Winners of 2011 Social Innovation Camp Armenia – MyTransport.am and iLike

After 2 tough days, uncountable cups of coffee, tea, and fortifying Armenian food, the winners for Social Innovation Camp Armenia have been confirmed:

Winners: MyTransport.am

MyTransport.am are the winners – they have built a text- and web-based framework to help people navigate the labyrinthian means of intercity travel in Armenia. The team plan to start with intercity transport – via bus, minibus, or taxi, and eventually scale to city transport as well. The add-on? They’re integrating ridesharing to fill in empty slots in cars, using Facebook connect to let you look at your potential partner’s profile.

The team got certificates, and will receive $4,000 to make their idea a reality (almost exactly their budget), as well as 2 years of hosting and internet from U!COM as well as support from the sponsors.

Audience choice award: iLike

iLike started out life as 1001 things – they managed a massive team of over a dozen people to build a working prototype to allow people to suggest and rate local businesses and promote friendly and serviceable plumbers.

The rest

The decisions were difficult- the other four teams ranged from Election Promise monitoring, a hyper-local news media outlet, monitoring government-run healthcare, and a wish-fulfilment service. Any teams wishing to continue will have support from the sponsors as well as 6 months of hosting. The teams have all been invited to apply for grants from UNDP, Eurasia Partnership Foundation, USAID, and Internews as well.

Congratulations to the entire team, and thanks to the sponsors below for an excellent, inspiring, and tired-making weekend. We look forward to the next one.