U.S. Student Competitions Elevate Talent from Africa and Worldwide
Covid. Climate. Injustice. Waste. Disparity. Hunger. Poverty. So much is at critical mass in the world that there’s no choice but to address multiple interconnected global issues simultaneously. Wege Prize, the international student design competition to create solutions to today’s “wicked problems,” is an agent of change for these lofty ambitions.
For its 2021 edition, Wege Prize — organized by Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (KCAD)—has announced 11 interdisciplinary student teams from around the world shortlisted for advance-ment to the final phase of the competition. Of the selected teams, eight include participants from African countries, and seven teams are focused on food-related or agricultural problems facing the world today.
“We are very pleased with not only the quality of the concepts advanced by these teams to help power a transition from our current linear economy—in which we take, make, and dispose—to a circular economy that’s regenerative by design,” says Gayle DeBruyn, KCAD professor and Wege Prize organizer. “We’re also very gratified to see the international, collaborative and cross-disciplinary nature of the student teams under consideration as semi-finalists.”
Wege Prize was established in 2013 to solve the most complex, layered problems. The competition requires teams of individuals capable of working across the barriers that too often divide us — to drive systems-level change. The KCAD prize offers a powerful and accessible platform for any college or university student in the world to develop tangible solutions that often find real-world acceptance and application after the competition concludes.