The Patel School of Global Sustainability (PSGS) fosters sustainable urban communities and environments through collaborative research, education and community involvement. Its research generates innovations and new knowledge that will help cities around the world, including those in developing countries, to reduce their ecological footprint, while improving their form and function to make them healthier, more livable and resilient. Through its research, PSGS influences global practice and policy and has become the hub of a global network of sustainability experts.

Description:
The Patel Grand Challenge seeks the invention of a technologically-advanced yet inexpensive "Smart Pot" that would automatically disinfect water at the point of collection. In an effort to make potable water available across the developing world, USF’s Patel Center, in partnership with the IWA, invites designers, researchers, inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs from 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), can be manufactured locally, and requires minimal running and maintenance cost.

The vision of the Smart Pot is that it is technologically-advanced, yet durable enough to survive in rugged conditions. It’s purification system must be integrated into the pot to clean the water at the point it is gathered and it must be cheap to mass produce so that its good effects could be distributed worldwide.

The goal of the competition is to advance the development of water filtration technology by turning directly to the people most at risk from unclean water: those in developing nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Vairavamoorthy believes that people who live with the challenge each day can devise technology that could be so completely integrated into the familiar vessels used for gathering water that the solution would in the end be uncomplicated and easily integrated into daily life.The winning proposal will receive up to $100,000. Working alongside the Patel Center of Global Solutions, the winner will then build and develop a prototype of the Smart Pot.

The Smart Pot Challenge is a challenge to inventors in developing nations to create a low-cost and easy-to-use water purification device that could save millions from the perils of contaminated drinking water. We welcome pre-proposal submissions through April 2, 2012. Five finalists will be awarded up to US $8,000 and invited to prepare full proposals that will be reviewed by an international panel of experts at a major event. The five finalists will be invited to prepare full proposals that will be reviewed by an international panel of experts at a major event. The winning research proposal will receive up to US $100,000 to develop the Smart Pot alongside the Patel Center’s research team.

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Contact details:
Patel School of Global Sustainability
University of South Florida
4202 East Fowler Ave., CGS 101
Tampa, FL 33620 USA
Phone (813) 974 – 9694
Email: skoures@usf.edu
Website: http://psgs.usf.edu/about_patel_school_of_global_sustainability/