This might be a helpful session for aspiring social entrepreneurs…
Lisa Tacoronte Presentation this Monday 7-8PM in 4-237
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The iHouse Speaker Series cordially invites you to:
“How You Can Change the World Without a Degree”
by Lisa Tacoronte, Founder of Global Cycle Solutions, 100K Finalist, and 4th year undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering
Lisa will discuss:
-The change she made as inspired through D-Lab and other programs/ personal experiences
-The duality in engineering: the disparity in problems being solved (i.e. complex and highly sophisticated technologies that put people on the moon, to grain grinders and corn shellers on a bicycle that help rural farmers).
More about Lisa:
Born to Cuban parents, Lisa Tacoronte grew up in Miami, Florida. She is in her fourth year studying mechanical engineering at MIT focusing on international development and appropriate technology. With the MIT Development Lab (D-Lab), she worked on a project to design portable bicycle attachments. Recently, she helped create a business called Global Cycle Solutions to sell these technologies for small business opportunities and has begin its launch in Tanzania this past summer. With D-Lab, she worked on the Bicilavadora Project (pedal-powered washing machine) and constructed one with an orphanage in Peru. This past summer, she attended the International Development Design Summit, where she helped design a Shea nut oil press for a women’s coop in Ghana to cut their shea oil production process by half and increase their income generation. She is continuing this project as part of her senior thesis. This January, she will be returning to Peru to co-lead a trip with D-Lab Development where she will guide students in their work in water and sanitation, energy, cook stoves, agriculture, and developing local income generation opportunities.
A message from The Unreasonable Institute:
The Unreasonable Institute is a new social entrepreneurship incubator opening up this year, it will take place in Denver, Colorado for 10 weeks this summer .
What the Unreasonable Institute does:
We unite up to 25 high-impact social entrepreneurs from around the world to attend our intensive 10-week summer institute. There, we will incubate their ventures with rigorous skill training and expert mentorship. At the end of the ten weeks, we will connect our Fellows with the start-up capital and global network of support needed to give their ventures wings.
Applications due by 15 Dec.
for more info: http://www.unreasonableinstitute.org/apply/
A message from the Global Engagement Summit
Are you a globally-minded leader passionate about world change? Are you looking for a space to develop your global project, obtain development know-how, and connect with other like-minded peers around the world?
We would like to tell you about a great opportunity for your students to be a part of one of the most exclusive student-run conferences in the world. The Global Engagement Summit (GES) is a five-day training conference for students committed to global change. Delegates come together to understand the challenges of and opportunities for their engagement; to hone the skills and mindsets that will enable them to better plan, execute, and participate in change-based projects; and to connect with like-minded peers from around the world.
Applications are now available online at: www.theges.org
Application deadline:
December 1, 2009
For any questions, email american@theges.org
“Catalyze the Mobile Revolution in Africa”
Info Session: November 24th, 6pm in 2-105 (free pizza!)
http://aiti.mit.edu
AITI gives MIT students the opportunity to learn and teach mobile technologies, grasp the African market, make contacts, help start businesses, and travel. Come to the info session to celebrate AITI’s 10th year, and to learn more about AITI’s goals, current activities, and future plans.
Want funding for your innovative community service project?
Want to recruit new members or mentors for your IDEAS team?
Want to get involved, but don’t yet have an idea?
Then come to the IDEAS Generator Dinner and get connected!
October 14, 7pm-9pm
Morss Hall in Walker Memorial
RSVPs are appreciated but not required - email ideas-rsvp@mit.edu
The Generator will include a variety of networking activities to help everyone get connected with the right team mates. Feel free to bring along small prototypes and presentation materials that help describe your project.
Continue reading ‘IDEAS2010 Fall Generator - You’re Invited!’
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TODAY! X Prize Energy Forum
Interested in smart grids? Renewable power sources? Distributed generation? Want to see real breakthroughs in energy storage technologies or curious about what motivates venture capital to back energy ventures? Join X Prize Lab @ MIT for an discussion with leading investors and entrepreneurs interested in revolutionizing the way we store and use energy. More at http://bit.ly/1hyl2H
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TODAY! Global Poverty Initiative Freshman Rep Deadline
The application for Freshman Representatives is due at 11:59pm on Wednesday 9/16. Why so early? So you can join GPI’s for Board Retreat this upcoming weekend. Interested? Email gpi-exec@mit.edu pronto.
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1. Class of 2011 Leaders Wanted
Community Catalyst Leadership Program provides a blend of leadership assessment tools, one on one coaching with MIT alumni and alumnae, and workshops to provide processes and frameworks needed for successful leadership.
2. Social Media Fellowship
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is searching for a Fellow to assist in crafting and implementingsocial media campaigns for a variety of issues. For more info contact Apollo Gonzales, Netroots Campaign Manager - agonzales@nrdc.org
3. $100k Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability
The $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability celebrates individuals whose inventions and innovations enhance economic opportunity and community well-being in developing and/or developed countries, while protecting and restoring the natural environment. Nominations open through 10/6 at: http://web.mit.edu/invent/a-award.html
Way to go Team 6dot! Just learned from Rachel Tatum with 6dot that they’ve won the “People’s Choice” award for the United States at the James Dyson Award competition. Rachel writes:
Thank you so much for voting for our product and for passing along the information to the rest of the ideas teams. Thanks to your help, we were able to win the People’s Choice Award for the United States! This means that our product will move on to the second round of judging and that we are still in contention for this prestigious award!
To stay updated on the progress of the award, please feel free to keep checking out www.jamesdysonaward.org. Also, don’t hesitate to email us at 6dot@mit.edu for any additional questions. Thanks again for spreading the word about us! We could not have come so far without your support.
So a huge thanks to everyone who helped out by voting - stay tuned for more great news from this super team!
IDEAS teams working in the areas of international health innovation are invited to participate in an exciting platform to showcase innovative business models and enabling technologies. Grameen Health in conjunction with the World Healthcare Innovations and Technology Congress (WHIT v5.0) will be hosting an Extremely Affordable Health Innovations poster session at this year’s WHIT conference, November 8-10, 2009 in Washington, DC.
The Extremely Affordable Health Innovations poster session was hugely successful at the World Healthcare Congress in April 2009, and organizers strongly encourage you to submit an abstract detailing innovative projects you and your team are involved in. It’ll a be a great opportunity for exposure and networking.
The mission of Grameen Health is to establish sustainable best practices in a broad range of Healthcare services for a broad market including the poor. GH will enable the poor to be self sufficient in addressing their Healthcare needs such that they can accept but not require outside assistance. Its clear that many IDEAS teams are focused around similar objectives and would do well by an opportunity to interact with leaders in the field.
According to the organizers, the work many of you are doing shows great potential to address the need for low-cost, high quality health solutions - they’re looking forward to learning more about the exciting work being done by students teams here at MIT!
Abstracts can be submitted using the Abstract Submission Page. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Laura Kuhl (laura.n.kuhl@gmail.com).
Here are some helpful resources for the entrepreneurial and innovation minded. Got others? Send them on to ideas-info at mit dot edu.
- In partnership with Inc., Alibaba.com will award a total of $100,000 in business grants to help “Newpreneurs” succeed. More at: http://success.alibaba.com/contest.html
- Asia Pacific Future 100 fellows includes young entrepreneurs and social changemakers under the age of 30 who are an inspiration to other young people. From and working in the region? Learn more and consider applying for a fellowship: http://www.fyse.org/index.php?p=1_8_Application
- The International Development Design Summit is underway at KNUST in Ghana! Follow along with Amy Smith and friends at: http://www.iddsummit.blogspot.com
- CleanStar Trust (http://www.cleanstartrust.org) is interested in launching a simple online system for registering community-based tree planting activities & monitoring progress. They have several ideas about how this system should work and believe it can also benefit many of their field partners around the world. Learn more by sending an email to: volunteer@cleanstar.in
- The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Western Union just announced that the application deadline for the African Disaspora Marketplace competition has been extended. Proposals for the ADM, which was launched June 2, will now be accepted through July 30, 2009. Learn more at: http://www.diasporamarketplace.org/apply
In closing, please remember to support IDEAS09 winner Braille Labeler aka 6DOT in their effort to win the Dyson Award. Find them and vote online:
- Go to www.jamesdysonaward.org
- Click “Vote now”
- Fill in the registration information. Be sure to Select USA as your region (you can only vote on projects from your region). Click Submit.
- Again, click “Vote now”
- Make sure the region “USA” is selected. If you “Sort” from A to Z, our project, the 6dot Braille Labeler, will be listed first. Otherwise, feel free to browse through the projects. By click on the projects, you can read more about them, and at the bottom you can rate the projects by clicking on an appropriate number of stars. 10 stars is the highest rating you can give, and you can only give ”ten stars” to one project.
- The website also gives further information about the contest and the prize so feel free to take a look.