Harvard i-lab | Deans' Design Challenge Workshop: How to Create a Winning Proposal

TL;DR

Harvard Dean's Challenge seeks to address material problems through entrepreneurial approaches, focusing on impact, team capabilities, and a realistic plan for progress.

Transcript

thank you all very very very much for coming and particularly for Andrew uh who's our customer here uh involved in trying trying to create this challenge I'm not going to go through all these slides I want to talk to you and answer the questions that are on your minds uh but I think I can at least get started that way the idea behind Dean's challen... Read More

Key Insights

• ❓ The challenge focuses on material problems that can be solved through entrepreneurial approaches.
• 🤩 Impact, team capabilities, and a realistic plan for progress are key evaluation criteria.
• 🤕 The challenge categories include responsive cities, urban metabolisms, future of consumption, and aging in place.
• ❓ Proposals should have a logical progression and showcase additional progress that can be achieved with Harvard's involvement.
• 😤 Teams must have at least one Harvard student in a material role.
• 📟 Proposals should be concise and fit within a five-page limit.
• 🧑‍⚖️ Judges will evaluate proposals relative to each other within the same category.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is the purpose of the Harvard Dean's Challenge?

The challenge aims to put forth problems that can be solved through entrepreneurial approaches and determine if Harvard's involvement can result in additional progress.

Q: What are the main criteria the judges will consider in evaluating the proposals?

The judges will evaluate the impact, team capabilities, and the feasibility of the proposed plan for progress.

Q: Can teams include members who are not full-time or have specialized roles?

Yes, teams can include members with specialized roles or part-time contributors as long as their involvement is significant and they play a material role in the project.

Q: Is it necessary to provide detailed financial projections in the proposal?

While financial projections may be relevant for some proposals, the focus should be on demonstrating a realistic plan for progress rather than providing extensive financial details.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The Harvard Dean's Challenge aims to tackle problems that can be solved through entrepreneurial approaches.

• The challenge focuses on material problems that require logical progressions and can be addressed by small teams.

• The goal is to determine if Harvard's attention and participation can contribute to additional progress in solving these problems.