Got a Disruptive Idea? Submit to Verizon $10M Powerful Idea Contest

Verizon today officially launched its first-ever Powerful Answers contest, which offers $10 million in prizes to innovators around the world for solutions to “the world’s biggest challenges.”

“Our goal is to inspire the best minds in the industry to apply their minds to the areas of health care, education and sustainability,” said McAdam. “We’re convinced  … we will create new markets and change the world for the better.”

The contest is open to anyone 18 and older, anywhere in the world. Individuals, startups or businesses can apply. Submissions can be done here. The deadline for submissions is June 30. The contest was originally announced at International CES in January.

Here is the phase wise approach to selecting the winners:

Phase 1 :  Participants submit their ideas

Phase 2 : Verizon to drill down more on the ideas and get more details from the applicants. Finally, 10 finalists will be selected in each category. They will present their ideas in person to carefully selected “blue-ribbon” panel of judges.

Phase 3 :  The winners will be announced at 2014 CES. With 5 winners in each category, the $10 million will be distributed across the winners. Each first-prize winner will receive $1 million, second-place winners $850,000, third-place $700,000, fourth-place $500,000 and fifth-place $285,000.

The interesting thing is that, winning this prize will not disqualify anyone from pursuing other funding opportunities.

Source: eweek