• Individual and Team Participation Requirements - Who is eligible to complete in Wege Prize?

• The Challenge - What does Wege Prize challenge competitors to accomplish?

• The Process - What kinds of materials are Wege Prize competitors expected to submit and when?

• Judging Criteria - What are Wege Prize judges looking for?

• The Fine Print - What am I agreeing to by competing in Wege Prize?
  

PLEASE NOTE: WEGE PRIZE IS A TEAM COMPETITION—INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPATION IS NOT ALLOWED.

TO BE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE IN WEGE PRIZE, TEAMS MUST:

• Have exactly five members

• Represent at least three (3) different academic disciplines*

• Represent at least two (2) different institutions of higher education, such as colleges, universities, or separate colleges/schools within a larger university. (For instance, a team member from Example University's School of Engineering and a team member from Example University's School of Earth Sciences would be considered as representing two different institutions.)*

*These are the minimum requirements. Teams with the greatest disciplinary and institutional diversity will likely have a higher probability of success.

TO BE ELIGIBLE TO JOIN A TEAM, INDIVIDUALS MUST:

• Attend a college, university, or equivalent institution of higher education anywhere in the world

• Be a student enrolled in a full-time (or equivalent) undergraduate, graduate, or post-graduate program, for the entire duration of the competition*

*Teams can be composed of a mix of undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students if they so choose. 

HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT INDIVIDUAL OR TEAM ELIGIBILITY? EMAIL THEM TO WICKED@WEGEPRIZE.ORG.

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THE CHALLENGE FOR WEGE PRIZE PARTICIPANTS IS TO:

• Build a strong and diverse transdisciplinary team of five

• Identify a complex, “wicked” problem to address

• Develop a compelling solution to the problem that is built on the three core principles of the circular economy:

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

• Products

• Services

• Business models

Over the course of nine months, from the opening of the application period through the final presentation and awards event, teams will compete to advance through up to four distinct phases, growing their ideas from an informal proposal into a robust and feasible solution informed by research, market analysis, and real-world prototyping and testing. Each step of the way, they will be guided by direct feedback from a panel of expert judges who will help them strengthen their ideas, push the limits of possibility, and support bringing their plans into fruition.

WEGE PRIZE IS LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS THAT ARE:

• Circular - helping accelerate the transition to a circular economy and a shift towards renewables

• Innovative - providing unique value and exploring untapped potential

• Viable - demonstrating marketability, profitability, and financial sustainability

• Scaleable - moving effectively from local to global impact

• Systemic - accounting for the way in which parts of a system both influence each other and work as a whole

WEGE PRIZE IS NOT LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS THAT ARE: 

• Recycling/upcycling-focused - these approaches accept waste as inevitable—truly circular solutions design out waste entirely

• Reliant on assumed behavioral change - if behavioral change is needed for your solution to work, how will you help drive it? 

• Exclusively app-based - while an app can be one component of a circular solution, it cannot be the only component

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Through each phase of the competition, teams will be judged on the following criteria:

DEPTH OF RESEARCH

• Have you clearly identified the problem you’re trying to solve?

• To what depth have you studied and analyzed the problem?

• Have you researched existing solutions?

• Have you consulted experts to refine your solution?

PRESENTATION

• Is your presentation organized, and does it deliver a clear message?

• Have you gotten creative and thought outside the box when developing your presentation?

• Can you provide immediate and thoughtful answers to the judges’ questions?

INNOVATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

• Does your solution help accelerate us into a circular economy?

• Is your solution technologically, economically, and financially feasible?

• Is there proven customer need for your solution?

• Is there sufficient motivation for people to use your solution?

• What system conditions need to exist to make your solution possible?

• If your solution builds on an existing project or research you’re already involved in, to what extent have you built upon it?

• Have you prototyped your solution?

COLLABORATION

• Have you built a strong and balanced transdisciplinary team?

• Have you engaged all of your teammates in the development of your solution?

• Beyond dividing up different tasks, have you worked across disciplinary boundaries and brought your different perspectives together?

• Have you effectively engaged mentors and/or subject matter experts in your design process?

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This competition is void where prohibited by law. There is no fee to enter the competition, however, you are responsible for any costs you may incur for creating and submitting the materials that comprise your solution.

Upon the date of submission, your solutions and any materials that comprise them will remain your intellectual property, which you are free to develop and promote at your own discretion. However, by submitting the materials that comprise your solution in this competition, you automatically grant Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (KCAD) and The Wege Foundation the right to use said materials, as well as your personal profile information, including but not limited to, name, school, major, team name, image, and likeness, for any non-commercial purpose, including display, promotion, and assessment. Any non-commercial use of the materials that comprise your solution by the above parties will be accompanied by the appropriate attribution as to their creator and/or source.

To win, teams must have at least one member in attendance to present at the final presentation and awards event. All winners of cash prizes are solely responsible for any applicable U.S. income tax. U.S. income taxes will be withheld from any cash prize awarded to foreign citizens.

Any team or individual that fails to meet the eligibility requirements at any point in the competition will be disqualified. No exemptions to the individual and/or team eligibility requirements will be granted unless an Act of God is involved, including but not limited to, death or life-threatening injury of a team member, death or life-threatening injury in the immediate family of a team member, and extreme weather conditions.

Winners will be notified in person and will be required to complete an affidavit or declaration of eligibility/liability release, a publicity release, and such other documents as may be required by KCAD and The Wege Foundation. Required documents must be signed and received within 7 days of the date printed on the prize notification. Failure to comply or return of any prize notification as undeliverable may result in forfeiture of prize. A parent or guardian of a winner not of the age of majority in his or her state of residence will be required to ratify and sign required documents. Accepting prize money constitutes permission (except where prohibited by law) to use winners’ names, educational background (including name of institution and major of study) and/or likenesses for promotional purposes without further notice or monetary compensation.

Rules and regulations subject to change.

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