What problem does your innovation solve?

When completing your application for Ingenious+, it’s important to be clear about the problem your project helps to solve. Think back to what inspired you to develop this innovation. You probably saw a need to improve something. Or maybe it was a challenge someone you care about was facing that got you started on the path to innovation. Whatever your motivation was, we want to hear about it!

On the application, we will ask you to answer the following question in writing or with a video submission:

Describe the problem or opportunity your innovation addresses. What do you hope to solve or improve? (max 500 words)

Here are some prompts to help you think about your answer:

• Is there a story you can tell about why you wanted to create this solution? Why is it important to you?
• How does the problem currently impact your community, your country or the world?
• What would happen if this problem doesn’t get solved?
• What are the positive impacts your solution will have? How does it make your community – or the world – a better place?

Now use these points to create your answer to the application question. Here’s a suggested structure:

1. The problem/opportunity that my innovation addresses is:
2. It impacts my community/country/world in the following ways:
3. I got inspired to create my solution because:
4. My innovation will make my community/country/world better because:

Get inspired by one of our past winners, Aaron Zhao, talking about his own motivation (starting at 6:34) :

Now put it all together and you’re ready to answer Question #2 on your Ingenious+ application!