FAQ

Do you have questions that are not on the list? You can reach us via: challenge@whatdesigncando.com 

  • About the challenge

    WHAT IS THE NO WASTE CHALLENGE?
    The No Waste Challenge is What Design Can Do’s third climate action challenge in partnership with IKEA Foundation. This global design competition focuses on the enormous impact of waste and consumerism on climate change. Designers and creative entrepreneurs around the world are invited to submit innovative solutions to reduce waste and to re-design our systems of extraction, production, and consumption to be less destructive — or even to make them restorative.
    > Learn more about the Challenge background

    WHAT IS THE GOAL OF THE CHALLENGE?
    We believe that design has the power to raise awareness and change how things are made and what they are made of. Design also has a role to play in shifting narratives and facilitating alternative visions of the future. The COVID-19 crisis has provided us with an unprecedented opportunity to do so, and to re-evaluate our current systems in the process.
    With this in mind, the No Waste Challenge has two main goals:
    1. To make a significant contribution to the reduction of global warming (and keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees celsius in accordance with the Paris Agreement) through minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting biodiversity;
    2. To accelerate the transition to a fair and circular economy.

    WHO IS BEHIND THE CHALLENGE?
    The No Waste Challenge is an initiative by Amsterdam-based design platform What Design Can Do together with IKEA Foundation. The challenge is supported by our global partners and our city partners.
    > Learn more about Our Partners

    WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE GLOBAL AND CITY TRACKS?
    The No Waste Challenge asks designers to respond to one of three global design briefs. Each brief addresses a different aspect of the waste problem. The three briefs are: Take Less, Make Better and Handle Smarter, and they are open to everyone.  

    To take more perspectives into account, the Challenge also offers additional tracks for participants in six major cities: Amsterdam, Delhi, Mexico City, Nairobi, São Paulo & Rio and Tokyo. WDCD has worked closely with partners in each of these cities to develop extended programmes inspired by the opportunities in each region. If you’re applying from one of these Challenge cities, we encourage you to use the research we conducted to guide you towards more impactful solutions.
    > Learn more about the Global briefs
    > Learn more about the Challenge cities

    DO YOU HAVE A SUITABLE PROJECT THAT FITS WITH THE RESEARCH IN ONE OF THE CHALLENGE CITIES, BUT YOU ARE BASED ELSEWHERE IN THE COUNTRY?

    Anyone from anywhere can join the challenge. At WDCD we believe that even though waste is a global problem, we need local solutions to fight it. That is why in six cities around the world we have identified local issues and design opportunities. We encourage citizens from these cities (and countries) to apply for the challenge in their country. So, if you have an idea for Mumbai, but it would be very suitable for Delhi too, submit your project to the Delhi track. At the end of the selection period, the jury will pick at least five global winners, but also one or more winners per city.

    WHAT CAN YOU WIN?
    The centrepiece of the award package is a six-month-long global development programme, which has been co-created with Impact Hub to support the winners in further strengthening and scaling up their projects. Winning teams will also receive a prize fund of €10.000 each, as well as valuable press and publicity through WDCD’s channels and those of our partners.
    > Learn more about the Award Package

    WHAT IS THE DEADLINE OF THE OPEN CALL?
    The deadline of the Open Call is on 20 April, midnight in your local timezone.

     

  • Submitting your idea

    HOW TO ENTER?
    All proposals should be entered via the website of the No Waste Challenge. You must register an account before you can submit a proposal. Entrants who don’t wish to share their project publicly (for competitive reasons) can indicate so on the entry form. After your submission has been uploaded and approved by WDCD, your project will be published in the Entries gallery. If necessary, you can still adjust your submission after the approval. Specific requirements for participation can be found on the submission form.
    > Learn more about how to submit a project
    > Download a PDF of the submission form

    CAN I SUBMIT AN IDEA I HAVE ALREADY BEEN WORKING ON?
    Of course! This probably means you have done your research and are already refining your idea. You can also join the Challenge if your project is already in a further stage of development and is being implemented. The important thing is that your project suits one of our three global design briefs, or one of the six available city tracks. 

    CAN I SUBMIT AN IDEA ON MY OWN BEHALF?
    Yes, you can participate in the Challenge individually.

    CAN I SUBMIT AN IDEA AS A COLLECTIVE?
    Yes, you can. When you create a profile, we would like to know who the project leader of your submission is. Then, you can add your team members to the submission form and upload a photo or logo of your collective. 

    CAN I SUBMIT AN IDEA IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE?
    We prefer to receive all submissions in English. However, if your project applies to one of the following cities: Mexico City, São Paulo & Rio or Tokyo, you may submit your project in Spanish, Portuguese or Japanese. Please be aware that in this case the project title and project description still need to be submitted in English. In addition, at least one member of your team needs to speak English so that we can contact your team in case we have questions about your submission. 

    I HAVE SUBMITTED MY PROJECT. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
    As soon as an entry is submitted it needs to be checked by a WDCD moderator to see if it is complete. Your project may not be approved if you are missing information on your profile, on your idea, or if your idea is not relevant to the Challenge. You will receive a notification as soon as your submission has been approved. During the entire Open Call (until 20 April) you will be able to edit your submission.

    WHAT HAPPENS TO MY IDEAS?
    As an entrant, you retain full ownership (Intellectual Property) of your idea. Should you choose to share your proposal on our online platform, you give WDCD and its partners the right to publish your idea on all possible media channels throughout the Challenge. Should you choose to make your proposal available exclusively to the jury, and you are amongst the shortlist of finalists, we will share your proposal for publication to the press. Should a potential implementation partner or investor express an interest in developing or supporting your idea (even if you are not among the finalists), you are free to decide how to share your intellectual property. If so desired, we can assist and advise you.
    > Learn more about our Terms & Conditions

    MY PROJECT IS NOT VISIBLE – WHAT’S WRONG?
    In the submission form, entrants must indicate whether they want their idea to be visible only to jury members or to the public. You can adjust your project settings at any time during the Open Call. If your idea is still not visible after changing your settings from private to public, it may have been put on hold due to language identified by the platform. If a problem persists, please contact us at challenge@whatdesigncando.com.

     

  • Selection

    WHEN DO I MOVE TO THE NEXT PHASE?
    After the initial approval, entries that are made public will be added to the platform’s Entries gallery. On 20 April 2021, all approved entries will be closed for editing and moved to the Nominate phase, where a selection committee will judge the entries and establish a shortlist. 

    HOW DOES THE NOMINATE PHASE WORK AND HOW WILL THE SHORTLIST BE CREATED?
    The Challenge selection committee is composed of members of What Design Can Do, IKEA Foundation, our local partners and various other creative professionals and social business experts. During the Nominate phase they will put together a shortlist of top ideas in the global track as well as each city track. Every entry will be considered and evaluated on the judging criteria: Impact, Creativity & Design, Feasibility, and Scalability. 

    WHO WILL SELECT THE WINNERS?
    An international jury of leading experts representing different expertises and nationalities will select and announce the winning projects.

    WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MY PROJECT DOES NOT GET NOMINATED?
    Ideas that have not been selected for nominations will not move to the next phase, and will be labeled as ‘Archived’. They will still be visible in our Entries gallery, unless you have indicated otherwise. Projects which have been ‘Archived’ are no longer editable, but you can always contact us if you have any special requests.

     

  • About our partners

    A VARIETY OF STAKEHOLDERS
    WDCD is proud to work with partners from across the globe. WDCD wishes to work with designers, governments, NGO’s, civil society and the industry from the vision that if we want to tackle the issues of our times, we have to work together.
    Our partnerships are mutually beneficial, made with diverse organisations who espouse similar sustainable and social values to WDCD to achieve commonly defined goals, in line with our mission and vision.

    CODE OF CONDUCT
    WDCD takes great care in ensuring that partnerships are the right fit, undertaking our due diligence in line with our partners Code of Conduct; proceeding only when we believe the alliance will help us to achieve our mission and deepen our impact.

    CRITERIA
    We reserve the right to work with partners who demonstrate a commitment to sustainable values and a willingness to continue to improve their own working practices. From this perspective we judge partners not on their past performance, but what they’re currently working on and their future planned actions.
    If you want to be part of the solutions for the issues of our time, let’s work together.