Purina launches £75,000 prize for social and commercial enterprises working to harness the power of the bond between pets and their humans.

Post Updated: 12 June 2018

Two UK organisations, Medical Detection Dogs and Canine Hope, have been recognised for their work in enriching the lives of pets and people at the first-ever Purina BetterwithPets Prize, held in Barcelona last week. Both received highly commended recognition and £11,000 each towards scaling-up their projects, which harness the positive power of pets and people working together.

With the help of rescue dogs, Canine Hope offers a safe place for survivors to learn with and from a canine co-tutor
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Following a European-wide search, the expert panel found five finalists difficult to split, with OOPOEH (Opa’s en Oma’s Passen Op Een Huisdier) – a Netherlands-based foundation seeking to reduce loneliness and increase physical activity for the elderly by matching them as dog sitters for local families – awarded first place, taking a £30,000  share of the £75,000 total prize money.

Canine Perspective CIC’s leading programme, Canine Hope, focuses on trauma recovery, resilience and personal development for survivors of sexual violence. With the help of rescue dogs, Canine Hope offers a safe place for survivors to learn with and from a canine co-tutor – Canine Perspective will be able to invest the prize money to further this valuable work

“Being part of the event and standing alongside such incredible organisations was a real honour. This means that we can immediately start our next series of Canine Hope programmes with survivors and rescue dogs in the South West Region and develop our books and resources to share our message of resilience with a wider audience,” said Canine Perspective co-Founder Marie Yates.

Dr.Claire Guest pictured with the medical detection dogs, they are from left: Lucy, Kizzy, Ulric, Midas, Jobi, Jack, Daisy, Teasel and Nan.

“It’s fantastic to be able to support the growth of these programmes and connect a community of passionate people, committed to enhancing the lives of pets and people,” said Calum Macrae, Purina PetCare Regional Director for UK & Ireland “Every finalist was inspiring and well-deserving. All initiatives demonstrated how harnessing the pet-human bond in an innovative way can have a positive impact on society.”

Other finalists Dutch Cell Dogs and K9 Hundekunde: Happy Kids with Happy School Dogs were also awarded £11K prizes and recognition for their programmes.

The prize is open to entries in three categories: healthier together; connecting together and enjoying spaces together
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Nestle Purina is on the lookout for social innovators across Europe to enter their newly launched BetterwithPets prize, worth a total of around £75,000.

Working in collaboration with Ashoka – A global organization that identifies and invests in leading social entepreneurs – Purina is offering the prize to social and commercial enterprises, non-profit entities and other organisations working to harness the positive power of the pet–human bond.

The prize is open to entries in three categories: healthier together; connecting together and enjoying spaces together and the winner, or winners, will be selected at a special event in Barcelona in June. Organisations from the European Union, as well as Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine and Norway are all eligible to enter. In addition to the chance to win the cash prize, contestants will also get detailed feedback on their idea from industry experts in their field.

“Our first BetterWithPets prize provides a really exciting opportunity for anyone who shares our passion for pets and the relationships we have with them – and who is doing innovative work in this area – to win a significant cash investment for their project,” says Calum Macrae, Regional Director for Purina UK & Ireland. “The UK has a fantastic heritage as a pet-friendly country and this prize could really make a difference to a small British start-up, charity, or a local scheme that has the ambition and the potential to do more.”

Successful applications will be shortlisted and five finalists will be invited to travel to attend the Purina BetterwithPets Forum in Barcelona on 7 June 2018, where the winners will be announced. The categories below are eligible for the prize:

Purina is on the lookout for social innovators across Europe to enter their newly launched BetterwithPets prize, worth a total of around £75,000
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Healthier together

The demands of a modern, more sedentary life mean that people either have less time or are less likely to be physically active with their pets. Entries are community-focused initiatives and innovations that enable people and their pets to live active and healthy lives together, such as:

• Facilitatating a healthier and fitter lifestyle for both pets and people
• Preventing obesity for both pets and people

The demands of a modern, more sedentary life mean that people either have less time or are less likely to be physically active with their pets
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Connecting together

People of all ages are experiencing a sense of isolation and disconnection, be it from the increasing complexity of modern life and technology, or because ageing and minority populations are being overlooked, which can leave them feeling lonely and cut off from society. Purina is looking for initiatives that span communities and ages, and that celebrate the power of the pet–human bond for better emotional well-being to help foster and cultivate empathy and emotional self-care, such as:

• Helping to overcome societal disconnection and isolation
• Seeking to provide interventions for emotional well-being

Purina is looking for initiatives that span communities and ages, and that celebrate the power of the pet–human bond for better emotional well-being to help foster and cultivate empathy and emotional self-care
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Enjoying spaces together

Increasing urbanisation and more regulations have led to fewer pet-friendly open spaces and greater restrictions in places where pet owners can take their pets. We are looking for initiatives that enable both people and pets to enjoy and share the same spaces as well as demonstrate a social and/or economic benefit, e.g. pets in workplaces, and enhanced pet-friendly areas in urban and rural spaces. Potential entries could include:

• Enabling greater access to pets in everyday settings
• Enhanced design of pet-friendly spaces to enable pets and humans to spend better quality time together

Increasing urbanisation and regulation has led to fewer pet-friendly spaces
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Evaluation Criteria for the winning applications include:

• Innovation – The initiative must represent an innovative approach to the problem it seeks to address. Innovation may result from the use of new methods, new models or new technologies, or from the application of old methods, models or technologies in new and innovative ways
• Social impact – The initiative must have proven its worth on a pilot or small-scale basis, and already have measurable, quantifiable social impact
• Potential for scaling up and/or replication – The initiative should have strong growth potential and/or replicable to other social, cultural or geographical settings
• Financial viability – The initiative must be built on a viable business model, and/or show realistic and long-term plans for long-term financial viability, and must have the potential to continue beyond the Purina BetterwithPets Prize funding
• Organisational leadership – The initiative and its leaders must show leadership to influence the field in which they work, as well as the ability to incorporate and leverage the investment by Purina and the support offered through the Purina BetterwithPets Prize
• Potential for Creating Shared Value – The initiative should create shared value for all stakeholders-  pets and people – in the community where we live, work and play

I’m a sucker for anything that recognizes the human-pet bond. so here’s the best picture ever of my dog Watson, who loves Balloons SO MUCH!
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Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Recognising Pet-Based Innovation appeared first on Tech Trends.

When you see people wearing VR headsets it’s easy to peg the technology as being isolating, but some of its most interesting uses – and its greatest potential – are in fact very social.

Some of the best uses of VR are social
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Which is why I was intrigued when Jesse, a creative director at Seven2 – a digital agency based in Washington – reached out to me about the VR Drawoff they’re hosting today.

Four years ago they started a community event based on live battles between two teams of artists. They get the audience to vote on the work and cash from the proceeds go to charity.

“we’re really excited to raise some money for a community center called Spark Central, a free resource for kids to take classes, read, check out books, use computers, robotics, 3-D printing and more,” said Jesse.

The team was already working with some VR games and applications, so it felt natural to also bring their charity battles in to the Virtual World.

The Virtual Drawoff battle will help raise money for charity
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The lure of Virtual Painting is something that I experienced in all its glory when I visited the National Theatre’s Immersive Storytelling Studio and tried out Tilt Brush for the first time.

I know that we can get incredibly jaded about technology. It’s so pervasive these days that we tend to ignore just how far we’ve come in a few short decades. But even for someone who looks at this stuff for a living, there are moments when you just go… Wow

It's easy to get jaded about technology, but some things still just make you go WOW
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Tilt Brush is one of those. It doesn’t overwhelm you with bells and whistles; it merely makes you look at the world in a new way, and dares you to play around with it. And by Clarke! It’s bloody indistinguishable from magic. *

The event will be streamed live on Facebook, so check it out and may the best brush win!

* Clarke’s third law states that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

For companies looking to get into VR/AR/MR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance on how these technologies can enhance and support your brand strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post The War of Art: Creative Battles in VR Help Support Good Causes appeared first on Tech Trends.

A social enterprise is empowering young girls from underprivileged backgrounds to find independence through digital skills education

For Kizcode Founder Mujde Esin, learning to code changed her life
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“Learning to code opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me. It was like learning a new language. All of a sudden things start to make sense and I began to grasp the inner workings of digital technology and its importance in our everyday lives.”

Growing up in Eastern Turkey, Mujde Esin’s school only had the most basic facilities, and even after moving to Istambul for secondary school, she only had access to rudimentary technology. Coding was a revelation to Mujde, sparking the curiosity to learn more and the confidence to look at the possibilities in the wider world. She improved her English and was eventually awarded a scholarship to do her Masters Degree in the UK.

Learning to code opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me
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 “I wanted other women like myself to have access to these wonderful opportunities. Nothing has a bigger impact in a person’s life than education, but women, especially those from ethnic backgrounds like my own, face many obstacles in obtaining access to education. I thought I could play a part in changing that.”

Mujde founded KizCode in 2015, a social enterprise dedicated to teaching coding to young women from ethnic minority groups.

“Initially we’re targeting tens of thousands of Kurdish and Turkish girls from underprivileged communities, both born in the UK and in Turkey,” she explains. “Learning happens in a fun and safe environment, but it’s incredibly empowering for future women entrepreneurs, who can reach a wider market and more effectively supplement their marketplace-based activities. Coding in this case can be the catalyst to their independence, both financial and intellectual.”

I began to grasp the inner workings of digital technology and its importance in our everyday lives
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“Digital technology is changing or replacing conventional teaching equipment and techniques. This ranges from replacing blackboards with interactive ones to being able to interact with your tutor in virtual environments, and in future all aspects of education will be pervaded by technology in some way or another, and this effect will ripple out into wider society. I believe the next generation will be one of makers, we see children already starting to create their own devices instead of relying on readymade ones. I think giving them the confidence to know how things work and make new ones is the most important thing we can teach them about technology.”

Digital technology is changing or replacing conventional teaching equipment and techniques
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Mujde is a huge fan of other projects that try and close the technology gender gap, such as Code First; Girls, Women Who Code, Stemettes and Girls Who Code, but she also sees the need to specifically engage with ethnic communities, who have different and additional barriers to entry when it comes to accessing technology and education. KizCode received its first funding from a major tech and logistic company in Turkey, and are now looking at partnerships that can help them expand. With the government recently announcing a £20 million fund to help integrate Muslim women into British Society through better English Language learning provision, it seems that initiatives such as these should also be encouraged and supported by all sides.

KizCode are now looking at partnerships that can help them expand
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I believe that technology education has the power to transform our society
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“I believe that technology education has the power to transform our society, not only helping to close the gender and skills gap, but to bring all these diverse communities that currently feel excluded. By offering them positive and tangible alternatives we’re empowering them to make a positive contribution to society, and to benefit from the digital economy. Everybody wins.”

We’re empowering women to make a positive contribution to society and benefit from the digital economy
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Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Promoting Inclusion through Technology Education appeared first on Tech Trends.