DO IT – Ideas of Portuguese Origin

The competition Ideas of Portuguese Origin invites Portuguese citizens who live and work abroad to contribute ideas for social entrepreneurship projects that constitute new and better responses to the challenges currently facing the country, specifically in the areas of social inclusion, ageing, intercultural dialogue, the environment and sustainability.

In the 2015 edition, 54 ideas were submitted to the competition and the ten best ideas were selected as finalists. The finalists received long-distance training and assistance from the Social Entrepreneurship Institute to transform their ideas into a social business model and also attended an intensive, face-to-face training workshop which culminated in the presentation of their projects to the jury. The winners were announced on 11 June at a ceremony attended by the President of the Republic. In this edition, the winning project was Rio Frio | Território Criativo [Rio Frio | Creative Territory] while TEIA | Transforming Emigration Into Action and Webradio para Crianças [Web Radio for Children] finished in second and third place, respectively.

The winning projects received a total of €50,000 as seed capital to enable them to be implemented. Every finalist was also supported and supervised for nine months as part of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s continuing commitment to supporting the talents of Portuguese communities throughout the world, connecting them to the challenges and opportunities facing Portuguese society.

 

2015 Winners

Rio Frio | Território Criativo

The aim of this project is to reduce the occurrence and propagation of fires in woods and forests through silvopastoral systems, helping to increase good practice in planning and managing the mountain landscape.

TEIA | Transforming Emigration Into Action

This initiative aims to promote and develop links between Portuguese citizens and Portuguese companies both within the country and abroad through the creation of (among other things) an online platform that will reduce distances and facilitate communication.

Web Radio for Children

This project creates a tool for teaching, exploring and preserving the Portuguese culture and language. It is aimed at Portuguese-speaking emigrants and communities around the world and is intended to prevent their descendants from losing contact with these reference points.