FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Matt Barron, Tel: 718.290.9283, Email: challenge@bfi.org

THIRTY-THREE OUTSTANDING BUCKMINSTER FULLER CHALLENGE ENTRIES ADVANCED TO THE FINAL STAGE OF REVIEW

MARCH 2, 2009 NEW YORK CITY — The Buckminster Fuller Institute is proud to announce that thirty-three outstanding entries to the Buckminster Fuller Challenge have been advanced to the final stage of review.

The jury will select the winner of the Challenge, to be announced to the public in May 2009. The $100,000 prize and the OmniOculi sculpture will be conferred at a public event at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago on June 6th, 2009 to coincide with Starting With the Universe, the acclaimed retrospective exhibition on the pioneering legacy of R. Buckminster Fuller opening March 14th and on view until June 21st.

The thirty-three proposals currently under consideration have undergone a rigorous review and vetting process including an interview with the individual or team behind the strategy. The titles and project leads of these entries are listed below. The distinguished jury will spend the next two months reviewing the entries and will meet for a group deliberation session on April 21st and 22nd to select a winner and runner up.

“We are tremendously excited about the finalists to this year’s Buckminster Fuller Challenge. They include an amazing array of comprehensive, integrated strategies to tackle the world’s major problems, submitted by highly accomplished individuals and/or teams. They come from all over the world and we are thrilled that so many have been submitted by student teams. Every one of them will inspire interest and hopefully, support for their work - I think the jury is in for a very tough deliberation process!” says Elizabeth Thompson, BFI’s Executive Director.

Congratulations to all of the finalists and everyone who entered this year’s Buckminster Fuller Challenge. Those who have opted to have their work published will be featured in the Idea Index in mid-May after this year’s winner and runner up are announced.

2009 Buckminster Fuller Challenge Finalists:

• YourOwnDemocracy.org, submitted by Gong Szeto
  
• Beyond the Petroleum Era: A Proto-Cooperative Means for Re-mineralizing Coastal Regions, submitted by Pliny Fisk III, Co-Director, CMPBS
  
• Sustainable Unit - An anticipatory approach to ecological livingry in the 21st century, submitted by Joao Amorim, PostModern Times
  
• (C)urban Ecology: Micro-remediation and The City Street of The Future, submitted by Commonstudio
  
• A Proposal for Bamboo Resource Systems for Social, Economic and Environmental Benefits in the Pacific Northwest USA, submitted by Jonathan Scherch, Ph.D
  
• AIDSfreeAFRICA drug production in Africa, submitted by Dr. Rolande Hodel, AIDSfreeAFRICA
  
• Architecture Beyond CAD, submitted by Martin Ravnikar, Architect
  
• BerkShares local currency, submitted by Susan Witt, Executive Director, E.F. Schumacher Society
  
• BK Farmyards, submitted by Stacey Murphy, Landmines Productions
  
• Carnot-Equivalent Stirling Engine and Heat Pump, submitted by Berkana Technology Group (Berkana LLC)
  
• Civic Ads: Public Smart, submitted by Nathalie Rozot, Photic
  
• Climate Solutions Project, submitted by Tom Bowman, Principal, Climate Solutions Project, LLC
  
• Cycle for Health, submitted by Joseph Agoada, Two Wheeled Foundation
  
• DISCOVER Carbon Net, submitted by Hosung Chun, LEED AP
  
• Dreaming New Mexico, submitted by Kenny Ausubel, Co-Founder, Bioneers
  
• Ecocity Mapping For Urban Villages, submitted by Richard Register, President, Ecocity Builders
  
• Green Flight World Link Initiative, submitted by Mike T. Voorhees, CEO, Skylite Aeronautics
  
• Growing Functional Materials for a Sustainable Tomorrow, submitted by Eben Bayer, CEO, Ecovative Design, LLC
  
• KickStart International - The Tools to Fight Poverty, submitted by Martin J. Fisher, Ph.D, Co-Founder and CEO, KickStart Intl.
  
• Machineless construction strategy based on least physical strain to build cyclone resistant women’s centres in Bangladesh, submitted by Bonnie L Y Chu
  
• Macrofacturing: Maximizing resources through distributed rapid manufacturing technologies, submitted by Jordan Brandt, Harvard Graduate School of Design
  
• Mukuru BioCentres, submitted by Dyfed Aubrey, Urban Development Coordinator, GOAL
  
• Operation Paydirt/Fundred Dollar Bill Project, submitted by Mel Chin, Artist and Project Director
  
• Sahara Forest, submitted by Charles Paton, Seawater Greenhouse, Ltd.
  
• SubEx: Moving Small Package Freight through City Subways, not City Streets, submitted by Bruce Cahan, Urban Logic, Inc.
  
• Sustainable Personal Mobility: The CityCar, the RoboScooter, and Mobility-on-Demand Systems, submitted by Ryan Chin, Ph.D Candidate, MIT Media Lab
  
• Tensegrity-based Structural Systems Development for Ecologically-regenerative Urban Development Along Tropical Coastlines, submitted by Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology
  
• The Bamboo Institute, submitted by Kurt Przybilla, Inventor
  
• The GCH4, submitted by V.S. Gardiner, Industrial Designer
  
• The SA Social Investment Exchange (SASIX), submitted by Carol Tappenden, Managing Director, GreaterGood South Africa
  
• Water Harvesting to Promote Economic Sustainability, submitted by Roger Salway, Executive Director, Compatible Technology International
  
• Watermill - Atmospheric Water Generator, submitted by Richard Weisbeck, Chief Technical Officer, Element Four
  
• World Game Beta, submitted by Katy Barkan, Harvard Graduate School of Design

To view entries to the 2008 Buckminster Fuller Challenge, visit BFI’s Idea Index - a web-based publishing system created to enhance the opportunity for proposals to receive support and get implemented.