2009-08-31T15:20:43Z 10 true 2009-08-31T15:18:00Z 1 This week, Jacobs University and Vodafone Foundation Germany launched the international student competition **impACT³**, in which approximately 100 students from nine European universities set out to found and run community-oriented entrepreneurial projects. After a one-week preparatory summer school as a kick-off, the participants will form teams with a maximum size of four persons, who have six weeks to employ their creativity and business acumen for maximizing profits for the common good. The public is called to online-vote on the top 10 projects that will reach the contest’s finale. An eight-member jury of experts on social entrepreneurship and non-governmental organizations will choose the three best projects. **impACT³** patron is Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus. **impACT³** is a unique and challenging competition, in which small teams of Bachelor level students with diverse majors as study backgrounds have to identify a societal or environmental problem and invent entrepreneurial solutions as a mitigating answer. The setout budget is 4 euros per person. Starting on September 7, the public can follow the project documentations under [www.act-for-impact.net](http://www.act-for-impact.net). The website is not only a platform for the participants to keep the public up-to-date on the progress of their projects, but it also serves as a tool to gain supporters, sponsors and votes. From October 26 to November 18, the public are able to decide upon the top 10 teams that will enter the finale by online vote. The expert jury will then announce the three best teams during the award ceremony on December 8. The winning teams will share prize money of 9,000 Euros in total, the use of which is restricted to reinvestment into the newly founded projects or the participants’ further education. On the occasion of today’s press conference to introduce **impACT³**, **Joachim Treusch, President of Jacobs University,** said: “With its goal to motivate young people to employ their talents and ambitions for serving society, **impACT³** captures the essence of our university’s mission. Therefore we are happy to establish this challenging and smart competition together with the Vodafone Foundation - especially in these days of general economic crisis that call for extra societal responsibility from entrepreneurs. Furthermore, **impACT³** is a first step on the way to establishing a specific education in the field of social entrepreneurship at Jacobs University.” **Thomas Holtmanns, CEO of the Vodafone Foundation Germany,** explained the foundation’s commitment: „As a foundation set up by a large company we place special importance not only on actively supporting social entrepreneurship but especially on activating young people in the field of public welfare and community commitment, of which **impACT³** is one step on the way. To embrace the duties and challenges of a civil society together with our partners from politics, science, and economics is part of our future-oriented responsibility." [Please find here the full press release (in German)]( http://de.act-for-impact.com/press_releases/11-unternehmensziel-weltverbesserung-vodafone-stiftung-und-jacobs-university-fordern-studentische-sozialunternehmer) 2009-10-05T12:24:31Z