About The Challenge: The President’s Sustainable Solutions Challenge encourages student-led innovation in sustainability on CU campuses. Students with ideas for sustainability innovations on their campus will compete for up to $2500 in cash prizes while gaining experience in leadership, entrepreneurship, and social enterprise. If you have an idea for improving environmental quality, economic and resource efficiency, and/or social equity on your campus, visit your campus challenge site.

CU Anschutz’ President’s Sustainable Solutions Challenge: We invite all interested individuals and teams to participate in the 2024 version of the PSSC. If you have an idea that can affect sustainability, climate change efforts, human health & climate issues, etc., you may compete against your peers to win cash prizes and have your ideas reviewed by campus leadership for possible implementation. All ideas are welcome, and we will spend time with you to develop ideas and proposals over the next few months to be ready for the competition. Please attend at least one informational session to find out more and to share ideas. Criteria are listed below and ideas that are complementary to the Mission and Vision of CU Anschutz are greatly encouraged.

CU Anschutz Mission: With innovation, agility and excellence, we improve humanity by preventing illness, saving lives, educating health professionals and scientists, advancing science, and serving our communities.

CU Anschutz Vision: To provide the finest team-based healthcare, science and education in the world by serving as collaborative architects who respond quickly to the changing needs of society, and engage and honor the community around us through lenses of diversity, equity and inclusivity.

January 31^st – Table at Welcome Wednesday Organization Fair  

February 5^th – Official Announcement of Challenge (own separate email - 4 weeks to work on idea and team before registration)  

February 27^th – Information Session via zoom @ 12:00pm https://ucdenver.zoom.us/j/97801901362

March 6^th – Information Session via zoom @ 5:30pm https://ucdenver.zoom.us/j/97801901362

March 29^th – Registration due by email nicole.tabugadir@cuanschutz.edu

April 2-5^th – Proposal Workshops – One on One with Jarrett. By Appointment 

April 19^th– Proposals due by email to nicole.tabugadir@cuanschutz.edu

1. Problem/Solution - What is the problem that the innovation is intending to solve, is the solution an appropriate fit for the problem?

Scoring (1-5)

1. Problem described is not a significant burden  or barrier to campus, community and/or institutional mission OR the innovation does not fit or address the problem adequately.
2. Problem described is a burden to campus, community and/or institutional mission but the innovation does not address the root of the problem AND/OR the scope of the proposed innovation is inappropriate for the problem.
3. The problem described is a burden or barrier to campus, community and/or institutional mission and the innovation somewhat addresses the root of the problem, or only addresses symptoms of the problem.
4. The problem described is a significant burden or barrier to campus, community and/or institutional mission, the innovation addresses the root of the problem but is not exactly right in terms of its proposed scale.
5. The problem described is a significant burden to campus and the innovation addresses the root of the problem at an appropriate scale.
   

2. Impact - How well does the team describe the “sustainability” aspects of the Innovation in environmental, social, and/or economic terms and how relevant is it to the campus mission: 

• The environmentally beneficial outcomes of the Innovation  
• How the Innovation benefits disadvantaged or marginalized constituencies 
• Financial/Economic/Equity benefits that result from the innovation including projected long term benefits  

Scoring (1-5)  

1. The team failed to articulate the impact of the innovation, or the impact is insignificant.
2. The innovation’s impact is insignificant for campus but the team described its potential impact on each area of sustainability (environment, social, economic).
3. The team described the potential benefits of the innovation in each area of sustainability. The benefits are somewhat significant, but the team failed to articulate contribution toward reaching campus goals.
4. The innovation provides a significant benefit in one or more areas of sustainability AND the team described its contribution to reaching campus goals OR cited relevant sustainability frameworks to support their claims.
5. The innovation provides a significant benefit in each area of sustainability (environmental, social, economic) AND the team described its contribution to reaching goals AND cited relevant sustainability frameworks to support their claims.  
   

3. Feasibility - Consider the team’s justification of their Innovation in terms of:

• The resources required to implement the innovation, including time
• Estimated cost
• Teams may want to show a projected timeline, return on investment, budget, etc…

Scoring (1-4)

1. The team did not identify or address any potential barriers to implementation
2. The team identified some significant barriers to implementation but did not address how to overcome them
3. The team identified barriers to implementation but did not present a strong case as to how they can be overcome
4. The team addressed several potential barriers to implementation and presented a reasonable case to overcome each.  
   

4. Innovation - How does the project address sustainability in a novel manner, how is it new?

Scoring (1-4)

1. The proposed innovation has been tried in the past and failed. The proposal is not innovative
2. The proposed innovation has been discussed or attempted in the past but was never implemented. Similar programs exist in other places
3. The proposed innovation has not been attempted but current efforts/programs/policies are in place to address the problem described
4. The proposed innovation has never been attempted and there are no current programs/policies in place to address the described problem  
   

5. Presentation Quality  

Scoring (1-4)

1. Poor quality
2. Average quality
3. Above average quality
4. Highest quality