University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann is looking to award a graduating Penn senior or group of up to five seniors with the recently-announced President’s Innovation Prize of $100,000 (plus a $50,000 living stipend per team member). Jointly administered by Penn’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF) and Penn Center for Innovation (PCI), the competition is seeking out the next big profitable yet socially responsible business idea created by Penn students. The application deadline is February 12, 2016, and a winner will be announced in April.
“At the Mack Institute we witness on a daily basis what can happen when students apply their creativity and passion towards creating impact,” says Executive Director Saikat Chaudhuri, “everything from launching new businesses to tackling the innovation challenges of incumbent firms. So we’re very excited to see what new heights this prize will enable Penn’s innovative students to reach.”
Penn has a history of being the home of socially responsible startups from Warby Parker to Sweet Bites. The President’s Innovation Prize is a commercial extension of President Gutmann’s Engagement Prizes, which recognize graduating seniors who use their Penn education to address local, national, and global engagement projects. The prize is also the first of its kind at Penn and across other higher education institutions in seeking to award students who strive to make a social impact with their knowledge.
For more information about the President’s Innovation Prize, students can attend one of the upcoming information sessions in CURF’s Fireside Lounge. UPDATE Dec. 2015: The info sessions will resume for the Spring 2016 semester on Thursday, January 14.