Author: Phillip Denny

By Sarah Bernardo

Makerere University is Uganda’s largest and one of its oldest post-secondary schools. It was established in Kampala in 1922 as a technical school teaching trades like carpentry and mechanics. The university has expanded over the years to become an institution of higher education, and it began offering post-school certificate courses in 1937. Today, Makerere University is a leading institution in innovation with increasing numbers of students participating in research and innovation through many programs, including Big Ideas@Berkeley.

The Blum Center’s Big Ideas contest has been offered at Makerere University since 2013. Each year the number and complexity of proposals has increased. Deborah Naatujuna, Engagement Manager for the ResilientAfrica Network lab at Makerere, has observed several ways that the competition has fostered student collaboration and innovation.

One highly noticeable effect of the contest is the increase in interdisciplinary engagement among Makerere students. Naatujuna explains, “One of the requirements of the contest is to have a strong team, so students who ordinarily work alone have been able to onboard students from other disciplines. For example, engineering students will work with business students. We did not have this interdisciplinary engagement before, but the contest has improved collaboration between students from different disciplines.”

The contest has also had a significant impact on students’ relationships with faculty members. Naatujuna says, “Big Ideas has fostered an innovator-mentor relationship that is not intimidating. Students at Makerere are used to working with academic supervisors in an environment that can often be intimidating for the student, but mentorship through Big Ideas is focused on constructive feedback and collaboration. Participating in the contest has helped students work with their professors in a friendlier manner and develop close relationships with their mentors.”

Student involvement in Big Ideas has also evolved over time. More Makerere teams are participating each cycle, and these teams are becoming more diverse. Max Aaronson, Graduate Student Researcher for the Big Ideas contest, conducted a comprehensive study on the involvement of Makerere students.

According to his research, Makerere students are now making up a larger proportion of teams entering the Big Ideas contest than in the previous two years. The interdisciplinary nature of Makerere teams is also increasing. Teams are no longer predominantly computer science majors or engineering majors. The social sciences (in particular health science) were greatly represented in the 2016 competition, and Makerere teams seem to be gravitating toward the Global Health contest category. Additionally, there has been an increase in the overall diversity of the contest entrants. The undergraduate and male dominance of Makerere student teams has declined significantly.

In regards to gender inclusion, Naatujuna remarks, “In the beginning, we had very few females taking part in Big Ideas, but now we have more females involved. Some of the teams are led by women while other teams are completely female. When female students work with their male counterparts, the male students often do all the major work, but now we are seeing all-female teams in which everyone takes part.”

However, more progress can still be made. As of last year’s cycle, Makerere teams are still less interdisciplinary than UC Berkeley teams. Additionally, without regular access to entrepreneurial development resources that are widely available in the United States, Makerere students sometimes need greater support and encouragement for their proposals. Their passion for addressing key social problems, however, is unmatched.

Each year that Makerere students have participated in Big Ideas, they have become increasingly competitive. In 2015,  the Mama-OPE team (comprised of Makerere students Besufekad Shifferaw, Olivia Koburongo, Power Mukisa, Brian Turyabagye, Namwase Angella, and Akangumya Viola) developed a cell phone-based lung-monitoring device to help improve the early diagnosis of pneumonia. Their project won 2nd place in the Big Ideas Global Health category. Mama-OPE went on to win Honorable Mention in the Scaling Up category in the 2016 competition.

Also in 2016, Grace Nakibaala, Isah Ssevume, and Molly Mbaziira Nannyonjo from Makerere University formed the PedalTap team. To prevent the spread of infection, PedalTap developed a free-standing, universally-fitting connection called the Tippy Tap which includes a foot pedal that people can use to turn on the water at communal hand washing facilities in rural areas in Uganda. Their product won 3rd Place in the highly competitive Global Health category.

In order to better support student teams at Makerere, Aaronson has suggested a list of additional resources that the Big Ideas contest can offer. This includes additional on-site or remote reviews of Makerere proposals prior to submission, increasing interdisciplinary team numbers through more mixer events at Makerere or virtually targeting an array of students, more remote mentoring from small and medium-sized enterprises in the US (who unlike some local mentors do not expect remuneration in return), and additional support from Blum Center staff and graduate student researchers through resources such as FAQs and application review.
To address some of these suggestions, Big Ideas has ramped up its engagement with Makerere this year. Former Makerere University Big Ideas winners have been appointed as ambassadors and student mentors to inspire and advise prospective applicants. Big Ideas has also held information sessions tailored for Makerere students and will organize a final editing workshop to provide the students with the feedback they need to develop compelling proposals.With a more robust support network, Big Ideas aims to tap into the potential of more students at Makerere University and encourage students from all disciplines to innovate.

Sarah Bernardo is a 4th year undergraduate student double majoring in Legal Studies and English.

By April You

UC Berkeley undergraduates Ankita Joshi, Aubrey Larson and Michelle Nie met in a social entrepreneurship class at the Haas School of Business. Connecting over a common passion for economic empowerment as a solution to poverty, they decided to develop a project that would promote financial inclusion within the STEM field. With resources and support from the Big Ideas team, they won 1st place in the financial inclusion category of the 2015-16 contest.

Providing students with real world work experience is Māk’s ultimate goal, and Māk is focusing on providing the students with STEM skills and training that best fit their needs. Māk is currently fundraising through Berkeley Crowdfunding with a $5,000 goal in order to build a new makerspace for youth near Oakland Technical High School.

We recently chatted with Michele and Ankita from Māk about their team’s experiences before, during, and after the Big Ideas contest.

1. What does “MAk” mean?  Is there any special meaning behind it?

Māk is “make” spelled phonetically. We wanted to name the organization “make” to demonstrate our theme of making design, making things, and making impact!

2. What inspired you to create this project? How did you and your team get started?

When Ankita was working as a researcher at the Berkeley Space Emergent Technologies Lab, she designed robot parts for NASA’s Tensegrity Spine Robot. While conducting 3D modeling, she realized that 3D design would be an ideal STEM skill for high school students. Rigorous math and science skills are not needed beforehand, and students can learn as they participate in design work.

As we did more research on STEM initiatives in both Berkeley and Oakland, we learned that there were no hardware and 3D design programs because resources were expensive. We became even more keen on working with low-income high school students when we found that Berkeley was among the top cities in the nation with the highest education achievement gap based on income and racial backgrounds.

After our needs assessment, we came up with the model of Māk, where high school students are trained in 3D design skills by UC Berkeley students. Later they work on hands-on projects with companies or research labs so that they can see the scope of 3D design in infrastructure, hardware and architecture design. Hopefully this will get them inspired to pursue careers in STEM!

3. What role did Big Ideas play in your team’s development?

Big Ideas was instrumental in connecting us to funding and resources. We had first heard of Big Ideas through 100 Strong, a past Big Ideas winner. We thought it would be the perfect way to gain connections and seed funding for Māk. We applied with only the idea of starting a 3D printing training program, and the Big Ideas team helped us refine our idea and hone in on our social impact. The most valuable resources they provided were advising hours with the Big Ideas team. All of the team members were able to get to know our project thoroughly and to provide multidimensional feedback on how to improve our idea.

Big Ideas also connected us to two amazing mentors. The first mentor was an entrepreneur who helped us understand the 3D printing market better. Our second mentor was Jacie Jones, a former social impact consultant at the Blum Center. She helped us to refine our program to maximize social impact and sustainability. Jacie is now one of our board members and has been a tremendously valuable resource and supporter for Māk!

Through Big Ideas, we were able to secure seed money for our pilot program. Beyond that, Big Ideas has also connected us to Berkeley Crowdfunding.  We are currently running a crowdfunding campaign for October 2016.

4. What are your biggest accomplishments so far?

Our proudest moment was winning Big Ideas. We all had put in countless hours talking to the Big Ideas team and industry experts, pitching our ideas to potential partners, and refining our written proposals. When we heard that we had won first place, it felt like everything we invested into Māk had finally paid off.

A close second would be securing our partnership with Oakland Tech. We had gotten in contact with Alicia Arnold, Co-Director of Oakland Tech’s Fashion, Arts, and Design Academy, through a former 100 Strong team member. Our mission to deliver STEM training to urban youth resonated with Alicia, who had witnessed firsthand the education gap for students in under resourced areas. Our partnership was born, and now we are teaching all 10 of her Advanced Arts students. It has been an amazing experience. All students are so willing to learn, and the Oakland Tech folks have been very supportive.

5. What are your goals?

Our goal now is to raise $5,000 through our crowdfunding campaign to build a new makerspace near Oakland Tech. It is important for our students to be able to see the impact of their designs by allowing them to 3D print their creations. Our vision is to build a public space and install state-of-the-art computers, Autodesk software, 3D printers, and laser cutters. We hope to open it up to all OUSD students to encourage them to express their creativity while learning art-infused STEM skills (otherwise known as Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math or STEAM).

Our next goal is to find a partner who can house our makerspace. There has been a lot of interest in community, but we are looking for someone deeply aligned with our mission.

And of course, our ultimate goal is to see our students pursue higher education and careers in STEAM. We are doing everything we can to provide them with funding and training to make this dream a reality.

The current 2016-2017 Big Ideas contest deadline for the pre-proposal is due on November 16, 2016. For more information, please visit the Big Ideas website or email the Big Ideas team to set up an advising appointment!

For more information on Māk’s crowdfunding campaign, please visit their funding portal. Their campaign goes through October 31, 2016.

The annual Big Ideas Contest launches on September 6th.  As one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious social impact contests, Big Ideas provides up to $300,000 directly to students each year for their groundbreaking initiatives. Armed with the training and seed funding provided by Big Ideas, student teams have gone on to secure over $150 million in additional funding for their for-profit, nonprofit, or hybrid ventures.

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

In the 2016-17 contest, Big Ideas is bringing back its 8 categories from last year: Art & Social Change, Energy & Resource Alternatives, Financial Inclusion, Food Systems, Global Health, Improving Student Life, Information Technology for Society, and Scaling Up Big Ideas, for past winners only.

This year’s contest also features a brand new category: Hardware for Good. Spearheading this new and exciting partnership with the Autodesk Foundation, Big Ideas is helping leverage the “Hardware Revolution” for social benefit. In essence, the category is responding to a unique opportunity within today’s innovation space. 3D printing, CAD software and makerspaces have dramatically decreased the price of prototyping and manufacturing physical goods, creating more space for at-home entrepreneurs to develop hardware solutions. The opportunity to develop solutions for lower-resourced communities are endless, as hardware innovations can now be prototyped faster, cheaper, and more conveniently than ever. Proposals submitted to the Hardware for Good category can encompass everything from wearable technologies and assistive technologies to novel devices that improve productivity, efficiency and safety for consumers, small business, industry, and the world.
Big Ideas has come a long way since its founding. When the Big Ideas contest launched 11 years ago, it was a unique concept on a college campus: give teams of students with potential breakthrough ideas small sums of money and a variety of support — and see what happens. The experiment has proven wildly successful.

Unlike many business competitions, Big Ideas is multidisciplinary — attracting engineers, science majors, public health majors, as well as students from over 100 majors including business— and is focused on supporting 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.

As the contest enters its eleventh year, 16 universities will participate, including all 10 campuses of the University of California system as well as campuses throughout the world associated with the USAID Higher Education Solutions Network.  With most categories open to over 500,000 students, the Big Ideas Contest is one of the largest interdisciplinary student innovation competitions in the world.

“The Big Ideas competition helped us frame our thinking around the problem and get better understanding of our customers” said Denisse Halm, co-founder of Social Force, a management platform that connects mission-driven small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with relevant community-driven non-profits. “With the Big Ideas funding we will be able to launch our pilot and test our venture in the market.”

“Our experience with Big Ideas was incredibly positive,” said Katie Niemeyer whose big idea seeks to empower financially and economically disadvantaged women in Mongolia. “We garnered the support we needed from the Big Ideas staff and our mentor. We sharpened our proposal-writing skills which helped us gain additional funding opportunities after the contest was over.”

From September to March, when the Full Proposals are due, teams have the opportunity to attend multiple information sessions, idea generation and networking events, writing workshops, editing blitzes, and office hours with Big Ideas advisors in person and online. In addition, finalist teams will be matched with mentors with expertise relevant to their project from a range of social enterprises, academic institutions, nonprofits, and businesses.

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, the United States Agency for International Development, the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, the UC Berkeley Food Institute, the UC Global Food Initiative,the UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative, the Associated Students of the University of California, andthe Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative —as well as over 300 judges and mentors annually.

Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to attend a Big Ideas Information Session, scheduled to take place at 6:00pm (PT) on both Wednesday, September 7 and Tuesday, September 27 in Blum Hall, B100.

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