Current events

Saint George’s day, Monday 23 April, is to mark the start of the UOC&PLUGGED 2012 challenge to reward the best ideas and projects for entrepreneurship. The UOC aims to dedicate nearly 80,000 euros in training for the teams presenting the best proposals. There are also to be workshops and knowledge pills to strengthen those ideas that, though creative, are not shortlisted. All the selected ideas will have the chance to evolve as entrepreneurial projects with help from advisors and university faculty, and support from the network of associated companies and media.

The first phase of the competition involves collecting ideas via the openminds.uoc.edu/plug website in one of the eight categories: social learning, finances, resources, wiki-economy, governance, communication, health and urban planning. The best ideas are then to be whittled down with both the general public and a jury voting in each of the categories. The competition is open to everyone, whether they want to propose an idea or vote on them.

The challenge has been called UOC&PLUGGED to reflect its ability to provide a moment for everyone to disconnect and plug back in again with renewed creativity in order to rethink things and improve social well-being. The initiative has received support from renowned leaders of social innovation including Beth Noveck, former leader of the White House Open Government Initiative; Derrick de Kerckhove, researcher and former director of the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology; Joan Melé, Assistant Director of Triodos Bank, Spain, and Vicente Guallart, Director of Urban Habitat and Chief Architect, Barcelona City Council.