$150,000 To Be Won In The Facebook Innovation Challenge

About Facebook

Facebook is an online social networking service headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Its website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg with his Harvard College roommates and fellow students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. The founders had initially limited the website’s membership to Harvard students, but later expanded it to colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It gradually added support for students at various other universities and later to high-school students. Since 2006, anyone who is at least 13 years old was allowed to become a registered user of the website, though the age requirement may be higher depending on applicable local laws. Its name comes from the face book directories often given to American university students.

After registering to use the site, users can create a user profile, add other users as “friends”, exchange messages, post status updates and photos, share videos, use various apps and receive notifications when others update their profiles. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or college, or other characteristics, and categorize their friends into lists such as “People From Work” or “Close Friends”. Also users can complain or block unpleasant people. Facebook had over 1.18 billion monthly active users as of August 2015.

Because of the large volume of data users submit to the service, Facebook has come under scrutiny for their privacy policies. Facebook, Inc. held its initial public offering in February 2012 and began selling stock to the public three months later, reaching an original peak market capitalization of $104 billion. On July 13, 2015, Facebook became the fastest company in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to reach a market cap of $250 billion. Following its Q3 earnings call in 2015, Facebook’s market cap soared past $300 billion.

About the Facebook Innovation Challenge

Applications are currently ongoing for the Facebook Innovation Challenge. Win $150,000 in the Facebook Innovation Challenge. The Internet.org Innovation Challenge in Africa supports Internet.org’s vision of a connected world. To this end, the goal of the Challenge is to recognize individuals and organizations that are working on internet-based solutions to promote education and economic empowerment in countries throughout Africa. The Challenge will encourage the development of apps, websites and online services that provide real value for people under the following pillars:

(1) Learning/Education:

Apps, websites or online services that make use of technology to inspire and deliver learning

(2) Economic Empowerment:

Apps, websites or online services that help to advance the economic strength and ability of communities

Prizes

One Innovation Challenge Award prize in the amount of $150,000 USD will be presented to the app, website or service that the judges determine best meets the needs of each of the two categories: Learning/Education and Economic Empowerment (2 awards total). Each of the Innovation Challenge Award winners will also be eligible to receive more than $60,000 USD in tools and services from FbStart, a Facebook program designed to help early stage mobile startups build and grow their apps.

In addition, two Impact Award prizes in the amount of $50,000 USD will be presented to two apps, websites or services designed for each of the two pillars (4 awards total).

Win $150,000 in the Facebook Innovation Challenge

Timeline

We will begin accepting entries on December 1, 2015. All entries must be received by May 1, 2016. Winners will be announced in September 2016.

Rules

Please review the Internet.org Innovation Challenge rules carefully before entering.

Download the PDF

Request a copy by emailing [email protected].

Please send a signed copy of the rules to [email protected] in addition to the application below.

Click here to apply online!

FAQ

1. Why is the Challenge focused on African communities, and two pillars: Education/Learning and Economic Empowerment?

Five of the ten fastest growing economies in the world are African countries. The challenge hopes to insure that communities in these quickly growing economies are well-equipped with internet technologies for learning and economic empowerment. Internet.org believes that education and economic empowerment will enable equitable economic growth and development in these communities.

2. Who is eligible to participate?

Individuals and organizations around the world are eligible to participate so long as their applications, websites or services are designed to meet the needs of the above mentioned categories. (Note: Residents of countries where the United States has trade restrictions will not be eligible. See the “Rules” section above for details.)

3. Does it matter what platform I’m using to develop my app?

You may develop your app, website or service on any platform, so long as it works on a mobile device. Keep in mind that the platform you choose will affect your application’s potential reach, which is a consideration in the judging process. In order to maximize your potential reach, consider widely accessible platforms like mobile web and Android. If you are looking for a hosting platform, Parse offers free application tools and limited hosting.

4. What if my app isn’t in English?

Your app, website, or service can be in any language; we encourage you to provide local and multilingual support. However, your application and all supporting materials must be in English.

5. Does my app have to be finished?

Your app, website or service must be in a working state. We cannot accept prototypes. If your submission is not yet publicly available, be sure to include the timeline for public launch as part of your entry.

6. Who are the judges?

A diverse, global panel of technology leaders will determine the winners of the Challenge:

• Ike Eze – Executive Director, eTranzact
• Ameet Suri, Partnerships Manager, Internet.org/Facebook
• Nikhil Khanna, Ideation Manager, Awethu Project
• Terryanne Chebet, Senior Anchor Citizen TV, Kenya

7. How will you choose the winners?

Entries will be judged based on innovation, impact, scalability and launch-readiness.

• Innovation: How original, groundbreaking or creative is the app, website or service?
• Impact: Will the app, website or service impact numerous lives in meaningful ways?
• Scalability: Does the app, website or service scale technically? What percentage of the designated population will it reach? Is the content localized? Is multilingual support available?
• Launch-readiness: How soon will the app, website or service be publicly available, beyond prototypes and limited trials, if it isn’t already? If it’s already publicly available, how stable and consistent is its performance?

Selection of winners will take place at the judges’ sole discretion.

8. How will winners be notified?

Winners will be contacted by email in September. Due to the volume of submissions we anticipate, only winners will be notified once selection has taken place.

9. Can I enter more than once?

If you have more than one app, website or service that serves the needs of the designated populations, you may enter more than once. However, a maximum of one prize will be awarded to each individual or organization.

10. I have more questions. Where can I find out more?

Please review the complete Challenge rules, which contain additional information not covered by this FAQ. If you have any other questions, you can reach us at [email protected].

11. How can I stay up-to-date on the Internet.org Innovation Challenge?

Subscribe to receive updates by sending an email to [email protected].