FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, visit: http://challenge.bfi.org

Contact: Matt Barron, Tel: 718.290.9283, Email: challenge (at) bfi (dot) org

OCTOBER 17th, 2007, NEW YORK CITY — The Buckminster Fuller Institute (BFI) is pleased to announce the selection of five of the seven jurors for the first BUCKMINSTER FULLER CHALLENGE, an international design science challenge which seeks to confer a prize of $100,000 to a single winning solution.

Prize monies will be awarded in June 2008 to support the development and implementation of a solution that has significant potential to solve humanity’s most pressing problems in the shortest possible time while enhancing the Earth's ecological integrity.

The distinguished members of the 2007/2008 Challenge jury include: SIR NICHOLAS GRIMSHAW, renowned architect and President of the Royal Academy of Arts, London; HAZEL HENDERSON, futurist, author and consultant on sustainable human development and socially responsible business and investment; founder, Ethical Markets Media, llc; DANNY HILLIS visionary inventor, computer scientist, author, engineer; Chairman and CTO of Applied Minds, Inc., co-chairman of The Long Now Foundation; WILLIAM MCDONOUGH, sustainable design visionary, bestselling author, and founder of William McDonough + Partners, a leading architecture firm practicing cradle to cradle design; and VANDANA SHIVA, renowned physicist, author, and environmental activist, founder and Director, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, New Delhi. The sixth and seventh jurors will be announced shortly.

“I am deeply excited by the extraordinary group of jurors that has come together for the 2007/2008 Challenge. I am looking forward with equal anticipation to the quality of the proposals themselves,” said Allegra Fuller Snyder, Fuller’s daughter and Chairwoman of the Buckminster Fuller Institute’s Board of Directors. “I only wish my father were still with us, to work with this group of what he would call ‘comprehensive anticipatory design scientists.’ I truly believe the results of this Challenge will herald a critical breakthrough.”

Inspired by the life and work of visionary 20th Century futurist and global thinker, R. Buckminster Fuller, The Buckminster Fuller Challenge seeks solutions that epitomize what Fuller called the trimtab principle. “The careers represented by our distinguished jury, in many ways, reflect the comprehensive spectrum of Fuller’s lifelong interests and influence. We are deeply honored that they have agreed to serve,” adds Elizabeth Thompson, BFI’s Executive Director. “Since the launch of the program in July, we have had a tremendous response and expect entries from across the disciplinary spectrum. We are very excited to see what is submitted.”

The deadline for submissions is midnight (ET) October 30th, 2007.

For more information, visit http://challenge.bfi.org