Rules

Participants will submit their description (2500 words maximum) of a problem associated with quality of life. This description will comply with the following criteria:

• The inventor shall ensure in one hand that the idea is original and that, on the other hand, his/her rights and intellectual property are preserved.
• It shall be a problem associated with the use of information technologies, information technology application or associated, in any other way, with remote information. This problem must be recognised as difficult or even be unrecognised. It shall be a problem to which there is currently no solution or, at the very least, no satisfactory solution.
• The project must allow for implementation of the use of information resources which are favourable to a balanced social system.
• The solution to such a problem shall enable greater knowledge gain and/or shall be of major usefulness to society.
• The details of the problem and/or the potential usefulness of a solution shall be easy to communicate to the general public.
• Although ambitious, the project shall remain feasible in the medium term and shall have significant power to motivate.

The text submitted must clearly specify

• what the problem consists of;
• why it meets the aforementioned criteria;
• what the currently state of knowledge and research is in this field; a multidisciplinary approach is possible;
• what links its authors to this field;
• what activities are proposed, activities capable of resulting in the solution to the problem within a period of 2-5 years or which may bring about significant progress (solution ideas);
• what degree of feasibility the project entails (summary study);
• what institutions could take part in the research.

Format for the presentation and schedule

• In theory the application shall be formulated by a person.
• Where the application is formulated by an institution, it shall contain a clear reference to the applicant institution and its memorandum and articles of association.
• The description must be submitted in one of the Swiss national languages, in electronic form, accompanied by a brief curriculum vitae (all preferably in PDF format) and sent by email to the following address This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
• An English version shall be permitted or even preferable.
• The project submission must be made by 30th of april 2012 at the latest and the Jury's decision will be made on the 30th of june 2012.

Participation terms and conditions

The contest is open to all professional profiles and all ages.

People invited and qualified to participate in this contest:

• will propose a research project in line with a balanced social setting;
• shall be of Swiss or Italian nationality or shall be resident in Switzerland or Italy.

The applicants shall submit their research theme proposal to:

Dalle Molle Foundation
c/o Idiap Research Institute
Centre du Parc
Rue Marconi 19
PO Box 592
CH-1920 Martigny

Entries not meeting the Foundation's criteria and the aforementioned terms and conditions will be disregarded.