Thousands Submitted Ideas to Our ‘Chasing Genius’ Challenge. These 4 Won

By submitting a one-minute video pitch, four people won $25,000 each to pursue their visions for improving the world.

Transformational ideas can come from anywhere. From anyone. National Geographic’s CHASING GENIUS has been soliciting ideas around three issues: sustainable planet, global health, and feeding nine billion. Now four winners have been chosen, winning $25,000 each.

A compostable fabric made from kelp. A portable eyeglass-making kit. A solar-powered device for processing millet, a staple food in sub-Saharan Africa.

These are the winning ideas announced this week in National Geographic's CHASING GENIUS challenge, along with a People's Choice winner who uses data to help small farmers in India.

The challenge, which National Geographic established as part of a partnership with GSK Consumer Healthcare, attracted thousands of people who shared world-changing ideas across three areas: building a more sustainable planet, improving global health, and feeding an eventual population of nine billion.

"I was absolutely in awe of the submissions we received for the competition," says Jay Shetty, a storyteller, filmmaker, and former monk who was on the judging panel as a

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