Good ideas spread. That we can help them spread faster, and that everyone benefits when they do, that's in some ways the central idea of this site.
So we're happy to see Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the world's largest and most creative advertising companies, not only give an award for potentially-transformative ideas, but explictly call those ideas worldchanging:
The role of the Award is straight-forward: to uncover and spotlight innovations in communication that have the potential to change the world. ... So many ideas struggle to see the light of day. Our Award and the prize worth US$100,000 are designed to help overcome some of the difficulties
We weren't involved in the awards process, but several of the nominees will ring a bell for regular readers -- the Frozen Ark Project, Wikipedia, bio-solar energy and Concrete Canvas -- while others represent examples of innovation trends we focus on frequently: bioplastics, humanitarian medical breakthroughs, etc. In addition, the judges are folks we respect, including Phillip Glass, Lou Reed and (Worldchanging board member) Chris Anderson.
We've been planning our own awards, with a somewhat different focus. Recognizing that ideas spring from worldchanging people and institutions, we've been looking more at who is bringing forward truly creative thinking: what companies, NGOs, philanthropic groups, networks and individuals are creating systems for on-going environmental and humanitarian innovation. In particular, we're interested in giving momentum to those corporations and other big players which are going beyond talking about building a better future to making that future the core of their organizational mission.
You'll be hearing more about this idea, but in the meantime, we're glad to see the potential for a relationship growing between Saatchi and ourselves. Saatchi has already stepped up with some great pro-bono work helping us prepare a video of Ed Burtynsky's work for use in a campaign to broaden Worldchanging's reach and promote bright green ideas, with a brilliant musical score from Michael Montes. And we're exploring with Saatchi what we can do together to continue to give worldchanging ideas planet-wide exposure.
