We are proud to announce that our esteemed director, Dr Julia Lu, was invited to sit on the jury for the prestigious 2019 Hult Prize this month. Dr Lu was impressed by the calibre of the young entrepreneurs at the event and honoured to be a part of such a game-changing movement.
Nobel Prize for Students
Media sources worldwide refer to the Hult Prize as the “Nobel Prize for students”. Each year the Hult Prize team issues a big bold challenge aligned with a large market opportunity, inspiring students from over 120 countries to solve its greatest problem. 200,00 participants from over 2,000 universities begin the journey, the top 50 teams head to the Hult Castle at the Ashridge Estate in the U.K. for the Accelerator Program and the winning 6 teams pitch for USD$1 Million in startup funding at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
How would you change the world with a million dollars?
The theme for this year - the 10th Anniversary of the Hult Prize - is Youth Unemployment. One fifth of youth globally is neither employed, engaged in formal education, nor involved in training. As announced by President Bill Clinton, whose foundation is a key partner for the Hult Prize, the theme for the 2019 competition is to build the foundations of a venture that will provide meaningful work for 10,000 youth within the next decade.
Proud to be supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs
The Director of the International Academy of Musical Arts, Dr Julia Lu, together with the other members of the jury, faced the formidable task of picking the best solution to the Global Youth Challenge. As an industry thought leader who is passionate about education and innovation, Dr Lu was honoured to be invited back for a second year to sit on the jury of the Melbourne Regional Final of the Hult Prize.
No doubt, Dr Lu’s professional background in education and innovation consulting - helping organisations innovate and become more agile - plus her extensive experience mentoring young people and adjudicating competitions, contributed to her being selected as a jury member for 2019.
“It was a pleasure judging this year's Hult Prize Regional Finals and meeting teams from as far as Kenya, Canada, Palestinian Territories, Japan, Jordan, Indonesia, Nepal, U.S., Morocco, and Australia. The young people of this world have the power to solve some of the world’s toughest challenges and we need to listen to their ideas.” IAMUSICA Founder and Director, Dr Julia Lu.
The Winners of the Melbourne Regional Final
The winning team of the Melbourne Regional Program for Hult Prize was the Bandung Institute of Technology in Indonesia who presented an impressive solution to address youth unemployment in their home country, where 15.8% of individuals aged 15-24 are unemployed. The team from the Bandung Institute of Technology will now spend 6 weeks at the Hult Prize Accelerator Program in the U.K..
If they are selected as one of the six winning teams there, they will have the chance to pitch for $1 million in seed capital for their project which could benefit youth not only in Indonesia but worldwide.
A big congratulations to the team from the Bandung Institute of Technology for taking out the Melbourne regional prize. We wish you all the best in the Hult Prize Accelerator at the Ashridge Castle in the U.K. and hope you win the $1 million grand prize!
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