Global Impact Innovators Challenge | Matthew & Margarethe Mashikian Innovation & Entrepreneurship Hub | College of Engineering

The Global Impact Innovators Challenge is a competitively awarded funding source and framework for interdisciplinary collaboration.

Co-organized by the Matthew and Margarethe Mashikian Innovation & Entrepreneurship Hub (eHub), the Business and Human Rights Initiative (BHRI), and the Engineering for Human Rights Initiative (ENG-HR), the Challenge brings together UConn students and researchers to develop technology-based solutions in response to urgent challenges affecting human rights, equity, and global sustainability.

Many of these challenges are laid out in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals framework. We aim to empower innovators who will together build tech-driven prototypes for vulnerable populations and resource-constrained communities worldwide.

Through prototyping micro-grants and dedicated mentorship, the Challenge equips interdisciplinary teams to transform concepts into viable, ethically sound technology prototypes.

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Program Details

Eligibility:

Open to undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers across UConn.
Teams must be interdisciplinary, combining technical disciplines (e.g., Engineering) with non-technical disciplines (e.g., Business, Human Rights, Humanities).

Project Scope:

Projects must propose a technology-based solution (hardware, software, materials, or devices) to address a verified human rights challenge or United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).
Projects may address challenges such as conditions for workers, access to healthcare, economic opportunity, education, accessibility, displacement, resource constraints, or other issues affecting vulnerable or underserved populations.
Purely policy-, advocacy-, or service-based submissions without a technical component are ineligible.

Award Amount:

Selected teams receive up to $1,000 in prototyping funds to advance their solution.
Funds may support raw materials and lab supplies, prototype components, software licenses, equipment or facility usage fees, testing and validation.

Mentorship:

Selected teams receive dedicated mentorship from UConn faculty, practitioners, and community/global partners. Mentors from eHub, BHRI, and ENG-HR will work directly with teams to guide them through:

Innovation and Venture Building: Lean startup methodology, problem-solution fit, MVP development, customer discovery, and pathways for technical venture building.
BHRI | Business and Human Rights: Human rights frameworks, responsible business practices, stakeholder considerations, and the implications of technology for affected communities.
ENG-HR | Engineering for Human Rights: Ethical engineering design, human-centered innovation, accessibility, cultural context, and responsible technology development.

Expectations:

Selected teams are expected to:

Actively engage with assigned mentors to advance the project.
Engage with the community or global partner associated with their challenge.
Develop and test a prototype, proof of concept, or MVP appropriate to their project stage.
Present their solution and proposed pathway to deployment and impact at the Spring Showcase.

Judging Criteria

Proposals and final presentations are evaluated collaboratively by eHub, BHRI, and ENG-HR based on:

Technical Feasibility & Innovation: How viable, well-engineered, and scalable is the proposed technological core?
Human Rights & Ethical Alignment: Does the solution integrate accessibility, cultural competence, and foundational human rights frameworks?
Problem-Solution Fit: How effectively does the prototype solve the specific challenge faced by the target community or global partner?
Venture Sustainability: Does the team demonstrate a viable path toward long-term organizational or commercial sustainability?
Interdisciplinary Collaboration: How effectively does the team integrate technical engineering capabilities with business and human rights insights?