Google has launched Project 10^100 (pronounced "Project 10 to the 100th"), a call for ideas that it has hopes for. The Mountain View, Calif. company has compiled a list of "16 big ideas," each
inspired by numerous individual submissions from a call for action last fall.
Project 10^100 aims to find the best ideas that could change the world most, in hopes of helping as many people
as possible. In that call for change, thousands of people from more than 170 countries submitted more than 150,000 ideas, from general investment suggestions to specific implementation proposals.
Google will fund up to five ideas, investing a total of $10 million. "Each project won't necessarily get $2 million, as one winning idea might warrant $3 million and another $1 million,"
according to a Google spokesperson.
Project 10^100 is a one-time project. Like most things at Google, no one person heads it; instead, the team works together. It was announced last year as
part of Google's 10th birthday celebration. It draws on expertise from employees in various departments, so there is no one team of people working on just Project 10^100 and nothing else. It took
3,000 Googlers in offices worldwide to judge all submitted ideas.
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Now Google wants people to vote on the ideas they should make happen. The rules
state only one vote per person, but that vote can change up until the end of the voting period on Oct. 8. At that point, only your most recent vote counts. The vote will help Google's advisory board
choose up to five projects to fund.
When choosing the "16 big ideas," Google did not focus on ideas that it would implement alone, but rather looked for those that require another organization's
expertise or resources. These organizations will receive funding grants. Once up to five ideas are selected to receive funding, Google will reach out to relevant organizations to participate in a
request for proposal process, according to the company's Web page.
Although the project may seem a bit daunting, it's not unusual for a company whose culture supports education, healthy
lifestyles and playfulness. In the case of the New York City office, it's done through lending a helping hand when needed, self-powered scooters to speed Googlers from one end of the block-long
Manhattan office complex to the other, and Lego building blocks piled high in bins against one wall of an open-area break room. It's all intended to motivate the mind.