The Wege Prize 2020 international competition invites college/university students around the world to collaborate across institutional, disciplinary, and cultural boundaries to redesign the way economies work.
Wege Prize ignites game-changing solutions for the future annually. The big question this time is: How can we create a circular economy?
Participants contend for over $30,000 (USD) in total cash prizes, all while helping to show the world what the future of problem solving looks like.
Wege Prize 2020 teams must leverage their transdisciplinary makeup to collaboratively design and propose a solution to a wicked problem of their choosing that can, in turn, help solve the wicked problem of transitioning from a linear economic model to a circular economic model.
The judges are looking for solutions that address the shortcomings of a linear economic model on a systemic level. The most successful solutions will:
- Think in systems by demonstrating an understanding of how parts influence one another within a whole, as well as the relationship of the whole to the parts.
- Consider the economics and viability of the solution within natural, social, and financial systems.
- Preserve and enhance natural capital by controlling finite resource stocks and balancing renewable resource flows.
- Optimize resource yields by circulating products, components, and materials at their highest utility at all times in both technical and biological cycles.
- Foster system effectiveness by designing out waste and negative externalities such as pollution, toxicity, and climate change.
The Wege Prize competition is organized by Kendall College of Art and Design’s Wege Center for Sustainable Design with support from the Wege Foundation.
