Fifteen Tel Aviv University students will advance to the regional finals of the
fourth annual Hult Prize, a startup accelerator for social good created as a
response to a challenge from former US president Bill Clinton.
“Tel Aviv
University is proud to have 15 of its international graduate students
participating in this important competition,” Prof. Ra’anan Rein, vice president
of Tel Aviv University, wrote in a statement.
TAU is sending three
five-member teams to the competition from different programs in the the
International Graduate School.
The Hult Prize is a worldwide student
competition conducted in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative and
dedicated to “solving the most pressing social challenges on the
planet.”
Student teams compete in five cities around the world – Boston,
San Francisco, London, Dubai and Shanghai – for a chance to win $1 million in
funding to launch a startup for a sustainable social action.
This year’s
challenge revolves around the global food crisis, a theme personally selected by
Clinton. The students have to submit ideas to combat food insecurity, providing
safe, efficient, affordable and easily accessible food to the millions of people
around the globe who live in urban slums.
“We believe that these diverse
groups will combine TAU’s strong academics and Israel’s entrepreneurial spirit,
to find creative solutions to the issue of food security,” Rein
said.
Three separate teams of TAU students will compete – in London, San
Francisco and Boston.
A team from the university’s Conflict Resolution
and Mediation Program – made up of students from South Korea, the United States,
France and Colombia – will compete in London.
A group from the Porter
School Environmental Studies Program will compete in San Francisco.
“The
subject of the competition is highly challenging, but surely encouraging,” team
member Joshua Victor, from India, said. “We feel honored and excited about being
able to work against poverty and hunger in urban slums across the
world.”
And students from TAU’s Sofaer International MBA program will
compete in Boston, with members representing Sweden, Argentina, the US, Canada
and Israel.
“We know how important it is to come up with a solution that
is not only relevant, but also feasible,” said team member Boaz Gavish said. He
added that his team is planning to research urban hunger first-hand, during its
upcoming MBA trip to India.
Dr. Stephen Hodges, president of the Hult
International Business School, said that the Hult Prize is thrilled to have Tel
Aviv University students participating in the initiative.
“This year’s
competition has received a record number of entries, bringing together some of
the most talented students to help solve global food security, which can benefit
nearly a billion people,” he added.
Some 10,000 team applications were
received for this year’s contest, including more than 350 colleges and
universities, from about 150 countries. The regional competitions will take
place on March 1 and 2 in the five different cities.
Following the
regional finals, one winning team from each host city will move into a summer
business incubator, where participants will be mentored and advised as they
create prototypes and launch their new social startup.
The final round of
the competition will be hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative at its annual
meeting, where the winning team will be awarded the $1m.
prize by Clinton
himself.
“The Hult Prize is a wonderful example of the creative
cooperation needed to build a world with shared opportunity, shared
responsibility and shared prosperity, and each year I look forward to seeing the
many outstanding ideas the competition produces,” Clinton released in a
statement.
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