Giving Compass' Take:

• The 2019 World Changing Ideas Awards showcases businesses, policies, technology, and nonprofit organizations that are bringing us closer to a sustainable future. 

• The award-winning ideas stem from creative problem-solving with a focus on innovation. Are these the types of factors donors should look at when supporting their favorite cause?

• Here are five ways to build business ideas that could change the world. 

We’re excited to announce the winners of the 2019 World Changing Ideas Awards. World Changing Ideas, now in its third year, celebrates businesses, policies, and nonprofits that are poised help shift society to a more sustainable and equitable future.

Below, you can read about the winners in 17 different categories, from a tool that brings remote assistance to people who are blind to a giant tower that stores energy using cranes and 35-ton bricks. There’s a promising technology to turn wood into fabric and a simple way to convert gasoline-powered trucks to run on electricity. And much more.

Each category was judged by a jury of prominent social entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, thinkers, and designers, plus a Fast Company editor.  The breadth of the creative problem-solving and inspiring solutions from all the entries were inspiring, a true grab bag of innovations that could help transform the world. We can’t wait to see what they do next. Here are a couple of the finalists:

  • Aira, Aira: Either through glasses equipped with a high-definition camera and a speaker, or a mobile phone application, Aira users can send a live stream of what’s happening around them to an “agent,” who will look at the footage and relay that information to them.
  • Uncensored Playlist, DDB Group Germany:  Songs with lyrics explaining recent events that might have been censored from the news were available as part of a project called the Uncensored Playlist, which adapted stories by prominent journalists into song.
  • Flood Concern, One Concern:   FloodConcern creates map-based visualizations of where water surges may hit hardest, up to five days ahead of an impending storm.

Read the full article about world-changing ideas by Morgan Clendaniel at Fast Company.