Join us at Challenge Festival!
The Challenge Festival, produced by 1776 and presented by Philips, is week of events convening the people with the best ideas for global impact in education, energy & sustainability, health, and transportation & cities. Join 10,000+ leaders from around the world this May in Washington, D.C. to be part of the conversation. The festival includes exclusive panels, keynotes, galas and more for each of these critical industries. The festival is made possible thanks to our presenting partner:
In addition to the packed schedule of panels and parties, the Challenge Festival features the culmination of 1776’s Challenge Cup, a global competition of startups from 16 cities around the world. The headline event, the Challenge Cup Global Finals, takes place the afternoon of May 16th from 5-8 pm.
**Badge holders DO NOT have to RSVP for individual events. You will show your badge when entering the event. Gold and VIP badge holders have all access passes to all Challenge Festival events.**
The Schedule
Friday, May 8 2015
Challenge Festival Opening Party: 7pm – 11pm in Crystal City, Virginia (all badge holders welcome)
Monday, May 11 to Thursday, May 14, 2015
Each day of Challenge Festival 2015 will convene expert panels to discuss the biggest challenges and potentially groundbreaking solutions within their specific industries. Industry Days (Mon-Thurs) feature keynotes, panels, breakouts and more from 9am-2pm. The evening includes the pitching semi-finals from 4-7pm, where you’ll hear international and domestic startups share their pitch to revolutionize their industry. After the winners are selected for each industry, there is a gala at premier venues throughout DC where you can meet all competing startups and network with industry leaders.
- Monday, May 11: Education Conference: Learning for the Next Generation (Daypasses available)
- Tuesday, May 12: Energy & Sustainability Conference: Powering the Future (Daypasses available)
- Wednesday, May 13: Health Conference: Life, Death & Everything In Between (Daypasses available)
- Thursday, May 14: Transportation & Cities Conference: Civic Tech on the Rise (Daypasses available)
Friday, May 15
Friday’s Innovation Economy Day brings together policymakers, corporate, and organizational leaders from domestically and abroad to discuss the state of innovation in these industries and what are applicable solutions and approaches that can be used across multiple industries. Friday’s Keynote Night begins at 7pm where Industry leaders share their thoughts on the future of these entrenched industries. Last year featured Steve Case, Dr. Eric Topol, and Vince Gray, former D.C. mayor.
Saturday, May 16 2015
- Challenge Cup Global Finals: 5pm – 8pm @ Sidney Harman Hall (VIP, Gold, Silver)
- Challenge Festival Closing Party: 8pm @ Sidney Harman Hall (VIP, Gold, & Silver badge holders do not have to RSVP to the closing party; your badge will get you in).
We are also recruiting volunteers! Joining the Challenge Festival team is a great opportunity for students and professionals to dive into the DC tech scene, meet entrepreneurs from all over the world, and contribute to 1776’s biggest events of the year. Interested? Fill out this form!
Competitors
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SheFighter SheFighter is the first women-only self-defense studio, designed to empower women both physically and physiologically through self-defense training and educational workshops.
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PenPal Schools PenPal Schools connects over 50 thousand students from 50+ countries to discover other cultures, learn about global issues, and practice foreign languages through 1-1 online exchanges. Their apps for desktop and mobile devices make connections easy, and our 6-week standards-aligned courses include videos, texts, and discussion questions.
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BPI Educational Institution B-Genius Learning Systems aims to make any kind of learning fast and amazingly accurate. The company has developed provisionally patented learning technology that organizes information in the human brain, thus making learning 120 times faster and assuring 96 percent accuracy on average for up to 1.5 years.
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Fiberead Fiberead seeks to help authors self-publish translated version of their books overseas.
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Uberchord Engineering Uberchord is a mobile app with a break-through audio recognition technology that enables real-time listening and feedback just like a personal guitar teacher. The patent-pending algorithm took 20 months of development and enables a new guitar teaching method.
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Packback Packback allows college students to “pay per use” for their digital textbooks by renting for $3 to $5 per day, while enabling publishers to recoup revenue lost to the secondary used book market.
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Edbacker EdBacker Website Member Spotlight
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eKitabu eKitabu is East Africa’s first and premier ebook store. The startup sells ebooks, interactive content and a learning management platform that are all key stepping stones to the advancement of e-learning in Kenya and Africa.
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Handsfree Learning Handsfree helps students, teachers & institutions in learn-by-doing disciplines by supporting instruction, practice, assessment & feedback. By applying a range of hardware and software solutions to the process of technical skills acquisition, the Handsfree platform expands possibilities in subjects like dentistry, medicine, culinary arts, fine arts, cosmetology, and lab sciences.
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Milaana Milaana connects university students with project-based internships and opportunities from local organizations that increase both job preparedness and community engagement.
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Permission Click Permission Click provides digital permission slips, data and payment collection for K-12 schools that parents can approve anywhere, anytime, on any platform.
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AdmitHub AdmitHub offers free, expert college admissions advising online. Ask anything about admissions, and the company’s team of former and current admissions deans, directors, and officers from institutions like Harvard and Brown, answer your question for free.
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EmpowerTheUser EmpowerTheUser (ETU) is a provider of SkillSims Platform, fully Software as a Service (SaaS) that empowers organisations to build at scale complex branching simulations for training and assessment. ETU works with educational organisations, large international companies, including Fortune 500s, and multinational training vendors.
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Leaducate We offer a free platform to students that helps them find the best option for their education enabling direct contact with institutions; thereby providing leads to them through a performance service.
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Total Boox Ltd. A platform for ebook distribution, Total Boox only charges users for what they read. Users download books for free and then pay as they go.
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3Restart 3Restart is a predictive and adaptive learning solutions company that focuses on improving learning methodologies. Our software is designed in a way so as to successfully predict what a student is most likely to forget at a specific time and works mainly on enhancing knowledge retention amongst kids.
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LearningList Learning List is the industry-leading instructional materials review service for schools and districts. Like Consumer Reports, Learning List is a subscription-based service that provides detailed, independent reviews to help educators choose and use instructional materials more effectively. Subscribers include schools and districts serving over 1 million students.
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Teachley Teachley helps schools use app data to drive instruction with their Apple Design Award-winning app. Teachley’s Learning Analytics Platform extracts and analyzes students’ data, helping K-8 teachers monitor performance on important benchmarks and Common Core standards, differentiate classroom instruction, and target their intervention efforts.
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VChain Solutions VChain Solutions is a simulation training provider, helping students and businesses alike get the skills they need to succeed in the supply-chain industry. VChain Proactive, our innovative supply chain simulation training software, allows students to interact and to react to various supply chain scenarios in a safe simulation environment where they…
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LearnLux LearnLux creates online learning tools to teach people personal finance when they need it most. The company allows companies to empower their employees to become financially autonomous by giving them the skills and knowledge they need to make the best financial decisions.
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Tagaddod Tagaddod is a renewable energy startup based in Cairo, Egypt, currently focusing on the production and export of biodiesel from waste cooking oil.
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Lucelo Technologies Lucelo’s mission is to put electrical power in places where it currently does not exist with low-cost printable solar cells. Their goal is to turn every day plastic, paper, and fabric media into readily accessible micro power grid.
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Energy Guru Sharpersun Energy Guru Sharpersun has developed solar boilers to displace industrial heat energy.
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Seeder Seeder is a green-building marketplace for commercial buildings to get matched to the best services and technologies that enable them to save energy and access the incentives to help pay for these improvements. By using Seeder, property developers and managers can meet the latest green building regulations, increase property value…
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Miito Miito believes that simplicity and innovation can provide logical solutions to well known problems. Their aim is to create intuition-driven everyday products by approaching the design and development from a humanistic starting point.
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SmarterShade SmarterShade is a novel approach which finally makes smartglass simple and affordable. A user can make any window can go from clear to completely dark; with various shades in between. This results in a significant energy reduction by blocking out unwanted solar heat.
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BaseTrace BaseTrace provides DNA-based tracers that can show where industrial fluids are going in large, complex environments.
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MODEBO Modebo’s goal is to provide efficiency and savings to buildings in an easy and inexpensive way, affordable to all. The key is setting trends in technology, generating and analyzing energy data to revolutionize international consumption.
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PowerGen Renewable Energy PowerGen Renewable Energy, which rebranded from WindGen Power in 2013, installs kilowatt-scale wind and solar power systems in East Africa, as well as solar water-pumping systems, inverter-battery backup systems, LED lighting and solar water heating. PowerGen has undertaken projects in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Somalia.
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Sealed Sealed partners with trusted, certified contractors to install and maintain energy-saving home improvements to guarantee that residents will save money after making energy-saving home improvements.
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WattBlock Wattblock gives owners corporations and body corporates an energy saving roadmap by using details about your block to make calculations about your common area energy consumption. After entering your details, Wattblock does the analysis for you, providing a simple report to assist you in driving down your strata levies.
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Aquanos Aquanos has developed a unique wastewater treatment technology and system, which uses a fraction of the energy required by conventional wastewater treatment plants. The system is based on a novel approach, using microalgae to produce the oxygen required for aerobic wastewater treatment, which then takes place on a fixed-film system.
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GridCure GridCure provides a smart-grid analytics solution with a system that is able to consume utility data from smart meters, combine it with utility external data such as weather or local population demographics, and return utilities insights.
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Orco Power Orco Power is an energy service company that produces additives that modify crude oil to replace diesel fuel in high RPM engines. They have developed an additive that, applied with our proprietary additive feeding system, modifies crude oil and makes it a viable replacement to diesel fuel in high RPM engines.
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Exergyn Exergyn has developed an engine that runs on hot water. Technically, this engine—the Exergyn Drive—is capable of converting low-grade waste heat to power. Crucially, it does this in a commercially attractive way.
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EcoEnergy EcoEnergy provides clean energy solutions to the rural energy-poor of Pakistan through its deep distribution network. The network enables EcoEnergy to provide relevant products in villages located beyond the grid and through existing distribution and bank branch networks.
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Strauss Energy Strauss Energy’s vision is to reduce extreme poverty by converting freely available clean energy into passive income, using an architecturally appealing roofing tile made of plastic with solar cells to generate power from the sun enough to power the house in question and a little extra to sell.
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Green Cosmos Energy Green Cosmos started as a renewable energy consulting company and then transformed into a big data energy analytics company. It has developed a real-time energy analytics and sustainability solution with solar integration decision-support on the cloud.
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Eco Fuels Kenya EFK Group produces energy (biofuel, briquettes) and agriculture (fertilizer, poultry feed) products for industrial customers through a no-waste manufacturing process based entirely on the Croton nut, which grows indigenously across 8 African countries and has no other commercial, productive or edible use.
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Keet Software Keet is a HIPAA compliant patient engagement platform for physical therapy that transforms traditional paper-based therapy programs into branded and tracked web-based mobile applications. The system was designed from the ground up to increase patient satisfaction, improve outcomes, and lower the overall cost of physical therapy.
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Coeo Labs Coeo Labs is a medical technology startup committed to developing cheap and affordable medical innovations projects for critical unmet needs. Its initial six-months were spent undergoing clinical immersion at tertiary care hospitals, ambulances and peripheral care settings.
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Beijing 37 mHealth 37 mHealth’s goal is to provide a mobile health service platform for management of chronic illness. Its product uses a combination of hardware and software to collect users’ blood pressure data.
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Insulin Angel Ltd. Insulin Angel is a temperature and proximity device that is connected to an app running on your smartphone. The app notifies you before your medication reaches a critical temperature, or when you lose or forget your precious medication or equipment.
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Reliefwatch Reliefwatch is a platform for organizations in the developing world to track essential supplies and other last mile data through basic mobile phones. Reliefwatch allows health clinics without access to computers or internet to track inventory levels via automated voice calls on basic mobile phones. This data is then integrated…
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Unima Unima is a biotechnology startup that developed a fast and low cost diagnostics technology that allows health data collection globally and analytics in real time.
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Health-E-Net Health-E-Net is a social enterprise providing patients with easy access to high-quality medical second opinions that empower them to make the best decisions for themselves. The startup helps patients in developing countries connect with remotely located, volunteer medical specialists over an electronic platform.
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Kuveda, Inc. For providers offering personalized cancer therapeutics, Kuveda offers a big data analytics web tool that reduces analysis time from weeks to minutes; reduces costs from tens of thousands to less than $1,000; supports daily updates of molecular science advancements; and brings care to millions of under-served patients.
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ResQdevices ResQdevices created the ParaCart, a compact combination of a stretcher and “stair chair,” and the LineSaver, body armour for your IV cannulas for use by paramedics.
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Medivizor Medivizor interprets the infinitum of data out there and tailors it for you! No more extraneous facts and useless data. Medivizor looks at your medical history and creates a personalized profile that provides you with all relevant information and updates.
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Limestone Labs In the average hospital, 1 in 4 portable electronics are contaminated with pathogenic bacteria. Limestone Labs has created a UV sanitizing solution which disinfects smartphones, tablets and a range of other portable electronics, while enabling automatic tracking and sanitization protocol compliance via an accompanying SaaS suite.
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Project X Amman-based Project X developed a mobile application that uses 3-D imaging to fit an amputee for a prosthesis.
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Fluid-Screen IMD is a startup venture, which makes the world a safer place by enabling rapid bacterial detection from fluid samples. Fluid-Screen, IMD’s flagship product, is a novel hand held device that detects bacteria in water, blood and other fluids in 30 minutes as opposed to 4 days.
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Nuritas Nuritas is a young bioinformatics company that is revolutionizing the way we look at food and the way that we discover bioactive functional ingredients.
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HealthOne HealthOne has opened a chain of Primary Care and Diabetes Management Clinics to Provide Quality+Affordable+Convenient Healthcare across Pakistan.
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Medxnote Medxnote is a mobile messaging app for healthcare. It offers everything healthcare providers love about smartphone communication with built in features and tools designed for the profession.
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Pacifica Labs Inc. Pacifica is a mobile application designed to treat anxiety symptoms associated with the most common anxiety disorders. Based on evidence-based practices such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which helps people understand the relationship between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, Pacifica is comprised of quick, immersive tools that are designed to fit…
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Admetsys Admetsys has developed the first fully-automated glucose control system specifically for the needs of hospital and surgical care. The system attaches to a patient’s intravenous line, and automatically measures blood glucose concentration in real time with no blood loss. From this, it creates an adaptive, computational model of each patient’s…
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StormPins StormPins is a social weather and breaking news platform that combines cities with TV Media, Police, Fire, Emergency Managers.
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The Squirrelz Squirrelz is an upcycling platform that helps transform trash into treasure. The essence of upcycling is to take an old product—in this case, defective materials from China’s factories—and use it for a new product. The result? Consumers get a product with a story and function.
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Keydock Keydock helps people who rent out their flats to check-in their guests remotely, using a network of key-sharing locations in cool cafes.
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Guard Llama Guard Llama provides its users with a handheld remote and accompanying mobile application to immediately and discretely send their exact location to police, minimizing the time and danger involved with a traditional 911 call.
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Local Roots Local Roots is dedicated to providing everyone access to fresh, healthy, and affordable locally-grown produce. The company uses controlled-environment farming technologies to grow leafy greens & other herbs down the street from our customers. Their produce is always pesticide-free, herbicide-free, and non-GMO.
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Coindrum Coindrum provides an innovative solution in airport terminals allowing passengers to convert unwanted coins into airport retail vouchers before departing into different currency jurisdictions, with the use of its Coindrum machine.
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tasKwetu TasKwetu is an innovative online errand running, tracking and project management platform that offers professional yet personalized task-management and tracking services.
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Bandwagon Bandwagon makes it easy for people to share rides in taxis and car services with a platform for on-demand transportation that is affordable and sustainable.
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Propeller Aero Cloud tech that will connect companies to the potential of drone technology by working with construction and surveying firms; helping industrial companies planning dangerous inspections; exploring 3-D gas mapping with experimental sensing teams and plant science with major agriculture suppliers.
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RainGrid RainGrid is a lot-level stormwater utility that offers a smarter, more cost-effective alternative to conventional stormwater infrastructure. RainGrid builds and manages networks of automated and smart-grid-connected residential rainwater cisterns that keep urban stormwater out of the sewer, reduce the risk of floods, and extend the life of existing infrastructure.
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DigiLabrador DigiLabrador Company is developing a smart electronic device that is able to remotely identify and precisely locate drug substances.
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Pparke Pparke is a real-time parking information and guidance app for smartphones and tablets to search for parking bays nearby.
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OpportunitySpace OpportunitySpace is an online marketplace for undervalued real estate. OSpace helps governments identify and market their surplus real estate to the right buyers whose development plans will support the revitalization of communities.
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EMC A retrofit kit (hardware + software solution) that converts any FWD car into a hybrid supported by Artificial Intelligence to decide when its best to use each engine. EMC’s technology opens the way for massive adoption of new hybrid, hybrid plug-in and electric vehicles.
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Travly Travly is an app for commuters to plan out their travels accurately right from the comfort of their home.
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PopUpsters PopUpsters is an online marketplace that connects local businesses like chefs, makers, retailers, artists and more to space and events to PopUp their brand. As a Public Benefit Corporation, PopUpsters’ mission is to strengthen local communities and economies by fostering entrepreneurship, especially in low-income, minority and other disadvantaged communities.
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Charity Charge CharityCharge’s mission is to help people make the world a better place through their everyday purchases. Every time you use their credit card, you will earn donations to fund the charities of your choice.
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NeoKenya NeoKenya has created a market solution to solve the problem of rising food prices across Africa. Its solution, Twiga, offers farmers a formal guaranteed prices, handles the produce with care to eliminate loss and delivers directly to thousands of independent kiosks. The company pays farmers higher prices, while giving consumers…