Wanna start something new? Try this…

Often I have been asked by students, researchers and buddying young entrepreneurs about sources of funds for new technology development and innovation. When I came across this wonderful opportunity which has a global appeal, I couldn’t resist myself bringing it to the notice of a wider audience. I admire nVIDIA supporting research and education activities around the world through several of its programs including research centers, teaching centers, graduate fellowship, hardware donations, CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) fellowship, Center of Excellence and many other programs. This kind of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activity, I believe, is the most effective and a win-win solution for our growing talent and rising unemployment across the world.

I am particularly impressed with this new Global Impact Award Programwhich provides annual grant of $150,000 for ground breaking solution to the world’s most challenging social and humanitarian problems. This grant will be awarded to a researcher or institution that uses nVIDIA technology to achieve breakthrough results with broader impact on society. The areas of research include disease research, drug design & development, medical imaging, energy & fuel efficiency, weather prediction, natural disaster response, cyber security and any other such area with broader impact.

nVIDIA partners with research and higher education institutions and supports them in finding solution to complex computing problems in an accelerated way. The program is open to submissions from researchers, group of individuals, non-profit research organizations or universities from anywhere in the world. Multiple submissions from institutions or individual researchers are allowed.

The submissions can be self-nominated or nominated by third party. However endorsements from recognized experts in the relevant field of study are welcome and can strengthen the nomination. The nomination form can be downloaded from here.

The evaluation will be done on the basis of several criteria including innovation, social impact, effectiveness of result and public accessibility.

Key milestone dates are as follows –

[TABLE]
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| style=”width: 148px” | Date
| style=”width: 370px” | Activity
|-
| style=”width: 148px” | March 27, 2014
| style=”width: 370px” | NVIDIA Global Impact Award announced
|-
| style=”width: 148px” | Oct. 31, 2014
| style=”width: 370px” | Submissions due
|-
| style=”width: 148px” | Feb. 15, 2015
| style=”width: 370px” | Finalists announced
|-
| style=”width: 148px” | March 17, 2015
| style=”width: 370px” | Award recipient named at GPU Technology Conference
|-

So, go ahead if you have something to reflect on your talent. If you are the lucky one, you will be provided with transportation and accommodation to receive your award in person at the 2015 GPU Technology Conference. What more? You will be interviewed for potential coverage in nVIDIA’s communication channel and also present your work at nVIDIA-hosted events targeted at the research community.

More information about this program can be obtained from mailto:globalimpact@nvidia.com.

I view this program as a great motivator and confidence booster for researchers, engineers, software professionals and designers alike. Those who want to test their talents and innovations, and start on their own from ground-up, can use this platform to build their foundation. Comments welcome!

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