Accelerating Inovation

The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation has announced a new contest, for a short video on innovation.

Deadline is September 10. According to the Task Force site:
The video should illustrate how scientific discoveries resulting from federally funded research in the physical sciences have changed our lives. The video can focus on past transformational research or showcase what the future might bring ... to help celebrate American innovation, now and for the future. The top prize: $1,000 and a trip to Washington, D.C.

The rules (pdf) provide for Task Force use of any of these three-minute videos in its activities, including Capitol Hill presentations and posting video on the Internet. Expect to see the winning video on their site by October 5.

The Task Force also initiated the American Innovation Proclamation (pdf) last March. Here's the photo of the signing of the America Competes Act (HR 2272) In related news, it's good to see that Joe Meredith, of VTKnowledgeWorks and Virginia Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra have joined the board of the Accelerating Innovation Foundation.

NASA PAV Challenge Winners

Accordng to c|net news, winners were chosen Saturday in the NASA-sponsored competition of Personal Aircraft Vehicles, the first annual PAV Challenge. The Cafe Foundation, a nonprofit group of flight test engineers, held the race at the Charles Schultz Sonoma County Airport.

The winner was the modified short-wing Pipistrel Virus, a Slovenia-built sport aircraft. A highly modified kit plane, Vans RV-4, won the speed challenge and the low-noise challenge. A Cessna 172, the most popular small plane in production since the 40s, won the handling competition.

The PAV race is part of the NASA Centennial Challenges, a series of competitions that support space exploration and aviation technologies in private industry. The Beam Challenge and the Tether Challenge are coming up in October. (full Challenge list and descriptions)

The blog, Space Prizes has detailed information about space-related competitions, past teams and winners, and annual competitions like the National Space Society's Art Prize (November 30 submission deadline). No doubt the Society's sponsored art work will grace the rooms of Galactic Suite, the space hotel scheduled to launch in 2012.

Digital Art Competition

The Piemonte Share Festival announced the second edition of the Share Prize 2008 for digital art. The competition jury will award a prize of €2,500 to the work (published or unpublished) which best represents experimentation between arts and new technologies. Nominations open between June 15 and September 30; finalists will be selected by November 2007.

The contest is open to any Italian and foreign artist using digital technology as a language of creative expression, in all its shapes and formats and in combination with analogical technologies and/or any other material (i.e. computer animation / visual effects, digital music, interactive art, net art, software art, live cinema/vj, audiovisual performance, etc.).

The winner will be announced in March 2008 during the award ceremony at Share Festival.

X Prize for High School

The X PRIZE Foundation announced the Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation competition for high school teams. Deadline is September 7; winners will be announced at the Wirefly X PRIZE Cup event in October.

The award will be presented to the high school team that develops the most creative, new space concept to benefit the emerging personal spaceflight industry.

Arts Plus Competition

According to the SL News Network, Arts Plus, a real world organization created by the French Ministry of Culture seeks Second Life artists to participate in the first real and virtual world exhibition and a new virtual residency program. For the the exhibition Les Femmes Heroiques, they teamed up with the Computer Band to bring the show to life in the virtual world.

SL Residents are invited to enter avatars based on the 11 heroines depicted in the show, and the best ones as decided by the jury will be given free land in Arts Plus for one year to use as a virtual workspace and will also be involved in any future Arts Plus projects.

Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, French Minister of Culture and Communication, toured the SL installation at the Contemporary Art Simluator in Arts Plus (118, 160, 32), and will preside over the jury which selects the best avatars in May.

Architectural Design Contest in SL

From Meltemi Editore, an Italian Publisher based in Rome that decided to create a virtual home in Second Life (SL):

A two-step competition is being launched for the design and implementation of the virtual space. Anyone can participate, without limits of age or qualification. Applicants don't need to maintain anonymity and can take part in the competition both as individuals and as groups. The deadline in May 20.

Jardin des Halles in SL

The BBC News website today reported on a scheme to use Second Life for designing a new Jardin Des Halles, in Paris. Plans have been in the pipeline since 2004 for the development of a garden area sitting atop the Les Halles shopping mall, but the local residents’ association, Accomplir, is not happy with the lack of consultation. They have therefore taken matters into their own hands, and have launched a competition, inviting all would-be garden designers to weave some magic in Second Life. Accomplir will draw up a short-list of the top 5, which will be displayed on an island in Second Life (as yet unidentifed). The winner, to be announced at the end of June, will receive a prize of 275,000 L$. Accomplir will then take the winning entry to Paris Town Hall, in a bid to persuade officials to speed up the laggardly redevelopment process. Snippet from 3PointD.