CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital technologies and artificial intelligence change rapidly, but organizations and workers' skillsets aren't keeping pace. Millions of people have already been left behind, and this trend is only expected to intensify.
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In response, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Initiative on the Digital Economy has launched its first annual Inclusive Innovation Competition (IIC) www.MITinclusiveinnovation.com.
The IIC will award $1 million to organizations that are inventing a more inclusive, productive, and sustainable future for all by focusing on improving economic opportunity for middle- and base-level income earners. Both for-profit and non-profit organizations of any size, age, type and nationality are encouraged to apply. Organizations will be judged on how well they have harnessed the modern toolkit of technology and developed breakthrough approaches that raise economic prospects for middle- and base-level income earners.
The competition is being funded with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, The NASDAQ Educational Foundation, and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
Organizations will compete in the following four categories:
Skills: How do we re-skill members of our workforce to prepare them for opportunities of the future?
Matching: How do we better match labor supply with demand? How do we connect qualified individuals with open opportunities for work?
Humans + Machines: How do we augment human labor with technology so that the outcome is greater than either human or machine could achieve alone?
New Models: How do we create new operational practices and business models to revolutionize the existing labor market and thus create new economic opportunities?
Four grand prize champions, one in each of the four categories, will receive $125,000 awards. Sixteen competition winners – four in each category—will receive $25,000 awards.
IIC judges will also select a handful of uniquely inventive organizations to receive "Judges' Choice" awards.
Applicants must register by June 1, 2016 and submit applications by June 15, 2016 when the competition closes. Winners will be announced in partnership with MIT SOLVE (solve.mit.edu) during Boston's HUBweek (hubweekboston.com) on September 27, 2016.
For more on the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, visit: mitsloan.mit.edu/ide
For more on the MIT Innovation Initiative, visit: innovation.mit.edu
For more on MIT Sloan School of Management, visit: mitsloan.mit.edu
