AgriSolar — a mobile and scalable solar-powered irrigation system designed for smallholder farmers’ accessibility and affordability — took home top honors and the first-ever Biggie trophy in the 12th annual Big Ideas Grand Prize Pitch Day on May 7.

Berkeley graduate students Aseef Raihan, Ayushi Raj Bhatt, Omogbolahan Idowu, and Vinaya Acharekar have already deployed their portable system in Nigeria.

“It’s extremely exciting for the whole team that Big Ideas and others believe in this, believe in us, and are entrusting us with this award,” Raihan said. “This is a responsibility to do well.” 

With 95 percent of Nigerian farmers reliant on rain to irrigate crops, the dry season — exacerbated by climate change — can be hard on farmers. AgriSolar’s light-weight pump allows for year-round cultivation without upfront costs; its revenue-sharing model allows farmers to pay AgriSolar back over time with a share of their harvest income.

“Hearing from the farmers was huge. That was so pivotal for us,” Raihan said. “It’s still ingrained in my memory of one specific farmer telling me, ‘If this works, we’re all in.’” 

AgriSolar partnered with local agricultural cooperatives and associations to build trust and ensure their innovation addressed the problem in a useful way. The team is preparing to develop more units of their system to provide to another round of farmers before the next dry season sets in — a task that will be easier after winning Big Ideas.

Developing a venture from scratch for the first time was intimidating, Raihan said, but getting to interact with other Big Ideas teams was inspiring and seeing the farmers’ reception gave them the courage to continue pursuing it. As one of his co-founders, Omogbolahan Idowu, told him, “If it’s not scary, then it’s not big enough.”

This year’s Big Ideas Contest received 150 pre-proposal applications from some 500 students representing over 80 departments and majors across UC Berkeley. More than six in 10 submissions were led by undergraduates and 55 percent by women. 

After a rigorous review process, 15 standout teams spanning 30 academic disciplines were selected for the second round. Their innovations addressing urgent global and local challenges — from climate change and gender-based violence to health disparities and access to education — are being piloted across the U.S., India, Australia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia. 

“Big Ideas has hundreds of success stories, but it’s really the Berkeley community, our robust network of mentors and our tried-and-true workshops and advising that help these students grow and thrive, whether it’s with this idea or their next,” said Brittney Byrd, Big Ideas’ outreach manager. 

An ever-growing number of Big Ideas teams have been harnessing the power of emerging technologies — including AI, computer vision, and machine learning — to drive positive social change. This year, more than half of the applications incorporated at least one of these technologies, signaling a big shift in how student innovators are approaching complex global challenges.

“I’ve been running Big Ideas now for 18 years, and this is the most engaged cohort of students that I’ve worked with,” said Phillip Denny, the contest’s director.

From those 15 teams, 11 earned various awards of at least $2,500, and four top-ranked finalists earned $10,000 each and were selected to compete on Pitch Day for the Grand Prize. The three teams that joined AgriSolar in front of the large audience and panel of expert judges included: BioJect, a biodegradable medical needle that would significantly reduce waste and environmental harm; Flourish AI, a conversational AI-powered symptom-tracking platform allowing users to identify dietary approaches to treating chronic conditions; and Plastic For Change, which would formalize plastic waste collection in Zambia by empowering vulnerable waste pickers.

“This new tradition of a Biggie trophy meant that there could not be a tie,” Byrd said. “There is only one Biggie.”

Awarding it was no easy decision, the judges emphasized afterward.

“Because they’re so good,” said Abim Odusoga, director of impact, policy, and compliance at the UC Office of the President. “All of them are going somewhere. All of them have benefits. All of them have social impact. They’re scalable and viable and amazing ideas.”

“I want to come back,” he added. “I just look forward to seeing amazing talent coming out of Berkeley. It makes the job worthwhile.”

Alicia De Toffoli, managing advisor for corporate social impact at the Tides Foundation, and Claudia Williams, chief social impact officer at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, joined Odusoga at the judges’ table.

“I feel like now, more than ever, universities and creative thought and creative ideas are just so under attack,” De Toffoli said, “Being able to see folks actually get funding — being able to equip folks who are thinking creatively and solving problems — feels really good right now.”

And it’s not just problem solving from Berkeley. 

Big Ideas is in the fourth year of a partnership with the University of Sussex, which held its own competition with a £2,500 prize. Plastic For Change came out on top, and the venture’s founder, Gladys Mwamba, flew out to California to pitch alongside her Berkeley peers.

“It’s been exciting. I love it,” she said. “It’s a huge milestone for me to come over here to UC Berkeley and see other great teams, learn a lot, and also see how we can improve our business model.” 

Her next step will be to receive a license to operate as a producer-responsibility organization and begin capturing data on all the plastics her business will collect.

Meanwhile, past Big Ideas winners have continued racking up their own huge milestones.

Code Blue, led by Ashmita Kumar, has made rapid progress since taking home the Grand Prize in May 2024. The AI-powered health startup is revolutionizing stroke detection and emergency response, has won the prestigious Westly Prize for Young Innovators, and was selected as the UC Berkeley representative for the Atlantic Coast Conference InVenture Prize competition. Kumar’s team is currently piloting the technology with patients at UCSF and working toward FDA approval.

Denny advised the winning teams to take advantage of all the vetting, mentoring, and networking they’ve had since last fall.

“The iron’s hot, so strike right now,” he said. “You’re through the competition, but you’re really at the beginning of your journey.”