsible for tapping into social entrepreneurship resources, spreading the word about the contest, and supporting students and the development of their social ventures as they move through the competition.

Innovation Ambassadors [1] help provide aspiring student entrepreneurs with a platform and resources necessary to transform their innovative ideas into concrete implementation plans. As Big Ideas representatives at each campus, Innovations Ambassadors work with students, academics, and industry leaders to further extend the tools and resources necessary for early-stage student innovators to transform ideas into viable and sustainable social ventures.


Big Ideas alumnus Kirk Hutchison, CEO of Worldcare Technologiesfirst place winner in the 2016 Big Ideas Global Health category and third place winner at Grand Prize Pitch Day — is part of the inaugural cohort. Hutchinson said he is excited to give back to Big Ideas by supporting social entrepreneurs at UC San Diego.

“As a participant in Big Ideas, I was forced to stop looking at challenges like HIV diagnostics as purely a technology problem. I began to consider not only how to make the business case for my project, but also what it really takes to bring an innovation from the lab into reality. In my role as an Innovation Ambassador, I am excited to bring more UCSD students into a program that provides critical resources for early stage social innovations, both financial and experiential,” Hutchinson said.

New Connected Communities and Workforce Education Categories

 This year, Big Ideas is bringing again including six categories that were wildly successful last year: Art & Social Change, Energy & Resource Alternatives, Food Systems, Global Health, Hardware for Good, and Scaling Up Big Ideas. Additionally, Big Ideas is launching two new categories this year: Connected Communities and Workforce Education & Development. Connected Communities, developed in partnership with The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC), challenges students to invent a novel solution that leverages the capacity of technology to engage and enhance the prosperity of campuses, communities, and cities. The Workforce Education & Development category prompts young innovators to propose workforce solutions that uplift individuals with the technical knowledge, practical skills and readiness necessary to secure employment and self-sufficiency.

Big Ideas is made possible by the generous support of the Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation and brings together entities as the Blum Center for Developing Economies, United States Agency for International Development, Autodesk Foundation, Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, University of California Office of the President, the Associated Students of the University of California— as well as over 350 judges and mentors annually.

For more information about rules, categories, resources, funding, and contact information, please visit the Big Ideas website at http://bigideascontest.org..

Big Ideas Winner, Tabla, Wins Fast Company’s Innovation Award

Tabla – the Grand Prize winner of  last year’s Rudd Family Foundation Big Ideas Contest– was announced today as one of fourteen winners to receive Fast Company’s 2017 Innovation by Design Awards from 2,500 submissions worldwide. The device, engineered to more affordably and easily diagnose pneumonia, was honored as one of the most innovative and disruptive design solutions created to solve today’s most challenging business issues.

Tabla – the Grand Prize winner of  last year’s Rudd Family Foundation Big Ideas Contest— was announced today as one of fourteen winners to receive Fast Company’s 2017 Innovation by Design Awards from 2,500 submissions worldwide. The device, engineered to more affordably and easily diagnose pneumonia, was honored as one of the most innovative and disruptive design solutions created to solve today’s most challenging business issues.

Screen Shot 2017-09-12 at 8.30.53 AMThe Tabla team began developing the technology last fall in a class offered by the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation to offer a more inexpensive and precise means of diagnosing pneumonia, the leading cause of death for children under the age of five. The team consists of of Adam Rao (joint MD student at UC San Francisco and bioengineering PhD student at UC Berkeley), Jorge Ruiz and Chen Bao (both UC Berkeley M.Eng students). Over the course of a year, the team developed a technology that provides an order of magnitude improvement on portability, accessibility and cost over the current gold standard of chest x-ray.

Then, the team entered the Big Ideas@Berkeley Contest — and Tabla took home several of Big Ideas’ top accolades. They won 1st Place in the Autodesk Foundation-sponsored Hardware for Good category, and were also the top winner at Grand Prize Pitch Day, receiving $15,000 in prizes for their venture. The financial support from Big Ideas was only part of the benefits of participating in Big Ideas. “The mentorship and feedback from Big Ideas during Tabla’s early stage development pushed us to consider different stakeholders for the device which influenced our design decisions,” says Team Lead Adam Rao.

Moving forward, the team imagines the device to be utilized for patients in areas affected by high rates of pneumonia with limited access to medical care, such as South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Learn more about Tabla here: https://tabladevices.com/