IEEE Let's Make Light

The contest is now closed.

Explore the Competition Tracks tab to learn more about the Let’s Make Light Competition 2024

In developing countries, extreme poverty and lack of resources make daily tasks very intensive. A simple meal often requires fetching water on foot from a borehole or stream miles away, and cooking is done with wood or charcoal. And because tasks are so labor intensive, there’s little time to make money or create opportunities to put cash in circulation.

With the right resources, people living in these remote communities will create new and better ways to work and live their lives.

Most of these communities, nearly 800 million people on earth, live without artificial light. That severely limits productive activities from dusk to dawn.

Extreme poverty drives resilience and innovation, but limited infrastructure and access to affordable products imposes significant constraints. And safe, clean light sources must be easily accessible to these communities at extremely affordable prices. The alternative is usually poor-quality inferior products with a very limited lifespan.

But a small amount of light can be transformational. It allows people to go outside in the middle of the night and be able to spot a scorpion or snake and avoid a potential sting or deadly bite. It empowers kids to read and complete their homework. And enables parents to advance their learning or run a small business.

Whatever it is, light creates community advances. Intergenerational poverty recedes. Inequality decreases. And more dreams are realized.

With affordable light, people can go far beyond dreaming of things that will improve their lives, and they can thrive.

Are you an inventor or entrepreneur with a passion to make a meaningful difference to people’s lives?

The IEEE Let’s Make Light Competition is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your ability to innovate and overcome the huge distribution challenge to get affordable lighting products into the hands of extremely poor people.

The competition seeks proposals in both the technological and business sectors that provide affordable, accessible, and ecologically sustainable solutions for the provision of artificial light. Entrants should think about how well the product utilizes local manufacturing and locally sourced components.

Watch the video and see the competition rules for full details.

Important Dates

Want to Learn More?

Watch the recorded webinar with Toby Cumberbatch, Chair of the IEEE Let’s Make Light Competition.