Intuit Innovation Challenge
Are you interested in sustainability and keen to learn more about design thinking? DECA, the national student business powerhouse organization, co-sponsors an event with Intuit during Global Entrepreneurship Week in which students are challenge to come up with an innovative solution to a climate change problem. This is a great way to show your teamwork, critical thinking and communication skills and to learn more about two incredible organizations.
“A premier DECA event during Global Entrepreneurship Week, the Intuit Innovation Challenge is a hands-on design thinking project, daring students around the globe to innovate for impact to help reverse the effect of global warming. Through the challenge, teams will apply Intuit’s design thinking methodology, Design for Delight, to develop an innovative sustainability solution. Teams will demonstrate their use of the design thinking process through a three-minute video presentation that brings to life their process and outcomes. The presentations should include their experiences with empathy, brainstorming and coming up with the solution, as well as experimentation within their community.”
How do I get started? Go to their website and apply.
How do I expand this narrative arc? Bring your summer work home with you and implement a related project in your community. Looking for something else? Consider one of these:
Spend part of your summer exploring the intersection between sustainability and enterprise in Sustainable Summer at Dartmouth
Reduce the environmental impact of your community’s Christmas celebrations by launching a Mulchfest.
Track climate change in your part of the world by planting a Tulip Test Garden.
Participate in a quick citizen science project that revolves around the environment or sustainability like The Big Microplastic Survey
Physically build and deploy satellite-tracked Student Drifters that track ocean currents and validate ocean models.
Apply for a grant from the Captain Planet Foundation for your own ocean related project.
HOT TIP: This is a great way for a student interested in science, environmentalism and business to unite all three into a coherent narrative arc. Have fun with the Intuit Innovation Challenge, and then take your experience to the next level when you continue your project at school or in your community.