President's Challenge Kicks Off at I-Lab Mixer

The President’s Challenge, a competition meant to encourage social entrepreneurship across the University, kicked off with an introductory meeting attended by almost 250 people at the Harvard Innovation Lab Wednesday night.

The Challenge, announced by University President Drew G. Faust last week, will provide ten groups of students with resources to develop solutions to five global issues—clean air, clean water, education, global health, and personal health.

“We’re unleashing unbelievable talent at Harvard University in a way that has a structure for unbelievable success,” said Harvard Business School professor Allen S. Grossman, who teaches a class on social entrepreneurship. “We’re going to do a lot of good for a lot of people.”

After Grossman’s introductory remarks, students were encouraged to mingle with other attendees, find teammates, and brainstorm innovative project ideas.

Students said the broadness of the topics, announced Wednesday night, made determining a specific project idea difficult.

“I would have liked it if they’d said, ‘Harvard wants you to solve x,’” said Natasha Sunderji, a student at the Harvard Kennedy School. “Having all these great minds working together in one room, you might actually find results.”

Many student said that they had not come to the mixer with a specific project idea in mind. Instead, they came to learn about the challenge, which is in its inaugural year.

Emily M. Kraemer ’15 said she attended the event in hopes of joining a team of students with a creative idea.

“I want to be a part of something where I’m working for a purpose, not just learning for the sake of learning,” Kraemer said.

The President’s Challenge, sponsored by Faust and supported by the I-Lab, will give each of the ten final teams $5,000 to develop their designs.

The University will announce the winner of the competition just before Commencement. That group will then have access to research space in the I-Lab through August 2012 and will split a $100,000 prize with two runner-up teams.

Students affiliated with a Harvard graduate or undergraduate program are eligible to participate in the initiative, which seeks to encourage collaboration across disciplines.

“Bringing together people from different schools and different backgrounds is a great way to solve problems,” said Michael B. Hadley, a student at Harvard Medical School.

I-Lab Director Gordon S. Jones said he hoped the project would encourage people who otherwise might not have had a reason to visit the building to make use of its resources.

“My hope is that there are a lot of people who may not have seen the I-Lab physically but will realize that they want to utilize it,” Gordon said.

Ten students interviewed Wednesday night said the mixer was their first time visiting the I-Lab.

The I-Lab will host another mixer for students next week.

—Staff writer Hana N. Rouse can be reached at hrouse@college.harvard.edu.