The Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC), a student-led business-plan competition that provides guidance, exposure, and cash awards for social ventures from around the world, awarded top honors to re:motion designs, a for-profit social enterprise that provides affordable prostheses to people with amputations living in the developing world.
re:motion designs received the $25,000 first-place award for the JaipurKnee, a prosthetic knee joint that can be manufactured for less than US $20. The prosthesis was featured by CNN, Business Week, Fast Company, and Time Magazine as one of 2009’s major technological innovations.
Organized by the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, the GSVC is the largest and oldest competition of its kind. According to GSVC’s website, it strives each year to “catalyze the creation of social ventures, educate future leaders, and build awareness of social enterprises.” The annual competition includes teams from around the world that compete for over $45,000 in prizes.