New World Award

The winners of Intel's "New World" Innovation Award for Non-Profits were announced yesterday, with 17 Chinese NGOs awarded prizes for technological innovation, worth up to CNY 120,000 each. In a surprise decision by the judging committee, no first prize was awarded in the "technology development" category. In its place, additional prizes were awarded in the "pioneer" category, recognizing a large number of projects that show great potential although they are still at a very early stage.

The award ceremony followed a Technology for Social Innovation Summit, held yesterday afternoon during the Intel Developer Forum. The Summit featured a number of eminent speakers, including well-known economist Mao Yushi, and NetHope CEO William Brindley.

Prize-winners and finalists are listed below. Some project titles are linked to articles which have previously appeared on this blog, while the "Chinese summary" links refer to material on the award website.

The Youth Climate Action Network is planning to develop a website which will help car drivers calculate the most energy-efficient route between two points. The website will also allow them to record their carbon emissions, so that they can track their vehicle's total carbon footprint over time.

This project is still in the development phase, and was nominated in the "Pioneer" category of the Intel "New World" Innovation Award (the only award category open to pre-launch projects).

Many of us are accustomed to the convenience of online trip-planning, and the notable feature of this project is that it simply augments this activity. Obviously this approach is more realistic than expecting users to visit a website solely to calculate their carbon footprint (how many of us have the time or discipline to do that on a regular basis!). Popular trip-planning websites already estimate the time and distance for each of the routes which they identify, and this project proposes to add another dimension: environmental cost.

The project summary (link in Chinese) only mentions driving routes, but we hope that the website, when completed, will also allow users to compare the carbon cost of driving and public transport side-by-side.

Youth Climate Action Network is one of 30 finalists in the Intel "New World" Innovation Award for Non-Profits. The award website invites the public to vote on their favourite projects between now and April 9.

An NGO in Western China has made a commitment to transparency that is rarely seen even among nonprofits in the developed world, by giving the general public direct online access to its accounting systems. It has also developed online systems for managing project donations, as well as direct sponsorship of disadvantaged students, both of which are also fully open and searchable via the web.

Gesang Student Aid, named after the Kelsang Flower of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, is an NGO based in Xining whose mission is to support education in Tibetan communities. The online project center introduces their current projects, and welcomes online donations via AliPay. All donations (both online and offline) are listed here.

Apparently very popular with donors is the student sponsorship programme. Poor students identified by Gesanghua that meet the specified criteria are listed on the programme homepage, and via the website users can not only donate but also exchange messages with the child which they have sponsored. At the time of writing, being the middle of the school year, there are no active appeals on the website. However, all past beneficiaries and donations can be viewed or searched, and reports can be generated broken down by date and by geographic area.

Finally, the organization's internal accounting system is open to the public, allowing anybody to view the organization's up-to-the-minute itemized bank accounts, income accounts, and expense accounts.

These systems were developed in-house, and Gesanghua has expressed its willingness to share the software with other NGOs at no cost. It reports that it has already provided its accounting software to another organization.

Gesanghua Student Aid is one of 30 finalists in the Intel "New World" Innovation Award for Non-Profits. The award website invites the public to vote on their favourite projects between now and April 9. Over the coming days, we will continue to introduce some of the finalists on this blog.

Qifang is an online platform for financing student loans. Students who have been accepted into a school but can't afford the tuition costs can apply for a loan, and lenders can bid to finance all or part of the cost. Qifang works with universities and other institutions in China to verify the student's details and minimize credit risk.

Founded in 2007 by Chinese-American entrepreneur Calvin Chin, the website offers both a Chinese and English interface, and can process online payments via a range of national (AliPay, UnionPay) and international (PayPal, Visa, MasterCard) networks. Qifang was one of the Technology Pioneers named by the World Economic Forum in 2009, and has also been featured on TechCrunch.

Qifang is one of 30 finalists in the Intel "New World" Innovation Award for Non-Profits. The award website invites the public to vote on their favourite projects between now and April 9. Over the coming days, we will continue to introduce some of the finalists on this blog.

The opening ceremony of Intel's "New World" Innovation Award for Non-Profits was held in Beijing yesterday, attended by dignitaries from Intel, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, CBS Interactive and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as well as representatives from NGOs and the media. The award seeks to recognize and promote innovative use of ICT in nonprofit projects.

All NGOs that are registered in China, or recommended by a registered NGO, are eligible for nomination. Awards ranging from CNY 40,000 to 120,000 are offered in three different categories: innovative applications of technology, development of reusable technology solutions, and a "pioneer" category for projects that show great potential in an early stage. Winners will also receive ICT training from Intel and attend a learning forum. Only completed or currently active projects are eligible, and the prize money must be spent on organizational capacity development. Total prize money of CNY 1 million is on offer.

The deadline for nominations is March 5, 2010. Between March 6 and 10, thirty finalists will be chosen based on online votes and a panel of judges. After a new round of voting and interviews with the judging panel, sixteen winners will be announced in mid April.

We are very excited about this award, which is sure to stimulate discussion about ICT in the nonprofit sector, and look forward to being inspired by the winners. If that is the case, we have every reason to hope that the award will become a regular event.

More information is available from the official website: http://gongyi.sohu.com/s2010/10xinshijie (link in Chinese).