Kendall College of Art and Design (KCAD) and the
Wege Foundation have announced the creation of the Wege Prize, a new collegiate competition for teams of five students from five different areas of study who will work across disciplines to solve "wicked" problems.
"Wicked" problems are challenges that the organizations deems as being highly complex - problems that need to be approached from multiple perspectives in order for solutions not to have unintended, negative consequences.
Wege Foundation CEO Ellen Satterlee says the partnership between the two organizations is based on mutually shared values surrounding education. "We had been involved with the renovation of the Federal Building, providing one of the lead gifts. In working with David Rosen from Kendall, they knew of our mission for environmental education and they wanted to build a program around the principles that would engage the students and capture the essence of '
Economicology' (education, environment, empathy, ecology, economy, and ethics). They came up with the competition and we really liked it."
Once the "wicked" problem is defined, the cross-disciplinary student teams will approach the solution through the design thinking process. The best solution will earn each member of the winning team a $3000 scholarship, and each member of the second and third place teams $2000 and $1000 scholarships, respectively. According to Kendall administration, this program is designed to be scalable and, within three years, it could be become an international competition.
Details are in the process of being finalized. To learn more about the program you can visit
www.wegeprize.org for more information.
Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs News Editor
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