Image of Golden Gate Bridge, California. Students who enter the Big Ideas Contest have the chance to win a trip to California and win £10,000 launch funding.
The University of Sussex has partnered with UC Berkeley to bring the Big Ideas Contest to the UK. This well-established and highly-respected student startup initiative supports those who have big ideas for a better world: with contest categories including global health, food and agriculture, arts and social change, education, and more.
Each year, one Sussex student is selected to travel to California and pitch their idea at a Grand Final, with a chance to win £10,000 launch funding. This year, for the first time, the Sussex winner selected to travel to the USA will also receive a prize of £2,500.
The deadline for competing teams to submit their pre-proposal is 11 December 2024. Read on for more information about how to take part, eligibility, and key dates:
What is the Big Ideas Contest?
Big Ideas is an annual contest aimed at providing funding, support and encouragement to interdisciplinary teams of students who have “big ideas.”
Founded at UC Berkeley in 2006, the University of Sussex is the first UK university to partner on the social impact competition, bringing Sussex students the opportunity to win a trip to California plus a chance to pitch their idea at the Grand Final.
Big Ideas has inspired innovative and high-impact student-led projects aimed at solving problems that matter to this generation. By encouraging novel proposals and then supporting concrete next steps, Big Ideas helps contest winners make an impact all over the world.
What counts as a "big idea"?
Ideas should relate to one of the following categories:
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Workforce Development
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Global Health
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Food & Agriculture
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Financial Inclusion
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Climate Change & Sustainability
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Education & Literacy
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Cities & Communities
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Art & Social Change
Who is the Big Ideas Contest for?
The Big Ideas Contest is open to all current undergraduate and postgraduate students. Entries can also be accepted from teams outside of the University that have at least one Sussex student member.
Big Ideas supports students at the very early stages of developing their ideas. Often, students who compete in Big Ideas have never entered an innovation contest or written a real-world proposal.
The Contest challenges students to step outside of their traditional university-based academic work, take a risk, and use their education, passion, and skills to work on problems important to them.
Support with your application
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If you would like to speak to someone before beginning your application, please email entrepreneurship@sussex.ac.uk or book an appointment with a member of the Entrepreneurship Team via CareerHub.
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The Entrepreneurship team are also running specific application support appointments to provide feedback on your application drafts. Book a one-to-one appointment on Wednesday 13 November or Friday 6 December via CareerHub.
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One-to-one appointments with UC Berkeley Big Ideas Director, Phillip Denny, are available throughout the Autumn term: Book an online appointment - Please note: Appointments with Phillip will be in Pacific Time (PT), so please ensure you know what time it will be in the UK (GMT) and book the appropriate time. When booking an appointment, you must make it clear that you are a University of Sussex student and that it will need to be an online appointment.
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UC Berkeley will be running talks and workshops October - December 2024. Slides and recordings will be published on their Big Ideas website and can be accessed by University of Sussex students, as well as recordings from previous events.
Application Timeline for University of Sussex applicants
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Round 1 (Pre-proposal) applications open: 16 October 2024
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Deadline for Round 1 (Pre-proposal): 11 December 2024 (midnight)
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All participants informed of outcome and sent feedback: 21- 24 January 2025
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Deadline for Round 2 (Full proposal): 16 March 2025 (midnight)
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Round 2 participants informed of outcome: 31 March - 4 April 2025
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Grand Prize Pitch Day (at UC Berkeley, California): 7 May 2025
For further information on Big Ideas and other funding opportunities, visit the Student Hub.