LISBON – Dec. 14, 2017 – Singularity University, a global community using exponential technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges and build an abundant future for all, has announced a new partnership with Beta-i, Câmara Municipal de Cascais and Nova SBE to launch a SingularityU Global Impact Challenge in Portugal, which will be supported by Câmara Municipal de Cascais.The objective of SingularityU Global Impact Challenges is to spur moonshot innovations to solve world’s greatest global challenges—energy, environment, food, shelter, space, water, disaster resilience, governance, health, learning, prosperity, and security—by using exponential technology. Moonshot innovations are defined by SU as those that will impact 1 billion people within 10 years.The newly announced SingularityU Portugal Global Impact Challenge will remain open today through February 6, 2018. We are inviting entrepreneurs and anyone in the public to propose ideas to help solve any of the world’s greatest global challenge, however we will give preference to proposals addressing governance, learning, and environment. The winner of the Challenge will be selected on February 26, 2018. The winner will be awarded a prize to attend the 10-week SU Ventures Incubator Program at SU HQ, located at NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley.The SU Ventures Incubator provides the platform, network, structure, and guidance that equips these leaders with the skillset to validate their ideas, build a team, experiment and prototype their minimum viable product (MVP), and finally launch an impact-focused startup. The teams are challenged and held accountable for practical milestones and deliverables, with the majority of their time being spent leveraging Singularity University’s ecosystem to build their high-impact startups. The program culminates with a Demo Faire showcasing the startups and their innovative impact solutions.The jury will consist of representatives from Singularity University, Beta-i, Nova SBE, Câmara Municipal de Cascais as well as senior representatives of the entrepreneurship, business, and innovation community.“We are thrilled to launch the first-ever SingularityU Global Impact Challenge in Portugal and believe innovators here will propose radical solutions to these three critical issues: governance, learning, and environment,” said Regina Njima, Director of Singularity University's Global Impact Challenge program. “We are also deeply grateful to our partners Beta-i, and Câmara Municipal de Cascais for partnering with us and making this Challenge a reality.”“The purpose of this project is to foster ideas that positively impact the lives of people, can scale and have a worldwide impact through an intensive 10-week program, designed to transform exponential ideas into viable startups. What groundbreaking innovation would you develop to solve a global challenge on governance or learning or environment, using exponential technologies that would impact all our lives? That’s the kind of questions we want to solve,” saidRicardo Marvão, Managing Director of SU Portugal GIC, Co-founder & Chief Education Officer at Beta-i."Cascais has many ambitions in this field, especially in a year in which we will be the European Capital of Youth. Our vision is that all of these players will find in Cascais the ideal place to grow and nurture talent, ideas, and who knows, create new businesses. We want to continue developing Cascais as a new hub for education and knowledge and we believe in the impact that innovation and digitalisation can bring to a village with the distinct characteristics of Cascais, making it the ideal place to test new concepts in the context of large urban centres", said Carlos Carreiras, mayor of Câmara Municipal de Cascais.ABOUT SINGULARITY UNIVERSITYSingularity University (SU) is a global learning and innovation community using exponential technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges and build an abundant future for all. SU's collaborative platform empowers individuals and organizations across the globe to learn, connect, and innovate breakthrough solutions using accelerating technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and digital biology. A certified benefit corporation headquartered at NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley, SU was founded in 2008 by renowned innovators Ray Kurzweil and Peter H. Diamandis with program funding from leading organizations including Google, Deloitte, and UNICEF. To learn more, visit SU.org, join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @SingularityU, and download the SingularityU Hub mobile app.MEDIA CONTACTS:SU Portugal GIC: Hugo Vaz Oliveira (hugo.oliveira@beta-i.pt)SU: Shelby Corradino (shelby@tablepr.co)For more information, visit https://su.org/gic/2018/portugal/.The SingularityU Portugal Global Impact Challenge is a joint venture between Câmara Municipal de Cascais, Beta-i and NovaSBE.