DURHAM, N.H.—For the first time in the program’s history, the final round of the 2020 Social Venture Innovation Challenge (SVIC) was fully virtual. Nine finalist student teams presented their ideas for addressing sustainability challenges at the local, regional and global level to a panel of judges, prominent social venture founders, leaders and investors from New Hampshire and beyond.

Organized by UNH’s Changemaker Collaborative, whose vision is “everyone can be a changemaker,” the SVIC is a platform to help grow a community of skilled problem-solvers capable of addressing society’s most pressing issues. Designed to be an idea “accelerator,” participants develop original early-stage concepts for creative, financially sustainable solutions to any of the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. A total of $15,000 across nine award categories was given to the winning college student teams. Videos from winners and all finalist teams can be viewed here.

Five new prize categories were awarded by the judges including best articulated problem, most original innovation, most societal impact potential, most financially sustainable solution and most impactful story to engage stakeholders.

“We understand that different entries have strengths in different aspects, and we wanted the judges to be able to highlight and reward those strengths in different teams,” said Faina Bukher, UNH’s director of changemaker education.

The addition of audience choice prizes was also new to the competition. Voting was open to the public and more than 1,400 individuals voted on their favorite ideas. “It is our hope that the community participation will help encourage a rich “ecosystem” of support to emerge, not only for the “winning” teams, but for all of the finalist teams. Some teams didn’t walk away with a monetary prize, but they are focusing on important challenges and their solutions have great promise, and we hope the community will reach out to support them with advice, connections and other resources,” said Fiona Wilson, director of UNH’s Sustainability Institute.

Best Articulated Problem: Scrapp
Scrapp is a free app that combats confusion by using a barcode scanning feature to show you how to correctly recycle common household items.
Mikey Pasciuto, UNH 2021 | Mechanical Engineering and Sustainability dual major, minor in Sustainable Energy
Evan Gwynne Davies, UNH 2020 | Civil Engineering
Daniel Marek, UNH 2020 | Civil Engineering

Most Original Innovation: Mongo
Mongo is a sustainable plant-based protein derived from organic mung beans. High in protein and low in calories, Mongo is a tasty alternative to the limited plant-based options.
Jessica Nelson, UNH 2021 | Business Administration: Entrepreneurial Studies, minors in Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems and Sales

Most Impact Potential: HydroPhos Solutions
HydroPhos Solutions is a service company that addresses eutrophication and phosphorus depletion. They utilize phosphorus filtration technology to extract phosphorus from wastewater treatment plants. They then resell this phosphorus to fertilizer companies, recycling the nutrients and extending the lifespan of our global food supply.
Jason Plant, UNH 2023 | Business Administration: Entrepreneurship & Finance
Daisy Burns, UNH 2024 | Economics with option in Public Policy and Sustainability Dual Major
Matt Oriente, UNH 2023 | Business Administration: ISBA & Sustainability Dual Major
Derek Long, UNH 2023 | Economics
Katie Remeis, UNH 2023 | Business Administration: Accounting and Finance, minor in Environmental Conservation and Sustainability

Most Financially Sustainable Solution: Scrapp
Scrapp is a free app that combats confusion by using a barcode scanning feature to show you how to correctly recycle common household items.
Mikey Pasciuto, UNH 2021 | Mechanical Engineering and Sustainability Dual Major, minor in Sustainable Energy
Evan Gwynne Davies, UNH 2020 | Civil Engineering
Daniel Marek, UNH 2020 | Civil Engineering

Most Impactful Story to Engage Stakeholders: Plymouth Cares One-Stop-Shop
A virtual‚ one-stop-shop‚ that integrates all the resources that satisfy unmet basic needs of students at Plymouth State University into one place.
Zachary Eastman, PSU, 2021 | Business Administration
Noah Fiske, PSU, 2021 | Interdisciplinary Studies, minor in Business Administration

Best First-Year Student Entry: ROOTS
ROOTS is a collaboration website that allows students, staff and the community to connect with each other and post ideas or solutions to sustainability challenges.
Kaitlin Phair, UNH 2024 | Neuroscience and Behavior
Derek Bobbit, UNH 2024 | Business Administration: Finance and ISBA
Ella Dandrade, UNH 2024 | Bioengineering
Janet Ogunbuyi, UNH 2024| Communication and Environmental Science

Audience Choice Awards

1st Place: HydroPhos Solutions
HydroPhos Solutions is a service company that addresses eutrophication and phosphorus depletion. They utilize phosphorus filtration technology to extract phosphorus from wastewater treatment plants. They then resell this phosphorus to fertilizer companies, recycling the nutrients and extending the lifespan of our global food supply.
Jason Plant, UNH 2023 | Business Administration: Entrepreneurship & Finance
Daisy Burns, UNH 2024 | Economics with option in Public Policy and Sustainability Dual Major
Matt Oriente, UNH 2023 | Business Administration: ISBA & Sustainability Dual Major
Derek Long, UNH 2023 | Economics
Katie Remeis, UNH 2023 | Business Administration: Accounting and Finance, minor in Environmental Conservation and Sustainability

2nd place: MyGreenPlate
MyGreenPlate is an app that will allow users to track the sustainability status of their food consumption habits and offer positive reinforcement for sustainable eating habits.
Holly Proulx, UNH 2021 | Environmental Engineering
Will Bodewes, UNH 2020 | Mechanical Engineering

3rd place: Scrapp
Scrapp is a free app that combats confusion by using a barcode scanning feature to show you how to correctly recycle common household items.
Mikey Pasciuto, UNH 2021 | Mechanical Engineering and Sustainability Dual Major, minor in Sustainable Energy
Evan Gwynne Davies, UNH 2020 | Civil Engineering
Daniel Marek, UNH 2020 | Civil Engineering

The SVIC is a collaborative, interdisciplinary event, organized at UNH Changemaker Collaborative and co-hosted by the Carsey School of Public Policy, the Peter T. Paul College of Business & Economics and the UNH Sustainability Institute. Lead sponsors of the SVIC were Kennebunk Savings and Timberland. Sponsors included CCA Global Partners, Cirtronics, Cole Haan, and Prime Buchholz. Additional supporters included NH Businesses for Social Responsibility, the Maurice Prize for Innovation, Brent Bell and Wojtek Uzdelewicz. Since its founding in 2013, in partnership with Nobel Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, the SVIC has seen participation from over 1,300 contestants and provided over $315,000 in funding and resources to winners.

The University of New Hampshire inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation, and world. More than 16,000 students from all 50 states and 71 countries engage with an award-winning faculty in top-ranked programs in business, engineering, law, health and human services, liberal arts and the sciences across more than 200 programs of study. As one of the nation’s highest-performing research universities, UNH partners with NASA, NOAA, NSF and NIH, and receives more than $110 million in competitive external funding every year to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea and space.