Patel Grand Challenge Brochure

Smart Pot

The Smart Pot Will Save Many Lives

One of the major global problems that exists today, is the provision of clean and safe drinking water. In developing countries, a child dies every 20 seconds due to lack of access to clean water and safe sanitation. It is astonishing that in the 21st century we are not able to provide these basic human needs to all people on our planet.

These deaths are preventable and one of the ways to prevent them is through the provision of clean and safe drinking water.

Most people in developing countries still collect their drinking water from contaminated water sources. Even the water collected at stand posts is often contaminated due to intermittent water supply that allows pollutants to enter the pipelines. They collect this water in storage vessels such as water pots and jerrycans.

The consequences of drinking contaminated water are illnesses and death - infections like cholera, typhoid and dysentery are caused by contaminated water!

What we need is an inexpensive, convenient, and reliable solution to make this water safe for drinking – to disinfect it at the point-of-use. What if we could invent a Smart Pot or Smart Jerrycan that can treat water to make it safe for drinking? Such a Smart Pot will provide a better future for millions of people.

Patel Grand Challenge

The Patel Center of Global Solutions at the University of South Florida, in partnership with the International Water Association invites designers, researchers, inventors, and innovators from around the developing world to create a Smart Pot that:

• treats contaminated water during collection, • is affordable, robust and user friendly, • has a similar shape and weight as a traditional pot (jerrycan)

and can be manufactured locally, • and requires minimal running and maintenance cost.

This competition is open to applicants from academic and research institutions, consulting firms and NGOs that are officially registered and located within a developing country. A list of the countries can be found at www.psgs.usf.edu/patelgrandchallenge  

Roadmap for the Competit ion

The competition will have three phases, 1. Pre-proposal: All eligible applicants are expected to submit a

short pre-proposal that will be reviewed by an expert panel coordinated by the Patel Center of Global Solutions1. Five applicants will be shortlisted and awarded up to US$ 8,000 each.

2. Full-proposal: The five shortlisted applicants will be invited to prepare full proposals that will be reviewed by an international panel of experts1. The applicants will also present their proposals to members of the panel at a major event. The panel will select a winning proposal that will be awarded up to US$ 100,000.

3. Development of prototype: The winner of the Patel Grand Challenge will then build and test a prototype of the Smart Pot. During this stage, the winner will work closely with the Patel Center for Global Solutions1 which will provide project management support and advice on up-scaling the Smart Pot.

Timeline

• Patel Grand Challenge Launch: November 21, 2011

• Pre-proposal submission deadline: March 1, 2012

• Announcement of shortlisted proposals1: May 1, 2012

• Full proposal submission deadline: November 1, 2012

• Final panel presentations & award ceremony1: December 2012

1Information on the assessment procedures for the proposals can be found at www.psgs.usf.edu/patelgrandchallenge  

Dear Friends of USF Drs. Kiran C. and Pallavi Patel, through their generous gift to create the Dr. Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions, have not only provided the means to inspire solutions to the worldʼs most pressing issues, but they have shown visionary leadership that influences great outcomes when combined with the resources of a world-class research university like USF. It is wonderful that the Patel Center has initiated the ʻPatel Grand Challengeʼ initiative. The first of these challenges – the Smart Pot, will revolutionize lives around the world, particularly the poor and vulnerable in our society. We at USF are proud to be part of such a noble and innovative challenge. I wish all potential inventors and researchers success. Good luck in your endeavor to help solve one of the worldʼs most pressing problems. Thank you to the Patels for supporting the visionary work being conducted at USF and at the Center that bears your name. Sincerely,

Judy Genshaft, President University of South Florida

Dear Researchers & Inventors My vision for the Patel Center for Global Solutions is to develop real on-the-ground solutions to some of the major global problems the world faces today. I want the Center to be a ʻdo-tankʼ and not a ʻthink-tank.ʼ It gives me great pleasure to support the Patel Grand Challenge. A

challenge focused on doing!

One of the major global problems that still exist today is the supply of clean and safe drinking water. It troubles me that in the 21st Century we are still not able to provide clean water to all.

In most developing countries people still collect water from polluted rivers, lakes and wells. So what we need is a cheap, convenient, and reliable solution to make this water safe for drinking – to treat the water at the point-of-use - A Smart Pot. So Iʼm really proud to announce today, that our first Patel Grand Challenge is to design the Smart Pot.

I would like to encourage researchers from the developing world, to help design this Smart Pot. You know the problem; you see it and live with it, each day. Iʼm sure that youʼve thought of ingenious and innovative ways to solve this problem.

Iʼm confident that next year we will have a tried and tested design of the Smart Pot. Good luck. Letʼs make the Smart Pot a reality. Sincerely, Drs. Kiran C. and Pallavi Patel

www.psgs.usf.edu/patelgrandchallenge