No, there is no cost to register or to participate.
Congratulations to the Semifinalists of the Milken-Motsepe Prize in FinTech!
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No, there is no cost to register or to participate.
To gain access to prize application materials, begin the process of competing, individuals will register on the prize portal and create a member profile using their name and email address.
When individuals are ready to register a team, they will update their profile in the portal as a team leader and provide their team name, team avatar, countries represented by their team, and a brief description of their team. Teams do not need to list individual team members.
Each team must be registered by a team leader. The team leader must be age of majority and will be responsible for maintaining a roster of all team members and for their ongoing compliance with the legal documents relevant to each prize.
You will register on the portal as an individual. However, only registered teams can submit entries. Once you decide you are ready to form a team, you must update your member profile to Registered Team Member.
There is no minimum or maximum number to form a team, so you are free to form a team of one person. You may also want to connect with other members or registered teams to explore opportunities to form a team with other registered members on the portal or join an existing team. The forums on the portal in particular allow you to connect with other members and identify needs or common interests for partnering.
Team leaders will:
None. Teams may add information if they wish.
There is no minimum or maximum number of individuals for forming teams. You may compete as a team of one or your team may have as many members as you wish. Note that only the Team Leader must register on the portal. It is the responsibility of the Team Leader to maintain a list of members, however individual members do not need to be registered or be listed anywhere on the portal.
A team leader is the person who is responsible for registering the team, maintaining a roster of the team members, and ensuring their ongoing compliance with the competition rules and competitor agreement.
The team leader must be age of majority and will be responsible for maintaining a roster of all team members and for their ongoing compliance with the Competition Rules and Competitor Agreement.
Yes. We have strict language protecting teams’ intellectual property in the Competitor Agreement and agreements with judges. Each team will retain complete ownership of all intellectual property developed for the competition.
Team information is confidential. Prize winners in each round, however, will be expected to demonstrate and explain their designs in public. This will not include details on prototype development or confidential business schematics.
When you are ready to register a team, follow these steps:
Once you have completed and submitted the Team Registration form, you may confirm your team registration. Follow these steps to confirm your team registration:
If you see the badge your team registration has been successful.
Please note that team leaders must be of the age of majority and will be responsible for maintaining a roster of all team members and for their ongoing compliance with the Competition Rules and Competitor Agreement.
The team leader must be of age of majority and will be responsible for maintaining a roster of all team members and for their ongoing compliance with the Competition Rules and Competitor Agreement.
You may post a discussion thread on the forums outlining what types of team members you are looking for or what your team is focused on. This is especially helpful if someone is interested but feels as if they only have “one piece of the puzzle,” we offer a matchmaking opportunity that helps individuals or groups find additional team members.
Browse the discussions in the forums to find teams or members looking to join teams.
Be sure to subscribe to any discussion you are interested in following so that you will receive email messages when new content is posted in that discussion.
Visit the Member Directory to search for other members. Use the filters to find teams by country or other filter.
If you would like to connect with a Member or Team Leader, you first need to send a “connect” request.
Once the recipient accepts your connection request, you will be able to send them private messages.
The best way to contact the Milken-Motsepe Prize Team is through our email address: mmprize@milkeninstitute.org.
You can register by going on the Milken-Motsepe Prize Portal. Click here to access.
Not at this time. English is the only language accepted for written submissions. In the future, we hope to have expanded language capacities, but we are only able to operate with English for the inaugural prize.
Please find below outreach materials in English, French, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin, Modern Standard Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swahili.
Prize Program One Pager:
AgriTech Prize One Pager:
The purpose of the Milken-Motsepe Prize in Fintech is to award companies that demonstrate the use of cutting-edge technologies to expand access to capital and financial services for small businesses in emerging and frontier markets.
The Milken-Motsepe Prize in FinTech offers $2 million in prizes. There is a $1 million grand prize for the winning team and an additional $1 million distributed to semi-finalist teams.
Registration is free and open to everyone from around the world, with a few exceptions as defined in the Participant Agreement. You may find the Participant Agreement in the Portal on the FinTech Prize page.
The Innovation Award Rules are the complete set of requirements and standards for participating. You may find the Innovation Award Rules by going to the FinTech Prize tab and clicking on the button to download the full Innovation Award Rules.
The Participant Agreement is a legally binding document that outlines the specific terms and conditions of the prize. While the team leader is the only one that will sign the Participant Agreement, it is important that all team members read and understand the Participant Agreement.
Signing the agreement:
When the team leader is ready to submit the application, there will be an option for the team leader to agree to the terms and conditions of the Participant Agreement on the application portal. It is a legally binding document, and we encourage team leaders to review it carefully with all team members. If your team wins, the team leader will assume all liability for the team and is responsible for sharing information and distributing funds to team members. Once a team is selected as a finalist, the team leader will sign a DocuSign copy of the Participant Agreement for recordkeeping.
Finalists will be required to submit additional information to compete for the Grand Prize. Finalists will be notified accordingly with instructions.
Winning teams will demonstrate the ability to deploy distributed green energy solutions at scale in Africa, with the goal of dramatically expanding access to reliable electricity. Teams should make use of new technologies or should adapt existing technologies in innovative ways to generate at least 60 kWh of off-grid electricity daily (24 hours) using green energy sources.
The Milken-Motsepe Prize in Green Energy offers a total of $2 million in prizes. There is a $1 million Grand Prize for the winning team and an additional $1 million distributed through the competition.
Here are the awards amounts that teams can receive during the competition process:
Anyone is eligible to register regardless of age, geographic location, or any other factor. Participants can be a single individual or a team of individuals, including formally incorporated businesses.
The following individuals or teams are not eligible to participate:
Young people, including minors, are welcome and encouraged to participate. However, all participating individuals under the legal age of majority in their primary residence must have an adult of legal age sign legal documents on their behalf.
No.
There is no specific profession or qualification to apply and/or register for the Milken-Motsepe Prize In Green Energy. It is open and free to anyone.
The Competition Rules are the complete set of requirements and standards for participating in the Green Energy prize competition.
You may find the competition rules by going to the Green Energy Prize tab > Download the full competition rules
You can compete either as an individual, a team, or a business.
Please see the following dates:
During the Design Round, registrants from around the world may submit design proposals via the prize’s online submission portal. Teams’ submissions must include designs for systems innovations that accelerate adoption of green energy solutions in Africa.
The deadline for Design Round submittals is March 29th, 2023 at 6pm UTC.
To submit your design for the Milken-Motsepe Prize in Green Energy, please complete the following steps:
Please note that you will have to create a Milken-Motsepe Prize Portal account and a separate SurveyMonkey (SM) Apply account in order to submit your design proposal. If selected, please note that you will use both of these accounts for the life of the competition.
Not at this time. English is the only language accepted for written submissions. In the future, we hope to have expanded language capacities, but we are only able to operate with English for this prize.
As part of the Design Round submissions, you will need to submit a video presentation or demonstration of the team’s design. The video quality is not part of the judging process. This is about content and the ability to clearly and succinctly explain your project. Please see a short list of best practices to keep in mind when recording your video submission below:
No, extensions will not be granted under any circumstances. As stated in the Competition Rules, submittals after 6 pm UTC on March 29, 2023 will be automatically disqualified.
Judges will select 20 teams to continue to the Semi-Finalist Round. These 20 teams will receive $20,000 each and will then have four months to implement a real-world demonstration (use case), with no geographical requirement, and write a case study on their innovation’s performance. Teams based outside of Africa will also need to articulate their potential to execute a demonstration of their innovation in Africa if they proceed to the Finalist Round.
The deadline for Semi-Finalist Round submittals is September 14, 2023 at 6pm UTC.
Semi-finalists for the Milken-Motsepe Prize in Green Energy are selected and presented on an unranked basis. The Milken-Motsepe Innovation Prize Program does not endorse any ranking of semi-finalists. Any ranking or preference among semi-finalists expressed or implied in media or elsewhere are those of the author or the publication alone.
Based on the use case design and execution as well as the case study document, judges will select 5 teams to advance to the Finalist Round. These Finalists will receive $70,000 each and will then have another five months to execute a second real-world demonstration, which must occur in Africa, and to prepare their final submission package for judges.
The deadline for Finalist Round submittals is March 6th, 2024 at 6pm UTC.
A group of independent global experts from relevant industries and with knowledge of Africa and relevant market conditions will judge the submissions. The judges will be independent of the teams, the Motsepe Foundation, and the Milken Institute. In addition, they will have no conflicts of interest with any of those parties.
Teams will retain complete ownership of all intellectual property developed for the competition. Through the course of the competition, teams will need to submit technical details of their innovation as well as business plans for scaling to prize judges. Teams are not required to share information they deem highly sensitive, but should determine what judges will need to understand in order to make an informed decision about which teams they select to continue in the competition (and ultimately which team wins).
Judges have a signed agreement with the Milken Institute that states the following: “The Judge acknowledges and agrees that, as between the Judge and any Team, any intellectual property submitted by a Team in connection with or as part of its Competition submission is the property of such Team, no rights are granted to the Judge thereto, and the Judge will make no claim to such intellectual property.”
The agreement with our judges also has very stringent language protecting both the Milken Institute’s and all competing teams’ confidential information. Additionally, section 9 of the Competitor Agreement teams sign explicitly states that the team retains all ownership in their intellectual property.
The Milken-Motsepe Prize in AgriTech addresses the problems faced by farmers on small to medium-sized farms in Africa. Many small and medium-sized farms in Africa face two large challenges to realizing the full economic value of the crops they plant. First, they suffer from low agricultural productivity as compared to larger firms, and second, they face significant post-harvest crop loss on their way to market. Winning teams must provide increased net economic value to the farmer by any combination of improved yield, reduced loss, and decreased costs.
The prize will incentivize scalable AgriTech solutions, cultivate and support a global community of entrepreneurs, and source global data-driven insights.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. These Global Goals are articulated through 17 urgent objectives with specific suggested actions to reach each goal. Our work therefore is not to identify what the major challenges are but rather to determine what pieces of the problem are actionable and solvable through accelerated innovation and new ideas. To focus global innovators on solving a specific problem, we have to get at the root of the problem and then determine the specific root-cause market failures and opportunities.
The Milken-Motsepe Prize in AgriTech focuses on the first two SDGs: the first SDG is to eradicate poverty and the second SDG is to have zero hunger. Ending poverty is a clear first goal. For nearly 25 years, extreme poverty was on the decline. The ravaging effects of COVID-19 have compounded a growing climate crisis, and we now face the worst setback in poverty eradication we’ve seen in a generation. It is more important than ever that we act now and accelerate change to end global poverty. Ending hunger is closely intertwined with ending poverty. To understand the root of the food crisis, experts have identified the productivity and income on small and medium-sized farms, and agriculture in developing economies specifically, as critical to solving the issue of global hunger.
We interviewed more than 60 experts with diverse experience across food systems, the majority of whom were from Africa.
The problem starts with farm productivity. With the world population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, if food loss is not reduced, food production will need to be increased by 70% and require an investment of $83 billion per year in order to meet the additional demand of 2 billion people. The problem continues “in the field” where up to 40% of harvest is lost before it even enters the distribution channels. This is the range on which we focused.
We wanted to see a broad range of innovative solutions from across the food system.
More than 80% of the farms in Africa are small or medium-sized farms. Smallholder farms produce 80% of the food in sub-Saharan Africa. Improvements or investments in smallholder farms is an effective way to lift farmers and their families out of poverty. Solutions must be able to work for small to medium-sized farms.
Harnessing the power of technology is necessary to accelerate change within productive sectors and reach enough people. The transformative power of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies—such as artificial intelligence, 3D printing, robotics, cloud computing, and Internet of Things—could transform Africa into a global powerhouse. However, Africa still lags behind other regions on several indicators in terms of technology, and we as a global community need to be intentional and focused on closing the technological divide. Only 13% of the smallholder farmers have registered for any form of digital service, and only 3% are active users. There is a monumental opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa. Paired with the needed infrastructure and skills for innovation and technology use, the Fourth Industrial Revolution represents a massive opportunity for pan-African growth across sectors.
No.
There are no mandatory events currently.
The Prize competition consists of two rounds: an eight-month Design Round and a one-year Finalist Round.
Twenty-five prizes will be awarded at the end of the Design Round, and these teams will proceed to the Finalist Round. At the end of the Finalist Round, five prizes will be awarded. Throughout the competition, teams are provided with ongoing free mentoring, resources, and networking opportunities.
In addition to the opportunity for prize money, teams will benefit from being part of the community. Among other things, teams will have access to free resources and webinars that cover topics including design, business plan development, pitching to investors, and more.
Teams will also be given free enrollment to a 12-week experiential learning program powered by Stanford Online’s Idea to Market (I2M) entrepreneurship curriculum that empowers participants to transform their mindset and build successful, sustainable startups with impact. Participants who complete the program will receive a Certificate of Completion from Stanford Online.
Winning teams will join the Milken Institute Winners Circle following prize completion.
Alumni will have access to a pipeline for investment and to the broader Milken Institute network. Significant new data captured and ideas generated from the range of innovations and field tests will help accelerate progress towards the SDGs.
The submission window is now closed.
Not at this time. English is the only language accepted for written submissions. In the future, we hope to have expanded language capacities, but we are only able to operate with English for the inaugural prize.
Please click links below for outreach materials about the Prize program and the AgriTech Prize in English, French, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin, Modern Standard Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swahili.
Milken-Motsepe Prize Prize Program_MODERN STANDARD ARABIC
Milken-Motsepe Prize in Agritech_MODERN STANDARD ARABIC
Milken-Motsepe Prize Prize Program_MANDARIN CHINESE
Milken-Motsepe Prize in Agritech_MANDARIN CHINESE
Milken-Motsepe Innovation Prize Program_ENGLISH
Milken-Motsepe Prize in Agritech_ENGLISH
Milken-Motsepe Prize Prize Program_FRENCH
Milken-Motsepe Prize in Agritech_FRENCH
Milken-Motsepe Prize Prize Program_HEBREW
Milken-Motsepe Prize in Agritech_HEBREW
Milken-Motsepe Prize Prize Program_HINDI
Milken-Motsepe Prize in Agritech_HINDI
Milken-Motsepe Prize Prize Program_JAPANESE
Milken-Motsepe Prize in Agritech_JAPANESE
Milken-Motsepe Prize Prize Program_PORTUGUESE
Milken-Motsepe Prize in Agritech_PORTUGUESE
Milken-Motsepe Prize Prize Program_SPANISH
Milken-Motsepe Prize in Agritech_SPANISH
Both rounds will be judged by a selection of global experts in technology innovation and in the production, management, processing, marketing, and/or distribution of crops by small and medium-sized farms.
The judges and their representatives will be independent of the teams, the sponsor, and the Milken Institute and will have no conflicts of interest with any of those parties.
Teams’ submittals will be judged upon their potential to increase net economic value to the farmer by increasing productivity on the farm and/or decreasing post-harvest loss. In their execution, entries will be judged on their potential to:
The judges will also consider each submittal’s environmental, agricultural, and social impact. Entries that cause environmental harm, damage long-term agricultural productivity, encourage unsafe labor practices, and/or create unfair economic effects will be penalized in the judges’ evaluations.
At the end of the Finalist Round, teams will submit reports, as specified in their testing protocols, documenting the performance of their designs. See Competition Rules for more details.
Teams must also submit detailed business models showing how small and medium-sized farms can afford to adopt their designs. Models must describe, at a minimum:
The People’s Choice bonus prize is a $100,000 prize awarded to a competing finalist in the Milken-Motsepe Prize in AgriTech based on receiving the most votes in a public voting process.
The public is asked to vote for the team they believe has the most transformative AgriTech innovation.
The voting window for the People’s Choice bonus prize is February 1 to February 22, 2023.
No, it is not required to participate in the People’s Choice bonus prize. It is encouraged that each team participate, but this opportunity is completely optional.
The results of the People’s Choice bonus prize will be announced in May 2023.
Visit the Milken-Motsepe Prize website to vote for a competing AgriTech team by clicking on their team logo and submitting a valid email address.
Please note: An email address is needed for validation to vote and only one vote is allowed per email address.
The voter’s valid email address is needed for validation of the vote submitted and to help ensure voting that is consistent with the rules of this competition, including the requirement that only one vote is allowed per each email address.
Multiple votes from the same internet protocol, or IP, address is not allowed. This is because we implemented “IP blocking,” which means that only one vote can be recorded per IP address.
As noted in the FAQ above, IP blocking is a function that we used to help further our goal of maintaining a fair and secure voting process. In this process, consistent with the requirement that only one vote is allowed for each email address, we believe it is important to have one vote for each person. IP blocking helps facilitate that goal by restricting votes from each network and prevent multiple votes from a single person or party.
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