The Challenge


“If success or failure of the planet and of human beings depended on how I am and what I do… How would I be? What would I do?”

-Buckminster Fuller



Each year a distinguished jury awards a $100,000 prize to support the development and implementation of a strategy that has significant potential to solve humanity’s most pressing problems. Entries have been received and the review process is underway.

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Feature: Fellowship Video Blog


Sahar GhaheriSahar Ghaheri

Michael Ben-Eli, an international consultant on management and organization and close associate of R. Buckminster Fuller, kicked off the fellowship year with a presentation about Bucky, Design Science, and sustainability at CSDS. In a one-on-one interview after the presentation, he gives a more personal account of his life and experiences to date.



Fellows are currently engaged in the review process of the Challenge. Look out for more blogs on the experience!


2010 BUCKMINSTER FULLER CHALLENGE GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP BLOG

The fellowship is designed to engage outstanding and motivated graduate students in critical thinking and decision-making using the BFI Challenge entries as context to provide practical, ‘hands-on’, pedagogical experience assessing CADS-based design. This blog is a place for fellows to share their experience, explore ideas and exchange information with the Challenge community.

Sahar Ghaheri Sahar Ghaheri

Ashley Thorfinnson Ashley Thorfinnson


Jonathan Tucker Jonathan Tucker



In this video, board member David McConville talks about the Buckminster Challenge, the development of the Idea Index and his work in an interview at West Coast Green in San Francisco earlier this month. He was part of a panel titled "Beyond Bucky: Anticipatory Perspectives and Comprehensive Solutions."


"There is a movement afoot--of highly motivated individuals all over the world seriously engaged in coming up with solutions to the mounting set of problems we face. These design pioneers and social innovators are not waiting for large scale institutions to deliver us to a sustainable future. They understand the critical role they play as the change agents for the future we all want to see. These are the people and projects we are excited to see submit an entry to the Challenge.

We have an amazing line-up of the international systems thinkers and design pioneers serving on the jury. This year we plan to capture and publish some of the discussion leading to the selection of the winning solution as we feel it surfaces some of the most critical issues faced in trying to figure out which solutions are leverage points for turning the ship around."

-Executive Director, Elizabeth Thompson

About The Challenge
+ featured projects from the 2008 cycle

 		About The Criteria



The Idea Index is a searchable repository for entries from previous years. It provides a showcase for winners, runner up and honorable mentions. It currently contains over 200 innovative solutions addressing the world's most pressing problems.

It represents a growing pool of knowledge about how to tackle some of the most inexorable problems facing our global society - ready to be picked up and put into action by investors, philanthropists, designers, artists, policymakers, and anyone who wants to change the world.

It is not just a static database of projects; it is an interactive hub for discussion and debate. The tools provided by the Idea Index allow users to comment on entries, contact the submitters, and engage in dialogue with the Buckminster Fuller Challenge community.

The Buckminster Fuller Institute is working with educators and researchers to expand the capacity of the Idea Index to be utilized as an active touchstone for investigating dynamic solution sets. By opening up this body of work to research it is our hope that a deeper understanding of complex problem solving is gained, decision making is better informed and that best practices around developing and implementing solutions can be parlayed into the larger effort to improve how humanity operates on the planet.
» Idea Index


The 2009 Winning Team-Smart Cities Group


2009 Challenge Winner
Left to right: Andres Sevtsuk, Dimitris Papanikolaou, William Lark Jr., Arthur Petron, Michael Chia-Liang Lin, Charles Guan, Ryan Chin. (Photo by Cassandra Davis)
June 6th, 2009: The second annual Buckminster Fuller Challenge prize was awarded to MIT's Smart Cities group for their winning project 'Sustainable Personal Mobility and Mobility on Demand'. The team of seven students received the Omni-Oculi prize sculpture and a check for $100,000. The ceremony at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago included presentations by the winning team, the runner-up project,'Dreaming New Mexico', represented by Kenny Ausubel of Bioneers, and an overview of the Honorable Mentions, Cycle for Health and Mukuru Biocentres by Josh Arnow, former Board President of the Buckminster Fuller Institute and adviser to the Challenge. A panel discussion followed the presentations with 2009 jurors Bill Browning of Terrapin and Edie Farwell of the Sustainability Institute, moderated by Susan Szenasy of Metropolis Magazine.

After the ceremony a reception was held in the Merchandise Mart, where international designer Bruce Mau gave a presentation in front of Fuller's 25' Fly's Eye dome.

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