RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.–CO-OP Financial Services has named 30 candidates for its THINK Prize 16: The Financial Longevity Challenge.
The 30 were selected from 137 entries; up to January 9, 2017) – From 137 entries, up to five winning ideas are be named on Feb. 1.
“The emphasis in this Challenge is on finding financial technology solutions for aging consumers that are both innovative and implementable,” said Samantha Paxson, chief marketing officer with CO-OP. “We have been impressed by all of the ideas that came out of our workshops and those submitted by our larger OpenIDEO community. From the robust ideas to the considerable comments, as a collaborative community, Challenge participants have offered illuminating concepts to make financial services more useful and accessible.”
Launched in mid-October, the CO-OP THINK Prize 16 is being conducted by CO-OP in partnership with OpenIDEO, an online global innovation community and collaborative platform, and co-sponsored by Mastercard. The current Challenge addresses the question: “How might we create financial services that support the dreams and obligations of those 50 and older?” A $10,000 prize will be divided among up to five individuals who offer the best ideas in response to the question.
CO-OP said the OpenIDEO collaborative format follows a five-step process beginning with Research, Ideas and Feedback. The top 30 ideas have now entered the fourth phase, “Refinement,” and can be viewed here: https://challenges.openideo.com/challenge/financial-longevity/refinement.
CO-OP said the ideas are as widely diverse as the collaborative community itself, with submissions coming in from students, fintech entrepreneurs and credit union employees and their members.
The Refinement phase will run through Jan. 22, and judges from CO-OP, Mastercard and OpenIDEO will be specifically looking at idea enhancements during this phase that include a roadmap for implementation; exhibit a commitment to following through with implementation, including clear next steps; and what distinguishes the idea from other existing efforts in the space.
Following the Feb. 1 announcement of up to five winning ideas, the fifth, open-ended “Impact” phase will begin, enabling the community to continue collaborating and sharing progress.
The CO-OP THINK Prize has been held annually since 2011, and is designed to inspire creative thinking and solutions to issues confronting credit unions and their members.