Trinity launches the Provost’s Innovation Challenge @ Tangent

Posted on: 12 February 2019

Trinity is calling students to action; encouraging them to be independent thinkers who will make a real world impact through an exciting initiative called the ‘Provost’s Innovation Challenge @ Tangent’.

The challenge which kicks-off today will see students (and/or staff) offering solutions to global and societal problems by working in multidisciplinary teams.

The initiative begins with the Provost setting a number of societal problems for the college community – including staff and alumni – to vote on over the coming three weeks. Using the One Step Closer platform, students will vote on the societal problem that they would like to offer solutions for. The voting process will be open from February 11th to March 1st 2018.

The societal problems as set by the Provost are:
• Healthcare inefficiencies
• Homelessness
• Migration
• Pollution
• Privacy / data protection
• Reliance on plastics

The winning problem, based on the votes gathered, will be announced in three weeks with a call for students to begin to explore the problem outlined and to identify and offer real-world solutions. Students can get involved in the challenge as a team (4-5 people) or as an individual.

Teams will put forward a solution to part of that problem, breaking down the larger global or societal challenge into manageable bite sizes. For example, should the selected problem be Healthcare Inefficiencies, a solution might be the development of an app that monitors patients’ recovery after surgery. Modelled closely on Harvard iLab’s President’s Innovation Challenge, the Provost’s Innovation Challenge @ Tangent would instil a problem-solving mind-set across the college community, encourage a multi-disciplinary approach and foster the spirit of social innovation.

Commenting on the importance of the initiative, the Provost, Dr Patrick Prendergast said: “Trinity has a long-standing commitment to social innovation that is becoming more and more important in the modern world. We believe in teaching, supporting, and challenging our students to be leaders. The Innovation Challenge is another opportunity for us to support and empower our students to own the solutions to global problems, and to have a positive impact on society while they study and after they graduate.”

Supports
Ideation supports will be provided by Tangent, Trinity’s Ideas Workspace, throughout the challenge in the form of workshops, mini-hackathons and light-touch 1:1 contact hours allowing the ideas and teams to progress organically, and without requiring a huge amount of time commitment outside of studies and other duties.

Hackathon
The challenge will culminate with a hackathon organised by Tangent taking place on the first weekend of April and an event where pitches will be made to the Provost and a panel of judges who will choose the winning teams!

Winning teams will be considered for the Provost’s Innovation Award with the support of Bank of Ireland, with €10k of funding to progress their idea during Launchbox, Tangent’s Student Accelerator programme.

About Tangent, Trinity’s Ideas Workspace
Trinity is committed to providing a transformative learning environment that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship at all levels across the university. As a result, the university has established Tangent, Trinity’s Ideas Workspace housed in a world-class facility, co-located with an expanded School of Business.
Tangent is a collaborative environment for all people who are open to new possibilities.

More information
You can seek further information by visiting the Tangent website https://www.tcd.ie/tangent/accelerators/digital-health/provostinnovationchallenge/ or by contacting Alison Treacy, Student Startup & Innovation Manager at launchbox@tcd.ie