Designmatters Vice President, Mariana Amatullo was recently presented the inaugural Outstanding Leadership in Social Innovation Education Award from the Dell Social Innovation Challenge.
“It was simply thrilling to be honored with this award. It was quite inspiring to meet Michael Dell and witness first hand the leadership and commitment of DELL as a company. They have developed a strong partnership with the terrific team at the University of Texas Austin and are demonstrating how powerful it can be to catalyze the efforts of university students and young social innovators with an educational platform, mentorship and resources that can push their ideas forward. I am very encouraged about expanding the participation of our design community in the competition for next year.”
– Mariana Amatullo, Vice President, Designmatters at Art Center College of Design
Mariana Amatullo with Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell, Inc.
The competition was launched in 2007 by the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. In 2008, Dell became the title sponsor and last year donated $5 million in order to expand the challenge, resulting in several new categories and monetary awards, including the special leadership award presented to Mariana Amatullo.
The Dell Social Innovation Challenge’s mission is to identify and support promising young social innovators who are dedicated to solving the world’s most pressing problems with transformative ideas. Ideas like, the 2012 $50,000 grand prize winner Essmart.
Essmart is a collaborative effort between students from; The University of Cambridge, Tufts University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University.
Essmart gives rural retail shop owners in India access to products that improve their customers’ lives. By sourcing high-quality technologies and distributing them in existing retail shops, Essmart benefits local end users, shop owners, and suppliers.
To learn more about The Dell Social Innovation Challenge click here.