George Brown Polytechnic is located on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and other Indigenous peoples who have lived here over time. We are grateful to share this land as treaty people who learn, work and live in the community with each other.
What is A Global Jam?
The Global Jam is an idea factory - it helps develop design thinking and entrepreneurial mindset skills. Join us in this event to find social innovation solutions to real-life challenges in 3 key areas from the United Nations Sustainable Development Initiative.
The 2025 UNSDG Global Jam was a Huge Success!
Thank you to everyone who joined us for the 2025 Global Jam!
This year’s Jam brought together an incredible community of innovators, creators, and problem-solvers from across the globe. Over the course of the event, participants collaborated, ideated, and built impactful solutions, showcasing the power of teamwork, creativity, and global connection.
The energy, talent, and passion everyone brought to the table made this year’s Global Jam truly unforgettable. From inspiring keynotes and interactive workshops to fast-paced jam sessions and groundbreaking final pitches, 2025 raised the bar higher than ever.
We’re already looking ahead to the next Global Jam, and we can’t wait to see what we’ll build together next time.
Stay tuned for updates on the upcoming 2026 Global Jam!
The 2025 Global Jam subject matter challenges were based on the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals. We have selected the 3 following themes for individuals to join others in developing solutions for:
- Reduced inequalities
- Sustainable cities and communities
- Responsible consumption and production
We can't wait to see you in 2026!
Prize Pot
The Global Jam will have a $3,000 prize pot, and the winning teams will split the prize funds equally between team members.
- The winning Team will receive $1,500
- 1st Runner-Up Team will receive $1,000
- 2nd Runner-Up Team will receive $500
Learn more about this competition
- Interested participants must register their interest on this page.
- Participants must attend the kick off match-making information session.
- Design jam participants must attend all days of the design jam and actively work with team members on producing a solution to one of the set challenges.
- All teams will pitch their ideas on The Final Day of the Competition.
- Winners will be selected on The last day of the event.
- Funds will be deposited into their George Brown Polytechnic Stu-View student account within 28 days of the end of the design jam.
- Entries must be single participants willing to work as a part of a team.
- Participants must be current students at George Brown Polytechnic or recent alumni (who graduated between April 2024 and February 2025).
- Open to domestic and international students, and prize funds will be split equally between all team members.
- Applicants must use an active George Brown Polytechnic email account to submit an application and receive competition communications and be able to receive funds if successful.
- All applicants must be available to present a 5-minute pitch on the afternoon of Monday, March 3, 2025, in order to be eligible to receive funding.
- Finalists are not guaranteed prize funds if they do not adhere to competition guidelines.
- Presentations will be presented to a panel of judges and a public vote.
- Applicants will retain ownership of all intellectual property contained in their submissions.
- Applicants are encouraged to review the UN Sustainable Development Goals before making an entry
By submitting an application to the startGBC Global Jam competition, applicants consent and agree to abide by the following rules and regulations:
- George Brown Polytechnic is not responsible for any lost, late, illegible, incomplete, falsified, destroyed, or failed entries, or for any electronic miscommunications or failures of any kind, which may limit a person’s ability to participate in the competition.
- Each participant may only work with one team.
- Deliberate or negligent misappropriation of the intellectual property of another person is an ethical breach that will be grounds for disqualification from the competition.
- In the event that startGBC is prevented from continuing with the contest by an event beyond its control, startGBC or George Brown Polytechnic has the right to modify, suspend, extend, or terminate the competition.
- startGBC and George Brown Polytechnic reserve the right to use competition submissions, as well as photographs or videos taken of competition applicants, as a group or individually, over the course of the competition, for educational and promotional purposes in perpetuity.
- In the event of a dispute regarding who submitted an entry, the entry will be deemed to have been submitted by the authorized account holder of the email address used to submit the entry at the time of entry. “Authorized account holder” is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an email address by an Internet service provider, online service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted email address.
- By participating in the startGBC Global Jam competition, entrants agree to be bound by these official rules and the decisions of startGBC and the judges, which are final and binding in all respects. Failure to comply with the Official Rules will result in disqualification.
- All rules and regulations proposed within are subject to change, at the sole discretion of startGBC, at any time, without previous warning or notification to contest applicants.
- All applicants will be required to complete a competition exit survey which will require applicants to reflect on the process and personal development in line with the George Brown Polytechnic Human Skills Framework.
- The final competition will be recorded by startGBC/George Brown Polytechnic and will be made available for viewing by startGBC/George Brown Polytechnic. All applicants will be required to sign a video/media release form.
- If details provided by applicants are no longer active on Monday, November 18, 2024, funds will become void.
- George Brown Polytechnic and startGBC respect your right to privacy. Personal information collected from applicants will only be used by George Brown Polytechnic/startGBC to administer the competition and, only if consent is given at the time of entry, to provide applicants with information regarding upcoming workshops, events and competitions. For more information regarding the manner of collection, use, and disclosure of personal information by George Brown Polytechnic, please refer to the George Brown Polytechnic Privacy Policy.