Jul 5
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Last week we announced the 3 lucky winners of Internet Explorer 8 Life Academy who each walked away with a grant for £10,000 but what did they have to say about the competition?
In our video you can hear from the 3 winners Luke Duggleby, Rowenna Davis and Nick Palfrey and also judges Professor Robert Wilson and Countdown mathematician Rachel Riley.
After an exciting two months, we are today ready to announce the winners of Internet Explorer 8 Life Academy.
On Friday our 12 finalists battled it out live in front of a high profile judging panel comprising of Professor Robert Winston, entrepreneur and lastminute.com co-founder Brent Hoberman, Countdown mathematician Rachel Riley, Channel 4 technology journalist Benjamin Cohen and Microsoft Director Leila Martine to win one of three £10,000 grants.
The winning ideas are:
Adventurer Explorer Grant
Luke, 22, a medical graduate at Bristol University won the Adventurer Explorer Grant for his charitable idea to build a Vocational Centre in Bweyale, Uganda. The young entrepreneur will use the funds to help bring the internet and services to Bweyale which will significantly improve their personal and educational needs in the community. You can see Luke’s live pitch here
http://www.lifeacademy.uk.com/entries/view/a0c3161f51ef4b9a900681a7b85270ea
Online Venture Explorer Grant
Rowenna Davis, 25, a graduate and freelance journalist from London won the Online Venture Grant for her concept Young People: Local Government. Rowenna entered the competition with an idea to target young people who are disillusioned and disengaged with mainstream politics. The prize money will go towards building a website that will link young people to local governments around the country who are struggling to find new councilors You can see Rowenna’s live pitch here http://www.lifeacademy.uk.com/entries/view/13bf5e648274446bac2bc6d97bda4f91
Creativity Explorer Grant
Nick Palfrey, 23, from Plymouth won the Creativity Explorer Grant for Moofu Education, an e-learning system aimed at maximizing students’ potential by using multi-media tools and new technology to make learning spaces better. Using cutting edge games technology, and an understanding of students’ needs, it encourages students to design, create and develop their own learning spaces – and interact with the elements within.
You can see Nick’s live pitch here http://www.lifeacademy.uk.com/entries/view/b7d0df6568334198b22d89b7f8780c93
Internet Explorer 8 Life Academy is a national competition launched to give 18-25 year olds a chance to explore their future potential and win a £10,000 grant to make their socially responsible ideas a reality. All entrants had to pitch for a grant in one of three categories.
For more information on Internet Explorer 8 Life Academy including the original 12 finalists checkout our website http://www.lifeacademy.uk.com/
Jun 28
Posted by Blue E Blogger in Announcements | No Comments
It’s been a busy few days at IE HQ. On Friday we welcomed into the office Professor Robert Winston, entrepreneur and lastminute.com co-founder Brent Hoberman, Countdown mathematician Rachel Riley, Channel 4 technology journalist Benjamin Cohen along with our very own Microsoft director Leila Martine to judge the Internet Explorer 8 Life Academy. The competition saw us whittle down 268 entries to a final 12 but who were the lucky three winners? Well,you will have to wait until Wednesday to find out!
This week shows no signs of slowing down as Julia Owen, Internet Explorer Product Manager, will be conducting our first interview across Twitter with leading technology news website Neowin.
Taking place live at 5pm tomorrow, the Twinterview will be hosted on both Neowin’s and our own Twitter feeds. If you have a question regarding Internet Explorer 9 that you would like Julia to answer then send us a tweet but remember to include the hashtag #IE9Q&A
Update, 29th June: Our Twinterview with Neowin will now be taking place at a later date – make sure you check back for updates.
Jun 17
Posted by Blue E Blogger in Uncategorized | 1 Comment
In April we launched Internet Explorer 8 Life Academy, a national competition to give 18-25 year olds a chance to explore their future potential and win a £10,000 grant to make their socially responsible idea a reality.
The Internet Explorer team was amazed with the response and has spent the last month going through the fantastic entries to reveal the finalists. These 12 lucky entrants will now battle it out live on Friday 25th June in front of a high profile judging panel comprising of Professor Robert Winston, entrepreneur and lastminute.com co-founder Brent Hoberman, Countdown mathematician Rachel Riley, Channel 4 technology journalist Benjamin Cohen and Microsoft Director Leila Martine to win one of three £10,000 grants.
Shortlisted ideas include building schools in Kenya; flying old hospital equipment to Uganda; providing careers information for young people; creating green energy from footsteps or providing a politics platform for aspiring councillors.
But who made the cut? Check out the 12 finalsits below, including their initial pitch video or alternatively click here www.lifeacademy.uk.com
Adventurer Explorer Grant
Charles Coldman Video Entry
African Promise: a UK registered charity which over the last couple of years has been helping to construct classrooms, libraries and other facilities in five village schools
Luke Duggleby Video Entry
Finishing a vocational centre in Uganda, bringing the internet and services that will significantly improve their educational communication
Abbie Hinton Video Entry
Travel to different countries to train football coaches and bring communities together.
Kate Hollingshead Video Entry
Use a website to help link a hospital in Uganda to medical/midwifery students for their electives.
Online Venture Explorer Grant
Eve Bugler Video Entry
Space@Mine will connect Space Searchers and Space Sellers. From sheds and gardens to parking spaces and garages, from meeting rooms to sports fields there’s space out there that’s just waiting to be used. The unloved garden becomes an allotment; the spare shed a useful bike-store, the empty meeting room a vital meeting place for a charity.
Rowenna Davis Video Entry
Many young people are disillusioned and disengaged with mainstream politics. Meanwhile, local governments around the country are struggling to find new councillors. This idea solves two problems at once by encouraging young people to stand for local government.
Rajeeb Dey Video Entry
Given the unprecedented level of graduate unemployment Rajeeb wants to highlight entrepreneurship as a viable and rewarding career path. Start-ups do not have the time or resources to market themselves on campus, neither do they have the ‘brand’ to automatically attract candidates. Therefore Enternships.com provides a way for start-ups to connect to talent on campus.
Laurence Kembell-Cook Video Entry
Pavegen is a way for people to generate green energy from their footsteps whilst walking down the street.
Creativity Explorer Grant
Tom Dodds Video Entry
Exposure Live is a not for profit project to provide an online platform for local musicians and artisits of any genre. It also trains the community in studio engineering, mixing, recording and outside broadcasting.
Dale O’Keefe Video Entry
Follow My Leader wants to create a careers information website aimed at 16-30 years olds to help them with their career choices.
Nick Palfrey Video Entry
Build learning spaces using a simulator or video game so that 3D models of proposed schools can be explored by students, teachers and parents with amendments made and sent back to the architects.
James Trendell Video Entry
Crowd Magazine is a free, advertising subsidised, lifestyle magazine for creative and innovative 16 to 24 year olds where the content is entirely produced and edited by its own readers. It will provide young people with a platform on which to publish their work.
May 25
Posted by Blue E Blogger in Announcements | 4 Comments
For a chance to win £10,000, 18 – 25 year olds have only 48 hours left to upload their online video pitch at www.lifeacademy.uk.com. The Internet Explorer 8 Life Academy helps 18 – 25 year olds with ambitions to be the next Bill Gates, Bear Gryls or Banksy and win one of three £10,000 grants.
From the environment to the arts, Internet Explorer 8 Life Academy wants 18 – 25 year olds to pitch a socially responsible idea for one of three categories. If entrants impress the high profile judging panel they will be rewarded with £10,000 to help make their idea into reality.
Categories include:
Entrants simply need to create a two minute video pitch of their idea – filmed using their mobile if they like – and upload it to the grant website at www.lifeacademy.uk.com by the closing date, 27th May. All entrants need to communicate how their ideas reflect aspects of social responsibility and/ or philanthropy to society.
Twelve finalists will be shortlisted on 15 June 2010 to pitch their idea live in front of a high profile panel of judges consisting of figures from the business, online and media world including Professor Robert Winston, Professor of Science and Society at Imperial College London. Three finalists will be picked and win a £10,000 grant each to bring their ideas to life.
Just over a week ago we launched Internet Explorer 8 Life Academy to help 18 – 25 year olds with ambitions to be the next Bill Gates, Bear Gryls or Banksy to win one of three £10,000 grants. Since then we’ve been inundated with entries and here at The Blue E we’d like to showcase some of the entrants we’ve received so far….
Nick Palfrey – Fun and effective classroom learning
23-year-old Nick is the founder and managing director of Moofu. After spending his school days struggling against the strict national curriculum he became passionate about using multi-media tools and new technology to make learning spaces better and maximise students’ potential.
Charles Coldman – Helping school kids in rural Kenya
25-year-old graduate Charles Coldman spent his gap year in Kasigau, in rural south-east Kenya. His experience opened his eyes to the lack of education infrastructure, and he made a promise to the headmaster of the local school that he would return to give the pupils a better school.
Laurence Kemball-Cook – Creating green energy from walking
Laurence Kemball-Cook studied Industrial Design and Technology at Loughborough University. One day Laurence had a bright idea. Would it be possible to power street lights, shop fronts, even advertising boards, simply by walking down the street?
Do you think you have what it takes to win a £10,000 grant? If so, why not enter? Simply create a two minute video pitch of your idea – filmed using your mobile if you like – and upload it to the grant website at www.lifeacademy.uk.com by the closing date, 27th May.
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