Two weeks ago we told you we were nominated for a very special prize, but couldn’t tell you which one yet. Now we’re thrilled to share with you that we’ve been nominated for the 2012 Buckminster Fuller Prize for Polydome. As we are entering the next phase of the review process, our project has been published in the Buckminster Fuller Idea Index 1.0. Our press release can be found here in English, and here in Dutch.
The Buckminster Fuller Challenge
The Buckminster Fuller Challenge is an annual international prize that supports the development and implementation of a project that has significant potential to solve humanity’s most pressing problems with a $100,000 award.
The jury brings together influential design science leaders and Metropolis Magazine named it “Socially-Responsible Design’s Highest Award. “The Buckminster Fuller Challenge has inspired us since it began.
Except's entry
Except’s core mission is to develop systemic solutions for a sustainable future, and is perfectly aligned with the goal of the Challenge. Our entry project, Polydome, can help secure access to a just and equitable food system for the world’s growing population by generating high yields, connecting biophysical and social flows, and creating meaningful jobs.
Polyome can produce diverse, climate and energy neutral food for a large population and is ideal for high-quality urban food production. The project presents a realistic and investible answer to the world’s need for sustainable food production.
Polydome is more than a vision for sustainable agriculture: it envisions how agriculture fits into sustainable societies.
More information and a short video on the Polydome project are available here.
Prospects
We expect to be a serious contender for the award and winning the Challenge would be a tremendous honor. We are excited about joining a network that advances whole systems thinking and design to develop the kind of high impact global solutions society needs.
Should Polydome win, we plan to leverage the $100,000 prize to work with our partners in the Netherlands and the United States to launch the first Polydome pilot facility and prepare the project for commercial development.
We are proud to be affiliated with the Challenge. We encourage all of those interested in our work to participate in our project by joining BFI’s online community and submitting your comments on our BFI webpage.
Stay tuned for the semi-finals and finals!
Follow us
Follow our daily events and updates on twitter feeds Except_USA (English) and Except_NL (Dutch), and of course on www.except.nl.
July 18, 2012