Frustrated yet motivated, the five decided to start a summer leadership camp for low-income female students and call it 100 Strong.

The first New Roots program started in 2009 at the San Diego office of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) when a group of Somali Bantu refugees were resettled in a nearby suburb.

I had so mentally prepared myself to come away jaded, to witness the messy side of development work, that when the big idea I encountered this summer hit me, it felt like a revelation.

On Thursday, November 13 Big Ideas winners launched the first-ever partnerships with the world’s most established crowdfunding platform: Indiegogo.

A 2013/2014 UNESCO report found that 250 million children across the globe are not learning basic literacy and numeracy skills. Of these, 57 million children—a disproportionate number of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds, live in conflict-afflicted countries, or are disabled or simply girls—aren’t enrolled in school at all.

Big Ideas@Berkeley added a new category this year, global food systems, in response to UC President Janet Napolitano’s announcement of the UC Global Food Initiative earlier this year.

Inspired by the depth and breadth of activity across the University of California to address challenges in the global food system, Big Ideas@Berkeley, the flagship student innovation contest, has launched a new contest category: Food System Innovations.

A year or so into his studies at Makerere, he decided to figure out a way to use ICT, specifically mobile phones, to diagnose and prevent trachoma, which 8 million (nearly one fifth of) Ugandans are at risk of contracting.

Nine years later, the yearlong student innovation contest has become a model for on-campus collaboration and action—and has expanded to 16 universities around the country and world, including the entire University of California system and the USAID Higher Education Solutions Network.

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Global Development Lab (the Lab) and UC Berkeley are teaming up to launch an essay contest as a part of the Big Ideas@Berkeley annual contest.

My advice for those starting new prize contests—especially for students, but ideally for anyone—is simple: include a learning and feedback process.

To encourage students to dream big about solutions to social problems, "Big Ideas@Berkeley" changed the way that campus innovation contests are run.

After months spent developing their Big Ideas@Berkeley projects, six of the top student teams gathered in Blum Hall to compete in the third annual Big Ideas Grand Prize Pitch Day.

The end of this year’s BigIdeas@Berkeley contest has arrived, and the 56 finalist teams’ wait for the judges’ results has finally ended.

The 2013-2014 Big Ideas@Berkeley competition launched in November 2013 when 187 teams representing 600 students from 75 majors submitted pre-proposals. After a preliminary review, 56 teams of finalists were invited to submit …

In November 2013, nearly 200 student teams representing 600 students applied to the Big Ideas@Berkeley student innovation contest with their creative ideas to improve society.  Throughout the course of this academic year …

As the eighth Big Ideas@Berkeley student innovation contest comes to a close, the 56 teams that qualified for the final round are abuzz with activity and anticipation of the upcoming Pitch Day and Awards Ceremony.

The process of competing in and winning the Big Ideas Contest has led the development of many successful initiatives. Among these are Back to the Roots, the Suitcase Clinic, and WE CARE Solar—each of which has grown from a big idea into an inspiring and impactful social venture.

The adoption of the women’s houses in Belenpampa into surrounding rural clinics of Cusco would likely alleviate maternal and infant mortality, and result in an increase in positive women’s health outcomes in Peru.

This young and vibrant force, united in cause, is the start of a cycle of social empowerment of slum communities. 

Got an idea that could be the next big thing? The 2013-2014 Big Ideas@Berkeley contest is now underway — offering $300,000 to help you turn your idea into reality.

Earlier this week, three teams of student innovators from UC Berkeley designed and coded apps and services for social good at the Bloomberg Next Big Thing Summit.

The 2013 Big Ideas@Berkeley competition launched in August 2012 when 160 teams, representing 555 students from 75 majors, submitted pre-proposals.

Concluding the Big Ideas@Berkeley Grand Prize Pitch Day event, at which six of the contest’s top teams pitched their ideas to the campus community, Dave Ferguson, Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), pitched one final big idea.