Please read the following rules carefully. When you enter our competition, we will assume that you agree with them.
Innovate for Refugees is an initiative by the MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab.
By entering the competition, you hereby warrant that all of the information that you submit is accurate and complete in every respect.
Entering the competition and accessing our website is free of charge.
Each team is allowed only one entry.
Every competing entry must comprise at least of one Arab National, or a team member is based in the Arab region.
The Innovate for Refugees competition includes a Startup Track and an Ideas Track. Applicants should select the track that is relevant to them prior to completing their submissions.
To enter the competition, you must apply through our website http://innovateforrefugees.mitefarab.org. You must: 1-Create an account or log in if you already have one, 2- Select the track that applies to their project, 3- Select the language with which you wish to fill the application form, 4- Fill out the application form, and 5- submit the application before the deadline.
If you are selected as a finalist, you will be notified of your selection via an email. If you fail to respond within 48 hours of being notified, you will automatically forfeit your right to compete in the competition. If you do not provide the required information needed for the next phase of the competition within the deadline specified by the management team, you will also forfeit your right to compete in the final round.
Any changes to the team must be communicated with MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab team for approval.
It is mandatory that 1 member of the team attend the training and the Final Award Ceremony, with flight and accommodation expenses covered by the MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab. Additional members can attend at their own expense. The team should inform MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab of any additional member attending the event.
Teams are expected to work on and submit specific deliverables prior to the final pitches. Qualified teams are not required to pay a participation fee for any of the workshop or conference.
All dates related to the competition of events and deadlines will be posted on the website, on our social media channels, and occasionally be communicated directly by email.
Personal information collected about you is used for the purpose of the competition, and will not be distributed to third parties without your consent.
MIT Enterprise forum does not claim any proprietary rights over the initiatives, technologies, and ideas submitted to the competition. All ideas and technologies are the sole property of the submitters, and it is upon their permission, that the use of the technologies or mobile applications is granted free of charge to the MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab.
Organization of the Competition
In the first round, teams must fill and submit an online application that consists of five section (total of 100 points):
Innovation (30 points)
Scalability (10 points)
Impact 20 points)
Financial Sustainability (10 points)
Team (20 points)
Video (10 points)
Applications are accepted in English, and Arabic.
Each application is graded by 2 different judges. Judges place more importance on certain criteria:
Team: The team takes up an important part of the total grade. Judges look for experience, value added, and the relevance of each team member to the project.
Innovation: Creativity and improvement of existing solutions and/or business processes with respect to current competitors or comparable products and services.
Scalability: A business idea or a startup should not be limited to a local market. At a minimum, a nationwide market should be targeted. Preferably, the business should be easy to replicate regionally or globally as the company expands.
Social Impact: The extent to which your project benefits the community. For Innovate for Refugees, the solution should be clearly addressing a problem faced by refugees or by hosting communities when it’s caused by the influx of refugees.
Financial Sustainability: The ability to maintain the solution financially on the long term.
The teams are respectively chosen, those who have scored the highest average score on their application forms. MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab reserves the right to modify the number of selected teams.
The finalist teams will be announced publicly on November 21, 2018. Both qualifying and non qualifying teams will receive an email notification of their status.
On January 27, 2019 a final event will be hosted in Amman were the finalist teams are required to pitch in front of the Final Round Jury that will select a winner from each track. Winners will be announced during the final award ceremony.
Pitching teams will be allowed 3 mins to present followed by 7 mins of Q&A from the jury.
Disqualification
MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab reserves the right to disqualify any entry at any phase of the competition. The reasons for disqualification are breach of any of the rules, breach of eligibility criteria, breach of any applicable law, bad conduct or offensive behavior, and applications containing invalid or answers that are not serious.
Liability
MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab reserves the right to amend these rules at any time.
In the event of any misinterpretation regarding these rules, the conduct or results of the competition, or any other matter relating to the competition, the decision of MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab shall be final and unchallenged.
While every care is taken to ensure that the competition runs successfully, MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab will not be held responsible for any loss, damage, inconvenience, or disappointment of any kind suffered by any entrant resulting from the competition.
MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab does not endorse any external linked sites and is not responsible for their content.
