Google puts $10 mn into ideas that can change the world

San Francisco: Google on Friday named five groups that will be sharing $10 million that the Internet powerhouse is investing in ideas that promise to change the world. More than 150,000 ideas from 170 countries were submitted to 'Project 10-to-the-one-hundredth' launched two years ago, Google vice-president (marketing) Lorraine Twohill said in a blog post announcing the results. Google whittled the selection down to 16 'big ideas' and the public got to vote online to determine the five that would be backed by the Mountain View, California-based firm. The non-profit Khan Academy will get $2 mn to bolster its free online library of educational videos and translate core works into the world's most widely spoken languages. The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cape Town will get $2 mn to open more centres to promote graduate-level math and science study on that continent. The non-profit FIRST group that promotes science and math study worldwide through team competitions will get $3 mn to start a robotics program for students. Google will give $2 mn to public.resource.org to support a law.gov initiative to make United States court documents, statutes, legal forms, and other government documents easily available online. The final award of $1 mn went to the New Zealand startup Shweeb to develop and test a transportation system based on personal monorail pods powered by pedalling the way one does while riding a bicycle. "We've learned that it takes quite a bit of effort and time to move from 150,000 ideas to five funded projects, but are excited about the potential of the ideas and projects you helped us choose," Twohill said.