The Hult Prize
The Hult Prize’s $1 million check is the largest sum awarded to the winners of any social good innovation competition. This is because the solutions the Hult Prize funds are both effective, and especially urgent. The competition, which is open to students around the world, encourages and energizes young entrepreneurs to build for-profit startups that focus on critical social challenges. To date, the Hult Prize has engaged over one million students and deployed over $50 million in capital to winning projects.
Each year, the Hult Prize directs applicants, of which there may be as many as 50,000, to focus on a single, specific issue. In 2017, participants designed innovations to improve the lives of at least 1 million refugees over the next five years, and the winning proposal was an initiative to bring community transit hubs to refugee settlements, solving for the significant mobility gap that migrants face.
The Hult Prize main event takes place inside the United Nations Headquarters, with the presentations by the final six teams occurring in the ECOSOC chamber in the afternoon. Once the presentations are complete, all the participants go upstairs to a reception in the Delegate Dining Room, both inside and on the patio that overlooks the East river while the judges are given 45 minutes to deliberate and select a winner. As in years past, President Bill Clinton has joined them for a final briefing and then he announces the winner from the stage. President Clinton will also announce the next year’s challenge.
Empire’s team was responsible for all production support for the presentation and reception, venue management, food and beverage, accommodations, credentialing, press support, set design, and graphics. We also coordinated with the UN broadcast office to have the proceedings webcast.
To learn more about the Hult Prize, please visithttp://www.hultprize.org
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
