Disrupt!/Design!/
Design is here to disrupt. If you have an idea that can influence and empower communities living in Lebanon, then you should be part of Disrupt! /Design!/
We are looking for disruptive ideas that challenge the status quo and introduce sustainable change in our society. Disrupt!/Design!/ is here to help you develop your idea through a 3-day ideathon followed by a crowdfunding campaign with Zoomaal to be launched during the 4th Beirut Design Week.
Your idea needs to include any form of design and should be of public or social interest, under any of the themes cited below. To participate you can be a designer, a creative, a maker, a doer, a tech expert, a coder or just a design enthusiast, but you must apply as a team of 2 to 5.
Themes
DESIGN DISRUPTS: local production
Lebanon has long been known for its unique craftsmen expertise and its artisanal production. Today this sector is facing a decline and awaits some design disruptions. If your idea can revitalize any aspect of the craftsmanship industry in Lebanon or maybe build bridge between design and artisans, then your idea disrupts local production.
DESIGN DISRUPTS: learning methods
In our era of social media, creative commons, and open source it might just be high time we disrupt traditional methods of education. Whether you develop new tools, design new approaches or re-adapt education to the latest tech trends, your project is welcomed as long as you introduce some new form of creative education.
DESIGN DISRUPTS: environmental systems
From cradle to cradle and towards more sustainable living solutions, this theme encompasses all environmentally aware, grass root initiatives, and bottom-up approaches. Your idea needs to help -in any way- transform or re-use existing resources into disruptive creative solutions.
DESIGN DISRUPTS: social divides
In the midst of societal disputes and sectarian boundaries, we look for initiatives that can disrupt the divide. Your idea needs to bridge a gap on a cultural, religious, or behavioral level in an innovative and creative way to bring different communities of different backgrounds together.
DESIGN DISRUPTS: collective memory
The same memory, although perceived subjectively, can be shared by a large community and affect in many ways their common future. Some memories can be better forgotten, yet many others are important to be remembered as they conceal and preserve important aspects of our shared identity. In this disruptive category, projects can focus on such things as identity, history of space and people, narratives and memory.
DESIGN DISRUPTS: digital space
To disrupt the digital space your idea needs to break a boundary or a barrier and translate languages between the worlds of coder and designers. We are looking for coders who understand design, or designers who love coding. We are searching for an idea that can help connect the two languages and decode complexity to make it accessible to both other parties.
DESIGN DISRUPTS: business model
Design and Design Thinking are today the leading fields in innovation, yet they have not found their entry point into the business world of Lebanon. This theme is looking for ideas that could disrupt the corporate world by introducing design tools, approaches and solution into the board meeting.
Event
The Disrupt! /Design! ideathon will take place over three days on April 17th, 18th and 19th and will be divided into a series of sessions designed to develop your idea. All throughout the event designers, marketers, entrepreneurs, coders, filmmakers and communications specialists will guide the selected participants in a step-by-step process to perfect their project.
The ideathon will be an interactive and hands-on experience during which teams will iterate quickly on their initial idea and learn by doing. In an intense 72 hours experience the initial concepts will be matured to become promising start-ups. By the end of this workshop, finalists will compete for the first prize as well as join a crowdfunding campaign that will be launched during the Beirut Design Week 2015 and will be highly mediatized and showcased.
Prizes
At the end of the 3-day ideathon, a panel of jury members will select 3 winning projects based on their pitch.
Prizes of the winning teams will include a $3000 cash prize, a space in MENA Design Research Center co-working office, as well as mentorship to develop their business plan until their project is implemented.
In order to apply, your idea should fit the description of at least one of the Disrupt!/Design!/ themes. Your project may be preconceived but shouldn’t be older than 6 months. And you must apply as a team of 2 to 5 people.
Once selected, you will be informed by email and a date will be set for a preparatory meeting to get you ready for the ideathon.
Important dates to remember:
Application deadline: April 1
Selection of finalists: April 5
Preparatory meeting: April 5 till 16
Ideathon: April 17, 18 and 19.
Application is closed now.