2011 Finalists


2012 Finalists // 2010 Finalists

"When evaluating these entries we were looking for those projects that mark the emergence of a new paradigm, one that not only addresses the problems but carries us beyond— into a new mode of being. These finalists do just that. Reviewing them has been deeply inspirational"

- Jean Gardner, 2011 Challenge Juror

The Buckminster Fuller Institute is proud to share the Finalists for the 2011 Buckminster Fuller Challenge. Each finalist is providing a workable solution to the world’s most significant challenges including ocean restoration, protecting indigenous knowledge, combating women’s illiteracy, and connecting the remote developing world to the communication grid.

The 2011 Finalists have undergone a rigorous review for adherence to the entry criteria including an interview with the individual or team behind the strategy. They were advanced from a pool of 162 entries submitted that were then narrowed down to 21 semi-finalists, which were submitted to an 11 panel jury.

The titles, entrants names and a 50 word summary of their project is listed below. You can click on the title to go to a feature page about the entry where you will find a more in-depth description of the project, including the application, a transcription of the interview, video, images, updates and quotes from the jury.

Congratulations to the 2011 Finalists and everyone who entered this year's Buckminster Fuller Challenge. Those who have opted to have their work published are featured in the Idea Index.


FINALISTS for the 2011 BUCKMINSTER FULLER CHALLENGE

Project Title Name 50 Word Summary from the Entrant
Blue Ventures Al Harris + Richard Nimmo + Frances Humber + Kathleen Edie + Ben Metz Blue Ventures works with local communities to conserve threatened marine environments. Our integrated approach empowers some of the world’s poorest coastal communities to develop conservation and alternative income initiatives to protect biodiversity and coastal livelihoods. The results of our work help us propose new ideas to benefit coastal communities everywhere.
FrontlineSMS Ken Banks + Laura Walker Hudson + Alex Anderson + Josh Nesbit + Morgan Belkadi + Ryan Jones + Sarah George FrontlineSMS empowers frontline social organizations to leverage the power and reach of mobile technology to enable positive change. We provide organizations in remote, rural regions of the developing world with software that turns a laptop into a mass messaging hub, without any need for Internet connectivity.
Participatory Mapping as a Means of Protecting Forests in the Congo Basin The Rainforest Foundation UK This project empowers local forest communities to use cutting edge technologies to map their lands and resources and use this evidence as advocacy and negotiation tools for more secure land tenure. Through this, it also serves as an effective tool to contribute to environmental protection and poverty reduction efforts.
TARA Akshar+ George C. Varughese + Col. M.S.Ahluwalia + Irfan Khan + Pushpendra + Pragya Tiwary + Rakesh Khanna + Victor Lyons Delivering a scalable solution to adult illiteracy through a highly innovative programme using sophisticated learning techniques and memory hooks, through minimally trained, computer-aided instructors. It enables almost anyone to read, write and do simple arithmetic with more than 95% success rate in just seven weeks of 2 hour classes daily.