Louis Cole and Dave Erasmus have been searching the globe for talent, and can now announce the Solvey project winners.
Dave and Louis travelled around the world for 30 days hosting “Idea Jam Sessions” to meet with communities and discuss solutions to local and national issues. Louis described the tour as an “intense” but “rewarding” experience.
The pair put a call out for people to send video pitches for ideas to the Solvey project, which seeks to support and get them off the ground. 145 people from 40 countries across the world sent in pitches, and the applicants ranged from 12 to 67 years old.
The projects spotlighted by Solvey this year offer creative solutions to the issues of healthcare, education, global connection, sanitation, employment, housing, and recycling. The creators behind them will receive $1,000 backing from the project, and will be mentored and supported over the next year.
Several of the winning entries come from people living in India and South America. Dave explained to Forbes that, particularly Brazil and India, are “examples of societies where people have a freedom to express but there serious environmental challenges, and development is lagging. So residents have the ability to be creative, entrepreneurial and expressive”.
Forbes published a full list of the spotlighted projects and the creators behind them. The ideas include rethinking architectural planning in slums in Venezuela, developing a medicine bank to use wasted or excess medicine in Brazil, and a book bank to repurpose old books in India.
However, the Solvey project is designed not only to support selected projects, but also to foster a community of creative thinkers where people can collaborate and benefit from each other’s ideas. “As we’ve been going through this process it’s been emerging that Solvey is more of a community than a competition,” Dave explained in a Google Hangout.
Louis added that the announcement of the winning applicants isn’t the end of the journey for Solvey. “This is an continuing journey,” he said, “and I’m very excited to keep this community very alive, and [continue] to discuss ideas”.
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