Less than a third of Australians are getting enough physical activity to benefit their health. This can lead to increased risks of chronic disease and mental ill health, and has been estimated to cost the Australian economy a total of $13.8 billion each year. While many of us play traditional club sport to keep active, it’s not the answer for everybody.
The Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) is a pioneer in health promotion — the process of enabling people to increase control over and improve their health. – and they are looking to invest in innovative ideas to get more Victorians physically active. Ideas that take advantage of emerging trends in sport and recreation, and the latest research in to what is driving participation in sport and physical activity for adults and children in Australia.
What’s the Challenge?
If you are a sport and physical activity provider, community organisation, local council, social innovator, schools, entrepreneur or changemaker you could share in a pool of $400,000 in start-up funding to test your big idea and make a big impact.
You are also invited to join David and Julian from Doing Something Good, for a series of workshops to explore emerging trends and the latest research, hear from pioneering entrepreneurs, innovative activity producers and design professionals, learn about innovative approaches to creating products and services like design thinking and Lean Startup and discover the latest theories on behaviour change to help you develop your idea.
You are invited to provide a two minute video pitch as your initial entry. It’s easy. Just talk to a camera. You can even record yourself on your smart phone! Make it cheap and cheerful. It’s the quality of your idea that we are interested in, not the quality of the video footage.
Your pitch should answer the following:
1. How will your idea get more people physically active?
2. How is it different to anything else out there?
3. How are you taking advantage of market trends?
4. Who will you recruit to be on your project team?
5. How will your project be sustainable in time?
Proposals will be assessed in three stages:
Stage 1: Submit your video pitch
Entry in to the Challenge and submission of your video pitch. Your video will be reviewed by a VicHealth shortlisting committee.
Stage 2: Develop a business plan
If your idea is shortlisted, you will be asked to develop a simple business plan to explore your idea in more detail.
Stage 3: Present to an Assessment Panel
Shortlisted applicants will then be invited to present to an assessment panel and can expect a few questions.
1. Get more people physically active: VicHealth is committed to getting people more active. The more physical activity you do, the better your health! So, the more people you can get being active, the more impressed we’ll be. Need we say more?
2. Point of difference: We’re offering start-up funding to kick-start smart ideas. Your project should be clever, timely and unique. Use your imagination and think big!
3. Equity: We want to see people becoming more active. Will your idea inspire people to jump off the couch and into action? We’ll be most impressed if you can reach the hard to reach and move the hard to move.
4. Scalability: We want to invest in ideas that have the potential to go from good to great. Will it be expanded, upscaled or transferred over time?
5. Sustainability: VicHealth can give you a kick start, but your project will need to stand on its own two feet in time. Make sure you think about the long term business model from the start.
6. Partners: VicHealth plays a team game. Who have you recruited to your project team that brings a unique perspective, are they social entrepreneurs? Are they corporate hot shots? Are they changemakers?
7. Sharable: We want to get as many people talking about your project as possible – so whatever you do needs to be documented in some way that we can share online (photos and video are our favourites)!
8. Ready to roll! You must be able to test your project within 12 months of receiving start-up funding.
Our innovation workshops, facilitated by Doing Something Good, have finished. You can access a summary of the sessions below.
Futures Jam workshop – Wednesday 6 August
Check out our storify summary.
Click here for the presentation slides.
Rapid Prototyping workshop – Tuesday 12 August
Check out our storify summary.
Click here for the presentation slides.
Concept Development workshop – Wednesday 10 September
Click here for the presentation slides.
What are the key dates?
Monday 4 August Open for pitches to be submitted
Friday 29 August Closing date for pitches
Monday 1 September (week of) Pitches will be shortlisted
Monday 8 September (week of) Shortlisted pitches will develop mini business plans
Tuesday 30 September Shortlisted pitches will present to a final assessment panel
Monday 6 October (week of) Successful projects announced