The inaugural Hult Prize@BU competition, a startup contest focused on social impact, kicked off at Boston University’s BUild Lab Monday.
The Hult Prize competition is an annual crowdsourcing competition that aims to address issues around the globe and is often called the “Nobel Prize for Students,” according to the Innovate@BU website.
The on-campus event is a quarterfinal program for the Hult Prize competition. It is being held in partnership with Innovate@BU and with support from the entrepreneurship clubs on campus, according to the Innovate@BU website.
The winning team at BU will advance to the regional final and could advance to the international competition held at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, according to the Hult Prize website.
Winners of the international competition receive $1 million in startup capital, according to the Hult Prize website.
The competition is entering its 10th year and is held in partnership with the U.N. and the Clinton Global Initiative, said Hult Prize@BU Campus Director Priya Krishnamoorthy.
Each year, the competition features a challenge aligned with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, Krishnamoorthy said. This year’s goal is youth unemployment, which Krishnamoorthy said she believes is relevant because of the large number of youth that currently do not possess jobs.
“Given that BU is a university, and any higher education institution is essentially trying to prepare young people to go out there and take on the world and be relevant and useful, this is a challenge that I think is an important one to address,” Krishnamoorthy said.
The challenge was announced by former President Bill Clinton, and each team must develop an idea to “provide meaningful work for 10,000 youth within the next decade,” according to the Hult Prize challenge document.
The last day to register ideas for the BU competition is Nov. 13, Krishnamoorthy said, with the final competition at the university culminating on Dec. 10.
The Hult Prize competition aligns with Innovate@BU’s mission to help students “create impact in a way that is meaningful to them,” Innovate@BU Marketing and Communications Manager Ahlea Isabella wrote in an email.
“The Hult Competition is a program that allows students to not only practice and learn innovation skills, but put those skills to use by developing an idea that creates impact,” Isabella wrote. “Even more, the program allows students a safe space to test their idea, fine tune it, change it, and make mistakes.”
Pedro De La Fuente Gonzalez, a second-year graduate student in the Questrom School of Business, said he thinks the competition’s opportunities for idea exchange and emphasis on social impact make it valuable for student entrepreneurs.
“I think the whole entrepreneur community should always be connected, because there’s always contacts and people who can help build on an idea,” Gonzalez said. “I like the prize in particular because it focuses on social impact … From an investor perspective, there’s always a focus on returns, and I like entrepreneurship that also focus[es] on returns based on impact.”
Though the contest involves startup creation, Krishnamoorthy said it is not limited to business students.
“You don’t have to be a Questrom student to be part of this competition,” Krishnamoorthy said.
“… and that’s what the advantage is. The reason why I think Innovate@BU is supporting this idea, and BU in general is supporting this idea, is because they want students to be self-starters, and they are training students to be self-starters, which is a fantastic thing.”
Mia Zhu, a first-year graduate student studying arts administration in the Metropolitan College, got involved with The Hult Prize@BU after hearing about it through her program’s newsletter, she wrote in an email.
“I was extremely intrigued and surprised by such an opportunity that’s there to encourage entrepreneurship and creativity for young people at BU,” Zhu wrote.
Zhu wrote that she thinks BU has a reputation as being an innovative university and that the Hult Prize is one of many amazing opportunities it provides.
“The Hult Prize hosting at BU really proves that BU commits to facilitate and incubate creativity,” Zhu wrote. “On top of that, it really proves the effort of encouraging entrepreneurship across all disciplines, engineering, medicine, sustainability and the cultural industry.”
