What would we do without UnLtd?
May 25, 2010 by Simon Berry · 8 Comments
We’ve made three applications for funding to organisations which support start-ups. The first one failed because we were ‘not advanced enough with the ColaLife project’. The second one failed because ‘we were too advanced’. The third application was to UnLtd and today we heard that this bid has been successful. They have agreed to provide us with an award of £15,000 to cover living expenses to enable us to dedicate ourselves full-time to ColaLife. The award is a joint award to Jane (my partner in ColaLife and life!) and me.
This is wonderful news. Like so many people say “What would we do without UnLtd?”. The money is one thing but the other benefits are just as important:
- Getting an UnLtd Award is a highly competitive process and knowing that our plans have been scrutinised by some of the best brains in the social enterprise world and been approved will help other supporters see us in a more serious light.
- UnLtd has a cracking reputation for spotting winners and helping them get started. Our aim is to enhance this reputation further.
- Then there’s the UnLtd support network that we are now part of as an award winner (actually, UnLtdWorld and SETAS are open to all).
This couldn’t have come at a better time. There has been an atmosphere of excitement and anxiety at the prospect of me giving up my job to focus full-time of ColaLife. But as the date approaches, the anxiety was definitely getting the upper hand over the excitement. But not any more!
We will publish our UnLtd/ColaLife plans tomorrow but right now I’m going to have a beer!
Thank you UnLtd. We will reward your trust in us.
Onwards and upwards.
If you devote your time & attention to the highest advantage of others, the Universe will support you.
Buckminster Fuller
Win tickets to the Dream Factory exhibition preview
May 9, 2010 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
Image courtesy of The Dream Factory. Honda.
On 21 May The Dream Factory Exhibition opens at The Dray Walk Gallery, Brick Lane, London ‘as a tribute to the Cultural Engineers and their inspirational work’.
Top row: Nihal Arthanayake; Simon Berry; Cath Le Couteur; Oliver Hemsley & Katy Dawe; Agents of Change; Pip McKnight & Ian Francis; Kevin Harman;
Bottom row: Dicken Marshall; Bridget Nicholls; Tom Podkolinski; Ben Ramsden; Richard Reynolds; Fabien Riggall; Tina Ziegler
The giant AidPod will be in the exhibition.
On the evening of 20 May, there will an invitation-only preview of the exhibition and the launch of a limited edition book featuring the ‘Cultural engineers’ that have been identified as part of the ‘Dream factory’ project. The ‘Cultural engineers’ above will be at the launch. You can enter a draw for an invitation to the preview here - scroll down to see the draw form. It would be great to see some ColaLife supporters there.
All this activity is around the launch of a new hydrid car - the Honda CR-Z. I’m pretty sure this will feature somewhere in the exhibition too!
ColaLife is a Buckminster Fuller semi-finalist
February 17, 2010 by Simon Berry · 2 Comments
Spot the ColaLife imagery in the collage above
It was announced last night (17/2/10) that ColaLife is through to the semi-finals of the global Buckminster Fuller Challenge. This is brilliant news. It’s exactly the sort of recognition we need and yet again raises the credibility of the ColaLife concept. It’s time to move on from the very positive campaigning stage to actually make trials of ColaLife happen. Every single ColaLife supporter needs to take some of the credit for this. We would not have got anywhere without the huge numbers of supporters on the Facebook Page, the Facebook Group, Flickr, Twitter and . . . . It was ColaLife supporter, Maria Ana, who alerted us to the challenge - thanks Maria Ana.
The Buckminster Fuller website says:
The thirty semi-finalists currently under consideration have undergone a rigorous review including an interview with the individual or team behind the strategy. They were advanced from a pool of 215 entries that were submitted in Fall 2009. The titles, entrants names and a 50 word summary of their project is listed below.
Congratulations to all of the Semi-Finalists and everyone who entered this year’s Buckminster Fuller Challenge. Those who have opted to have their work published will be featured in the Idea Index in March.
The press release is here (PDF).
So what do you think of our chances?
In true ColaLife style we will now increase our expectations. We entered the Buckminster Fuller Challenge with the aim of getting this far. Now we want to win!
ColaLife is through the first stage of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge
November 27, 2009 by Simon Berry · 1 Comment
We have just heard that ColaLife is through the first stage of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge. The email said:
Your project was selected out of one of the strongest pools in quality of entries that we’ve seen to date. Over 200 projects were reviewed from all over the world. This is a significant milestone for you and your team and the high quality and meaningful work that you do. We are looking forward to learning more about who you are and gathering more details about your project.
Thanks go to ColaLife supporter Maria Ana who highlighted this opportunity to us. We will now be convening the steering committee for the project and alerting referees. This will all have to be done virtually as they are spread across 4 continents.
More to follow!
Please endorse ColaLife for the $20,000 Africa Rural Connect Prize
November 18, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
Please could you take a few moments to endorse ColaLife on the Africa Rural Connect (ARC) site. The ARC judges will select the strongest idea on the site to receive the grand prize of $20,000 of funding. They will make the announcement in late December.
You do have to register but it only takes a few moments. Thanks.
Got it! It will be winging its way to you shortly.
November 6, 2009 by Simon Berry · 1 Comment
This is my brother, Matthew, who lives with his family in the States. My family have been incredibly supportive throughout the ColaLife campaign and this the latest manifestation of this support. Matthew has managed to get hold of a hard copy of GOOD Magazine. This is the latest edition which features the GOOD 100 list which in turn features ColaLife! His email said:
Got it! It will be winging its way to you shortly.
Cheers Math and thanks.
ColaLife entered for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge
October 31, 2009 by Simon Berry · 1 Comment
I am rather embarrassed by this video which accompanied our entry, but the people at the Buckminster Fuller Challenge (BFC) were very strict about what you should say and I found it very difficult to follow a script! So apologies, but I think it gets the message across. We only had two minutes.
Thanks are due to ColaLife supporter Maria Ana who drew the challenge to our attention, to Sam who did the AidPod animation within the video and Luke who had the unenviable task of taking the many takes and putting them together to meet the BFC specification. And finally to Jane who did most of the work filling in the online form with very strict word counts.
I know I’m biased, but I think ColaLife matches what the BFC is about. Pay particular attention to the ‘trimtab’ bit:
Winning the Buckminster Fuller Challenge will require more than a great stand-alone innovation. If for example, your solution emphasizes a new design, material, process, service, tool, technology, or any combination, it is essential that it be part of an integrated strategy dealing with key social, economic, environmental, policy and cultural issues.
The winning solution should exemplify the trimtab principle. Trimtabs are small steering devices used on ships and airplanes which demonstrate how relatively small amounts of leverage, energy, and resources strategically applied at the right time and place can produce maximum advantageous change.
Entrants must put forward a bold, visionary, tangible initiative that is focused on a well-defined need of critical importance. Proposed solutions must represent a preferred state model - one that aims to optimize conditions from inception in order to create the most desirable, sustainable, future outcome. Entries should be regionally specific yet globally applicable, and backed up by a solid plan and the capability to move the solution forward.
Fingers crossed.
ColaLife makes the GOOD 100 list
October 18, 2009 by Simon Berry · 1 Comment
A tweet from Charles Magnuson alerted me to this. ColaLife has made it into the GOOD 100 list from GOOD.is/magazine. This is great news but I’m not sure what happens next. My happiness would be complete if only the GOOD.is site would let me register!
They have created a graphic for all top 100 people/ideas/projects and this is the ColaLife one. Very nice. Click on it to see our entry:
I will keep trying to register and hope to be able to login shortly.
Gearing up to vote for ColaLife in Project 10^100
January 26, 2009 by Simon Berry · 4 Comments
Google’s trawl for the best ideas in the World (aka Project 10 to the 100th) attracted more than 100,000 entries and ColaLife was one of them. The text of our entry is here and above is the video that Facebook members put together. The video on YouTube has been viewed 4,925 times at the last count which is pretty impressive.
Tomorrow (27/1/09) Google will announce the top 100 ideas and invite people to vote for their favourite. The five winners share $10m to implement their idea. If we get through to the last 100 PLEASE VOTE for ColaLife and help us by ASKING ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO VOTE TOO! Sorry . . . don’t mean to sound desperate 
At the time of writing you can REGISTER TO VOTE HERE.
Of course we might not get through but if we do you’ll hear about it here first.
DRAFT submission to Google’s Project 10^100
October 11, 2008 by Simon Berry · 8 Comments
Here is a first go at answers to the questions asked by Google’s Project 10^100. We’ve posted them here so others can comment and make the submission better. The answers are in bold. Please comment or send suggestions to sxberry[at]gmail[dot]com. Thanks.
All this information will appear on the public site as part of your submission.
Your idea’s name (maximum 50 characters):
ColaLife
Please select a category that best describes your idea.
Community: How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures?
Opportunity: How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families?
Energy: How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy?
Environment: How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem?
Health: How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives?
Education: How can we help more people get more access to better education?
Shelter: How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live?
Everything else: Sometimes the best ideas don’t fit into any category at all.
What others are saying about ColaLife- ColaLife on Flickr
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