The British Council and LRQA launch E-idea competition
16th May 2011 by Richard Gunawan
E-idea is an innovative competition that funds, supports and mentors young eco-entrepreneurs, aged 18-35, from seven Asia-Pacific countries. The E-idea competition launched in Japan on April 26th, 2011, and will also run in Australia, China, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. In each country, the competition will be open to start-up ventures as well as “step-up” expansions of existing projects. The winners will be those that focus on real-life sustainability challenges.
To win, projects have to clearly address some of the biggest environmental challenges facing local urban communities. These include waste reduction and efficiency, environmental transport and travel, energy reduction, water efficiency and sustainable design.
E-idea is a unique alliance between the British Council and Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA). The competition will engage, empower and encourage the winners as they bring their ideas to fruition by providing the successful eco-entrepreneurs project funding as well as expert technical, business, marketing and networking support.
The regional competition was formally announced at the Sydney Opera House in January, 2011 by William Hague, UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs who “applauded all involved, particularly the British Council and LRQA for their involvement,” and described E-idea as “addressing one of the central problems in world affairs and calls for people’s ingenuity and entrepreneurship in doing so… I hope many, many people are going to take part.”
After a pilot E-idea programme ran successfully in Japan in 2010, the first of the 2011 regional launches was in Australia in March, 2011 – where the competition is branded under the already well-known title of the “Big Green Idea”. The other Asia Pacific country programmes will launch in May 2011 with regional finals being held in November 2012.
LRQA have agreed to contribute £260,000 towards the implementation of the seven Asia Pacific programmes. In addition to financial support, LRQA and the British Council will equip E-idea winners with leadership, project management skills and knowledge. E-idea winners will also become part of the British Council and LRQA’s regional E-idea network, giving them access to national and international training and networking opportunities.
With a proven track record working with young people across countries and cultures, the British Council is ideally positioned to engage and empower young people committed to finding solutions to climate change and sustainability issues. The British Council already works directly with more than 120,000 young people in over 60 countries who are interested in tackling climate change.
LRQA, as part of the 250-year-old Lloyd’s Register Group, brings a well-established independent and authoritative professional global network as well as a high level of technical climate change expertise. The E-idea competition will give the young winning entrepreneurs the opportunity to work with LRQA’s global business network of 50,000 clients.
Huw Oliphant, British Council Project Manager for E-idea, said, “The British Council is delighted to be working with LRQA on this project. LRQA’s expertise and positive and enthusiastic commitment to this project make them an ideal partner for us. We are confident that this alliance will give real support to those young leaders who want to make a difference while also raising awareness of climate and sustainability issues on local, national and regional stages.”
Simon Batters, LRQA Project Director for E-idea Competition, said: “This is a major opportunity for LRQA, as a responsible company, to make a proactive, creative and dynamic contribution to climate change. We are contributing directly to society by supporting these young environmental leaders and are actually investing in the future by doing something tangible for the environment.”
For more information about E-idea go to www.e-idea.org
Richard Gunawan is Vice President for business and sustainability development for LRQA Asia. He has more than 15 years of commercial experience and is committed to assisting businesses in Asia to mitigate risks and to grow in line with CSR principles. Richard has an MBA and was educated in Australia. He also has spent more [...]