Economy
Google to award £2m of winnings to UK nonprofits
Four UK charities will receive £500,000 of funding from the Google Impact Challenge, supported by Nesta, with the winners announced at the end of July.
The Google Impact Challenge UK launched in 2013 by the philanthropic arm of the tech giant. UK nonprofits were invited to submit their ideas of how to use technology to help people around the world, and winners will receive funding to help their vision go forward.
Ten projects were included in a shortlist in June this year, receiving £200,000 each. Now a panel of judges will choose the top three and an additional winner will be decided by a public vote, with all four receiving £500,000 and technical assistance from google.org.
Members of the public are encouraged to find out more about the ten projects and vote before July 30. Winners will be announced at Google’s London headquarters on Thursday July 31.
Some of the ten finalists include projects aiming to tackle malaria, improve the lives of people with sight loss and an app to help stop youth homelessness.
Previous winners include SolarAid, a project to give solar lights to off grid communities and specialist cameras for wildlife conservation from the Zoological Society of London. There have also been Google impact challenges in India, Brazil and Australia.
The judging panel includes the BBC dragon Peter Jones CBE and founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales.
“After an inspiring process, we’ve unearthed ten exceptional projects from ten exceptional charities. Google’s Impact Challenge shows that innovation is crucial to success. You can’t stand still,” said Jones in the Telegraph.
“I’m thrilled to be a part of the challenge, and call on everyone to vote and learn more about these amazing causes and their projects.”
Nesta, a charity that aims to help social causes by supporting innovative projects, supports the challenge.
Photo: Robert Scoble via Flickr
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