The IDB launched the 2012 edition of the IDEAS contest to promote innovative solutions to energy problems that have local or regional benefits, provide jobs and reduce GHG emissions in the Caribbean.
15 February 2012: The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced the 2012 IDEAS Energy Innovation Contest for the Caribbean, which will award up to US$200,000 for projects involving energy efficiency and access to renewable energy in the region.
The contest invites individuals and organizations in Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago to propose their ideas to develop better renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency, climate change mitigation, and fossil fuel substitution.
The IDEAS contest was created in 2009 to support the development of renewable energy projects and to improve energy efficiency through the implementation of innovative projects. The 2012 IDEAS contest continues to support these goals, in particular through simultaneously creating a marketing campaign titled “What’s your bright IDEA?” to disseminate information about finding regional solutions in the Caribbean to global energy efficiency problems. The campaign aims to promote innovative solutions to energy problems that have local or regional benefits, provide jobs and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
This edition of the contest is also supported by UKAid from the United Kingdom’s Department of International Development (DFID), and the Government of the Republic of Korea. The award winners will receive up to US$200,000 to implement their ideas, along with technical and business support. [IDB Press Release]