This is a period of rapid development when more than a million
new neural connections are formed every second. As young
children are busy trying to understand who they are and how
the world works, they are influenced by many factors, including
relationships with parents and caregivers, experiences at home
or in child care and the influences of the community in which
they grow up. It’s these earliest moments that matter most.
But too many young children are not reaching their full potential because existing approaches to early learning and development are not sufficiently addressing today’s challenges. Learn more about the Prize design and topic.
Whether you represent a nonprofit or for-profit, are a researcher, entrepreneur, teacher or parent — or have other expertise to offer — we have designed a prize tier with you in mind.
New Innovators with a very early concept in development could receive a share of $100k in funding.
Early stage innovators with at least one-year prototyping or piloting experience could receive a share of $400k in funding.
Advanced Innovators with 3 to 10+ years of experience could receive a share of $500k in funding.
We need the brainpower of thinkers from diverse backgrounds who are willing to offer innovative ideas, lend mentorship and expertise, and invest capital to solve this problem together.
Ideas should demonstrate an understanding of the problem that clearly aligns with one of the Opportunity Areas described in the Prize Brief.
We are looking for new or more effective ways to maximize children’s potential during their first three years of life. Ideas should push the boundaries of what is being done and think beyond current conventional wisdom.
Relevant indicators include:
Idea is aligned with one or more Innovation Targets
Idea should use a new approach or use an existing approach in a different way
Ideas should show evidence of prototyping solutions and incorporating feedback from the children, parents, teachers or others they are designed for.
Relevant indicators include:Idea is collecting feedback from end users in order to solve a real problem for children, 0-3, their parents or supportive providers and systems
Idea shows evidence of prototyping and testing concept, in order to best address the needs of children 0-3 and their families
Is the idea’s execution possible or achievable? Is there a proposed pathway to implementation and validation that the team or organization behind it can lead?
Relevant indicators include: There is a current or prospective team that could advance the idea
The idea demonstrates how it is feasible and viable from a technical and operational perspective*
Beyond funding through this Prize, there are clear pathways to implementation and financial support to build on the idea*
*Only for advanced innovators.
While proposed ideas aren’t required to solely focus on low-income children and families, innovators should be able to describe how their solution could eventually impact low-income children, 0-3, and their families.
Relevant indicators include:Accessibility to those with limited resources.
Starting small and local is often an essential need, but participants should describe how their ideas could be applied at scale, geographically as well as operationally. While the purpose of the Prize is not to grow existing solutions, we want to understand how a successful idea could scale in the future. This consideration will have added emphasis for Early Stage Innovators and Advanced Innovators.
Relevant indicators include:
Potential market size addressed by the solution*
Estimated long-term economic potential of the idea*
Anticipated barriers to scale
*Only for Advanced Innovators
This prize is focused on solutions that can be implemented in the United States. If you are an innovator from another part of the world, we welcome your participation and ask that you address how your solution fits into the early childhood context in the United States.
While we value and understand that participants have limited time, we believe that part of what makes open innovation magical is the connections and ideas that are shared among innovators, experts, people with skills that you need, and investors. This is why we added collaboration as a bonus indicator in our criteria rubric.
Relevant indicators include:Participants respond to clarifying questions made via comments by the OpenIDEO Community Management team
Participants provide feedback to other participants
To be a top idea, your submission should show the promise of creating deep impact.
Relevant indicators include:Could lead to long-lasting outcomes
Will catalyze positive changes in the lives of children and families
Could lead to wider or systemic positive change
Yes. We encourage you to submit your idea as early as possible and continue to edit it. The form will be locked and you won’t be able to edit content after 12 p.m. PST on February 15, 2018.
You can spend as little or as much time as you’d like. If you are looking to spend a minimal amount of time, just fill out the entry form. Or, you can commit more time by learning from other innovators, getting feedback from mentors and continuing to advance your idea. The more you put into the process, the more you can expect to get out of it. Only New Innovators will be scored on participation and collaboration.
Yes. If your organization and/or team is working on a few projects on the topic, please include them.
Yes. If you complete your submission by December 22, 2017, you will be paired with an expert innovator to help improve your submission. If you add your concept early, you’ll also receive feedback from the OpenIDEO team, peer participants and get more support to make your entry the best it can be, while also learning design thinking in the process.
This prize is focused on solutions that can be implemented in the United States. If you are an innovator from another part of the world, we welcome your participation and ask that you address how your solution fits into the early childhood context in the United States.
New Innovators may be individuals or teams of individuals. Early Stage Innovators and Advanced Innovators must be either 501(c)(3) organizations (or have fiscal sponsorship by a 501(c)(3) organization), corporations, partnerships or limited liability companies.
Depending on your particular circumstances, prizes may be taxable. Please consult your tax advisor. GCI will comply with all applicable U.S. federal tax rules regarding reporting payment of the prizes.
As long as you are authorized to submit an idea on behalf of a team or organization, it doesn't matter who submits it. You can also create a profile for your organization and add team members.
Please answer all the questions in the submission form. At this stage, we are not asking for a business plan or budget. Ideas being considered for funding will be asked for additional materials in March 2018.
All content published is available to the public. If there is sensitive material, please note that and email us at hello@openideo.com with the title ‘EC Prize - Confidential” Please include a link to your public submission. For more information visit our Terms and Conditions.
Winners are the highest scoring submissions in each category and will be awarded funding. Promising Ideas have received high scores but not high enough to be considered for funding. Promising Ideas will be invited to join the Early Childhood Innovation Network and will continue to receive support via mentorship and opportunities to apply for funding.
There is no set number. But we are looking for the best ideas in each category that can benefit from the funding amount available.
Prizes awarded to New Innovators will have no
restrictions or conditions, although the winners will
be encouraged to remain engaged in the innovator
network and stay in touch with the prize Sponsor on
the development of their ideas.
Early Stage Innovators and Advanced Innovators
who are awarded prizes must sign a grant agreement
requiring them to, among other things: (i) submit a
report one year after receiving funding about their
progress toward achieving their proposed innovative
solutions, (ii) provide a detailed accounting of
how your funds were spent, and (iii) use the funds
to further the charitable purposes of the Early
Childhood Innovation Prize as approved by GCI.
Any portion of the award that is not expended or
committed for the charitable purposes authorized by
GCI must be returned. Prize funding can/cannot be
used as reimbursement for expenses that predate the
award.
The following persons are not eligible to receive
awards:
(a) GCI’s current and former full-time employees,
officers, and agents,
(b) any members of the immediate families (parent,
child, sibling and spouse of each) and those living in
the same households as the persons listed in (a),
(c) any members of the immediate families (parent,
child, sibling and spouse of each) and those living in
the same households as the judges or members of
the selection committee, and
(d) individuals who are part of the selection
committee.
Gary Community Investments, which includes The Piton Foundation, invests in for-profit and philanthropic solutions for Colorado’s low-income children and their families. The Early Childhood Innovation Prize is part of GCI’s multi-million dollar commitment to catalyzing early childhood innovation. While our prize capital will build a pipeline and support the best ideas from around the country, we are ultimately focused on improving the school readiness of children in Colorado. Because of this, we expect our post-prize investments to support solutions that have the greatest potential for positively impacting the lives of Colorado’s young children.
OpenIDEO is IDEO’s open innovation portfolio, empowering people to design solutions to the toughest societal challenges, and working with partners around the world to bring these solutions to life.
