Dell Social Innovation Challenge, to assist university entrepreneurs to bring to life their business models.

The 2013 challenge will award more than $350,000 in prizes to help launch their companies. In fact through the Dell Social Innovation Challenge, Dell seeks to assist other university entrepreneurs. The goal: help them bring to life their business models for social good.

Therefore, Dell wants your ideas; this means that, if you or a university student you know, from any school in any country, has an idea that can change the world, visit www.dellchallenge.org to register your project. Entries for the 2013 challenge close Jan. 28. Participants immediately receive access to a global community of like-minded students, mentors and advisers, as well as training and educational resources to help turn their ideas into impacts.

 In February 2013, Dell promises to narrow down entries to a group of promising semifinalists, who will fine-tune their ideas with mentorship, support and judging from Dell team members and the Dell Social Innovation Challenge network. Finalists will travel to Austin in May to pitch their ideas and compete for the grand prize.

We have learned that last year’s for example winners, Essmart Global, are proof that this network can serve as a launch pad for social innovation. The company’s founders, Jackie Stenson and Diana Jue, have re-engineered the logistics and supply chain to give rural retail shop owners in India access to better products that improve their customers' lives, including technologies such as solar-charged lamps and cleaner cooking stoves.