The NatureTech.Solutions prize is for a technology (a reproducible application of knowledge for practical purposes) that can be used by private or public decision-makers in small islands of the Caribbean to make better decisions about the management of natural or cultural resources. An assumption is that this technology would be information-based, but there are many ancillary potential applications such as self-contained training modules, front-ends for existing resource databases, visualization tools for existing databases, and so forth. Read the Blog Page of this website for other ideas.

Deadline for applications for the third NatureTech.Solutions award is January 1st, 2019. [Awards for 2017 and 2018 have been directed to hurricane recovery project grants administered by CFVI.] Unless otherwise agreed to by the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands, applications must be submitted in electronic form through the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands, at dbrown@cfvi.net, with “[NatureTech]” in the subject line.

Application Requirements:

• Small Island — The award application must be submitted by an individual or organization resident or based in a small island of the wider Caribbean region:
  • Smaller than 10,000 square kilometers and less than 1 million inhabitants;
  • Political status (viz., independent, colony, commonwealth, etc.) not relevant.
• Instructions — The submission must be in English or Spanish, and must include instructions that would enable a potential user to actually apply the technology.
• Open Source — The submission should include an operational version of the technology that is in the public domain — that is, it can be used and adapted by any potential user.
• Electronic Submission — May be in a document format, or multi-media, or an operating application for standard computer operating systems, such as Mac OS, Windows X, iOS or Android.
• Due Date: — The Application should be emailed to the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands at dbrown@cfvi.net with [NatureTech] in the Subject line of the message, before close of business, 1 January 2019.

Elements of the Application:

Application Process — Applications, not to exceed four single-spaced typed pages, should include the following information:

• The Name of the Innovation being proposed for the award (e.g., “Property Record Ownership Method — PROM Barbuda”)
• Applicant Name, address, telephone number, email address (and principal or secondary point-of-contact if the application is an organization).
• A brief history of the innovation, highlighting the resource management need addressed by the innovation, and the applicant’s involvement in addressing that need.
• Description of who has been using the innovation for how long or how many iterations, what are the specific products or results from the innovation, and the resource management advantages from using the innovation.
• Current status of the innovation, including planned modifications or extensions, and adaptations for other places or organizations.
• Names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses of three people familiar with the innovation who can be contacted for additional information about the operation and effects of the innovation.

Supporting documentation in the form of access procedures or instructions or software implementing the innovation may be submitted, but should not exceed the equivalent of an additional ten (10) pages.  Contact CFVI if specialized support systems are required to work with these supporting documents.

Virtues:

As in real life, virtues are not mandatory, but they are likely to have a positive effect on the decision of the Advisory Committee:

• Documentation of engagement with local organizations and agencies (and note that local agencies and non-profit/non-governmental organizations can be applicants themselves).
• User endorsements
• Clarity
• Brevity