The United States Embassy in Vilnius in collaboration with the Architecture Fund and Technologijos.lt news portal, is pleased to announce its first Sustainable Campus Project Competition. Student teams from any institution of higher education may submit their projects that address environmental sustainability and energy efficiency of built environments on campus, in the dormitory community, or in the immediate vicinity thereof. Up to 10 selected projects will receive U.S. embassy funding and support in cultivating partnerships and publicizing their efforts.

“We want this competition to spark innovation and empower students to create connections between academic communities and local businesses. All ideas from technical solutions to sophisticated projects that bring together many partners are welcome!” Chargé d’Affaires Robert Silberstein said.

Architecture Fund board member Andrė Baldišiūtė claimed that initiatives like this one are needful.  “This competition will encourage the transfer of knowledge and ideas to real-life solutions - students’ creativity will be put to practical use. And even more importantly, the spirit of community service is promoted,” an architect and a member of competition committee said.

Projects must apply to existing structures and attempt to solve existing problems; their types may range from piloting of experimental technology to organizing awareness raising campaigns. The deadline for submitting ideas is April 1.

The submitted projects will be judged by an expert committee. In the first round of the competition, the committee will review applications for innovation and originality as well as the feasibility of implementing them. Simple projects with budgets up to $2,500 will be funded based on the results of this round. More complex projects in terms of implementation and/or budget will advance to Round Two of consideration. The winning projects will be announced in May and are expected to be implemented by the end of the year.

For full competition details, including evaluation criteria and instructions on how to submit proposals, please see http://goo.gl/jcgBRq.

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