About the Challenge
The Stanford Center on Longevity invites university students from around the world to participate in its eighth annual Design Challenge.
With thanks to our sponsors, we are pleased to offer the following awards for winners and finalists:
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Cash prizes: $10,000 (1st place), $5,000 (2nd place), $2,000 (3rd place)
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Finalists receive:
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- $1000 for prototyping and presentation development
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- Mentorship and personalized coaching from leading industry experts and researchers
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- Airfare and hotel reimbursement for 1 student from each team to attend the Finals at Stanford University to present their idea (conditions permitting).
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The challenge runs concurrent with the 2020-2021 academic year, with initial submissions due by December 10th, 2020 and finalists presenting at Stanford University in April, 2021. For more details, visit the Center on Longevity Design Challenge website.
About the 2021Theme
This year’s contest challenges teams to create solutions for “After the Pandemic: Designing the Next Version of our World.”
The COVID-19 pandemic is bringing into sharper focus the cultural norms that guide us through life and is providing insights about what a new future might look like. The suddenness of this transformation is allowing us to examine daily practices, social norms, and institutions from perspectives that are rarely possible. For a short window of time, before new routines and practices replace familiar old ones, we are seeing with greater clarity how our lives might be improved, how current shifts could become enduring changes, what new norms might emerge, and how a new future might look.
How is the pandemic changing our lives?
In parallel to this Challenge, the Center on Longevity has launched an online project, called The New Map of Life – After the Pandemic, to gather expert opinions and perspectives about how our social and cultural norms might change as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. These perspectives are being collected on the Stanford Center on Longevity website and are available as a source of inspiration and ideas.
What kinds of designs are included?
Solutions for remote or virtual access will be included in the scope of the challenge, but we encourage participants to think more broadly. These products, programs, or services can be for work, school, healthcare, fitness, personal relationships, or any other aspect of life. Here are a few examples of questions raised by the pandemic that could be addressed:
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If remote work is to become more common, are there ways in which we can re-invigorate local community connections as people spend more time at home?
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How can more people of any age access quality education from anywhere?
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How can healthcare be administered equitably with limited resources?
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What are the best ways for different generations to connect when they live apart?
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How can we maintain our health and fitness without going to the gym?
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What have we learned from our change in activity about how we can reduce our impact on the environment, and how can we apply those lessons going forward?
