The Buckminster Fuller Challenge is an annual international design competition that awards $100,000 to the most comprehensive solution to a pressing global problem. The Challenge was launched in 2007 and is a program o
The Buckminster Fuller Institute The competition, open to designers, artists, architects, students, environmentalists, and organizations world-wide, has been dubbed "Socially-Responsible Design's Highest Award" by Metropolis Magazine.
According to the Buckminster Fuller Challenge website: "Winning solutions are regionally specific yet globally applicable and present a truly comprehensive, anticipatory, integrated approach to solving the world's complex problems." Furthermore, the criteria of the Challenge calls not for a stand-alone solution, but an integrated strategy that addresses social, environmental, economic and cultural issues. This is aligned with the design approach of
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing more t ...
, which he referred to as "comprehensive anticipatory design science".
Winners of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge include
John Todd John Todd or Tod may refer to:
Clergy
*John Todd (abolitionist) (1818–1894), preacher and 'conductor' on the Underground Railroad
* John Todd (author) (1800–1873), American minister and author
* John Todd (bishop), Anglican bishop in the early ...
(2008),
MIT's Smart Cities Group (2009),
,
Allan Savory
Clifford Allan Redin Savory (born 15 September 1935) is a Zimbabwean livestock farmer and president and co-founder of the Savory Institute. He originated holistic management, a systems thinking approach to managing resources.
Savory advocates ...
and the Africa Center for Holistic management (2010),
Blue Ventures
Blue Ventures is a science-led social enterprise that develops transformative approaches for nurturing and sustaining locally led marine conservation. The organisation works in partnership with coastal communities in places where the ocean is vit ...
(2011), the
Living Building Challenge
The Living Building Challenge is an international sustainable building certification program created in 2006 by the non-profit International Living Future Institute. It is described by the Institute as a philosophy, advocacy tool and certification ...
(2012), and
GreenWave
GreenWave is a North American nonprofit focused on the development of regenerative farming techniques for aquaculture, called "3D ocean farming", to create blue carbon. Their focus is on developing polyculture practices for farming shellfish ...
(2015).
Each year's winner is ultimately decided by an international jury of renowned whole systems thinkers and practitioners of sustainability. Former jury members include Jose Zaglul,
Alan Kay
Alan Curtis Kay (born May 17, 1940) published by the Association for Computing Machinery 2012 is an American computer scientist best known for his pioneering work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface (GUI) d ...
,
Mitchell Joachim
Mitchell Joachim (pronounced /jo-ak-um/; born February 3, 1972) is an architect and urban designer. He is the Co-Founder of Terreform ONE, and an Associate Professor of Practice at NYU. Previously he was the Frank Gehry Chair at University of ...
,
Adam Bly
Adam Bly (born 1981 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian scientist and entrepreneur. He is the creator of Seed (magazine), Seed and used to lead data at Spotify until he left in 2017. Bly joined Spotify in 2015 when Spotify acquired his company, Se ...
, Jamais Cascio,
Nicholas Grimshaw
Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, CBE, PPRA (born 9 October 1939) is a prominent English architect, particularly noted for several modernist buildings, including London's Waterloo International railway station and the Eden Project in Cornwall. He was Pre ...
,
Hunter Lovins
L. Hunter Lovins (née Sheldon, born February 26, 1950 in Middlebury, Vermont) is an American environmentalist, author, sustainable development proponent, co-founder of Rocky Mountain Institute, and president of the nonprofit organization Natural ...
,
William McDonough
William Andrews McDonough is an American architect, designer, and author. McDonough is founding principal of William McDonough + Partners, co-founder of McDonough MBDC, and co-author of ''Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things'' a ...
,
Janine Benyus
Janine M. Benyus (born 1958) is an American natural sciences writer, innovation consultant, and author. After writing books on wildlife and animal behavior, she coined the term Biomimicry to describe intentional problem-solving design inspired ...
, and
Danny Hillis
William Daniel "Danny" Hillis (born September 25, 1956) is an American inventor, entrepreneur, and computer scientist, who pioneered parallel computers and their use in artificial intelligence. He founded Thinking Machines Corporation, a paralle ...
.
Although there is only one winner per year, the majority of the entries received are featured on the Buckminster Fuller Challenge website within a fully searchable database known as the Idea Index.
References
External links
*
The Buckminster Fuller InstituteThe Idea Index
{{Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller
Recurring events established in 2007
Awards established in 2007
Challenge awards
Invention awards