According to the best minds of Silicon Valley, today’s fast-moving technological expansion can be used to make our own lives better in the near future.
So, together with NASA, they established Singularity University. To make its efforts truly world-wide, the University launched Global Impact Competitions to involve innovators from all around the globe.
In April 2012 visionaries from Central and Eastern Europe and South East Europe (CEE&SEE) also had a chance to prove that they have the ‘singularity’ potential and have the solutions to make the lives of at least 1 million people better in the next 3 years.
The first Global Impact Competition in CEE&SEE - supported by companies such as Autodesk, Cisco, GE Healthcare or PortfoLion - reached thousands of university students, young entrepreneurs and business people in the region.
54 applications were submitted from 8 countries, trying to answer the issues of health, education or security. Organizers were looking for innovative project ideas which could improve the lives of 1 million people in a 3-year period with the use of any exponentially improving technology.
The judging panel shortlisted the projects to the six most outstanding, which include finalists from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.
Singularity University, located in Montain View, CA is organizing Global Impact Competitions in various parts of the world and it was the first time the competition was organized in Central and Eastern Europe.
Finalists’ projects
- Gaczkowska, Agnieszka (Poland): Drug waste - web-based service for used medicaments location and drug shortages alerts
- Haidegger, Tamás (Hungary): Hand Hygiene for a Healthier Planet- innovative education and objective control on personal hygiene
- Plevka, Vaclav (Czech Republic): Avoiding the Gridlock Incident in order to Keep the Conurbations in Operation
- Rakova, Bogdana (Bulgaria): LIVEstat- phone assisted healthy shopping
- Rátai, Dániel (Hungary): Leonar3Do the VR kit changing education, teaching and lifelong learning
- Várnagy, Priszcilla (Hungary): Be-novative: Conquering real-life challenges with creativity
Finalists will get a chance to present their projects to an international Jury, with members from the Singularity University faculty, Cisco and GE Healthcare.
The Finals will take place in Budapest on May 4, 2026 (for more information please click here) with keynote speaker Ernõ Rubik, Honorary Patron of the event, inventor of the Rubik’s cube.
Singularity University is not merely a university. It is a forum and community where great ideas and businesses have been born.
It’s mission is to assist the spin-off businesses, which aim to solve the most pressing problems of the world with the use of exponentially developing technologies. Sponsors of the university are Genentech, Autodesk, Google, Cisco, Kauffmann Foundation, Nokia and ePlanet – among others.