Google contest looks for world-changing ideas

SAN FRANCISCO — Got an idea how to make the world a better place? Tell Google about it, and you could win a couple of million bucks to help put it into action.

As part of its 10th birthday celebration, Google on Wednesday announced a $10 million project to solicit world-changing ideas from anybody, anywhere.

Google will split the prize money among the top five entries and pay for the projects to get them started. Winners won't get to pocket the cash, but it will be used to get their projects off the ground. They'll also enjoy, as Google puts it, "good karma and the satisfaction of knowing that your idea might truly help a lot of people."

No idea is off the table, and Google expects them to run the gamut, from the highest to the lowest of technologies.

Two real-world examples that Google gave Wednesday:

• An oversize rolling container, the "Hippo Water Roller," that can haul 24 gallons of water from rivers to small villages.

• A program called First Mile Solutions that aims to put Wi-Fi antennas on buses to bring wireless Internet access to isolated communities.

"Why this project?" Andy Berndt, a Google managing director wrote in the company's official blog. "Never in history have so many people had so much information, so many tools at their disposal, so many ways of making good ideas come to life. Yet at the same time, so many people, of all walks of life, could use so much help, in both little ways and big."

In late January, Google will select and post 100 of the ideas and let the public pick 20 semifinalists. A company-sponsored advisory board plans to announce the five finalists in early February.

Entries will fall into eight categories: community, opportunity, energy, environment, health, education, shelter and "everything else." Ideas will be judged on reach, simplicity, need and impact.

Google and its founders are big fans of contests.

Last year, the Mountain View, Calif., Internet search company announced a $30 million prize for the first nongovernment group to send a robot to the moon.

It also has held $10 million contests for application developers for its Android mobile-phone platform and for designs for plug-in electric hybrid cars.