It takes some courage to think out of the box, out of the comfort zone of our trusted, known ways of doing things, to look for innovative solutions to our problems. It takes an extra dose of mad courage and determination to implement innovative new ideas in the fight against corruption. Global Integrity believes innovative ideas are out there that have the potential to revolutionize the way we all use information to promote transparency and accountability. They have pulled some "mad money" together and are making it available in ~$10k grants to innovators. And are offering to collaborate and help with the implementation. Now that's #thepowerofwe. Details and application form at http://innovation.globalintegrity.org. 

I am a 'connector' for the initiative tasked with helping spread the word can't wait to see who joins in the fray, and certainly hope some of my techie friends in Africa get involved. The proposition in a nutshell from Global Integrity:

We are investing in brand new ideas that target the challenges of transparency & accountability.

For us, innovation is ‘learning through trial’. We want to prioritize innovation in our own work by taking on new approaches to test, learn, and improve. Through our Innovation Fund we hope to encourage others in the transparency community to do the same.

HOW DO I APPLY?

Submit an application here. We want to know a little bit about you, your organization (if you work for one), and of course, your idea!

WHEN DO I APPLY?

NOW. Applications are due on Friday, November 16, 2012 at 5pm EST. Be ready for the possibility of follow-up questions at any point after you submit your application. We will notify you on our decision to take your idea to the next round or not by December 21. Our final announcement of ideas that we are investing in will be in early 2013.

HOW MUCH IS GLOBAL INTEGRITY INVESTING IN INNOVATIVE IDEAS?

We will be investing in 10 to 15 ideas, with up to 10,000 USD per idea.

WHY SHOULD I APPLY?

You have an innovative idea that could create new information or change the way we see existing information, with the goal of holding those responsible for governing us, to account. You want to test this idea out, but you need a little push to take the risk!