Stanford Center on Longevity Design Challenge 2022-2023
Sponsored by
Stanford Center on Longevity
Funding:
See maximum funding amount and funding details below
Open To:
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Co-term
Master's
PhD
Autumn
Winter
Spring
Applications closed
Applications closed on December 8, 2022
The Stanford Center on Longevity hosts an annual global Design Challenge that is open to teams from any accredited university in the world. The goal of the challenge is to inspire student designers to consider longevity-related innovation topics, engaging them in a practical and exciting way. In its first 9 years, the Challenge has attracted over 870 designs from students representing 66 countries. This year’s design topic is “Optimizing Health Span: Living Well at Every Age.”
The near-doubling of human life spans throughout much of the world during the 20th century is one of the greatest achievements in human history. A key challenge now is to ensure that the quality of those added years keeps pace with dramatic increases in the length of life. We must develop new ways to align life spans with health spans, defined as the period people remain healthy, mobile, and mentally sharp, unimpeded by chronic pain, illness, or disability. The focus of the 10th annual Stanford Center on Longevity Design Challenge is to create solutions that optimize health spans and promote longevity.
The Stanford Center on Longevity’s New Map of Life project identifies opportunities to improve health spans with interventions at all stages of life, from childhood to old age. For example, research in The New Map of Life shows that physical activity, quality sleep, and positive social connections, as well as access to nutritious food, green space, clean water, and unpolluted air all contribute to a person’s health span, including their mental health.
The 2023 Stanford Center on Longevity Design Challenge invites student designers to create solutions that contribute towards the optimization of health span at any age. We especially welcome designs that increase the health spans of people in disadvantaged circumstances, which may include poverty, food, housing, or climate insecurity.
Examples of designs include (but are not limited to) solutions that:
Increase physical activity
Improve diet
Improve sleep
Reduce chronic disease
Improve mental health
Enhance social connection
What you will do
Create a design for a product, service, or program that addresses the Challenge topic: "Optimizing Health Span: Living Well at Every Age"
Submit your design online any time between September 12 and December 8, 2022: https://designchallengestanford.skild.com/
6-8 Finalist teams will be announced on January 25, 2023.
Finalists will be awarded $1,000 USD to help with prototyping and paired with an experienced mentor to help prepare for the finals.
Finalists will present their design before a panel of judges at the finals in April. Grand prizes will be awarded (1st place: $10,000 USD, 2nd place: $5,000 USD, 3rd place: $2,000 USD).
Eligibility and Requirements:
Each team must consist of at least one full-time student.
Teams may have a total of up to 5 members, and may also include students from other universities and/or non-students. Students may also compete alone, as a team of 1.
Only students are allowed to present at the Finals