Change the world with Google's Project 10^100

By Stephen Withers
Thursday, 25 September 2008 02:53

Strategy

Got an idea that might make a big difference to a lot of people if only you could find the funding to start putting it into action? One of Google's tenth birthday projects has $US10 million to spend on five such ideas.

Project 10^100 (ten to the hundredth) is looking for exciting ideas that can help as many people as possible.

What sort of ideas? Google cites as examples plans to distribute a rollable 24-gallon water container to make life easier for those having to walk ling distances to a water supply, and a store-and-forward Wi-Fi system mounted on buses to provide basic connectivity to remote areas.

While Google expects most ideas to fall into the categories of community, opportunity, energy, environment, health, education, and shelter, there's also a catch-all category recognising that "sometimes the best ideas don't fit into any category at all."

Whichever category an idea falls into, it will be judged on five criteria:

How many people would this idea affect?

How deeply are people impacted? How urgent is the need?

Can this idea be implemented within a year or two?

Please read on for the remaining criteria and details of the judging process.