They’re taking the challenge: Tackle society’s toughest problems
This year’s Social Venture Challenge theme is food security. An innovative solution could be worth $15,000.
For engineering student Emilia Ellegaard, the aftermath of a big win last year in San Diego State University’s annual Social Venture Challenge comes down to a feeling of self-determination.
“I felt super-empowered throughout the challenge, just how they structured it,” said Ellegaard, who headed an all-female, three-student team pitching AgroSpike, a product to regulate and optimize the delivery of water on farms. “Of course, winning the prize is a big confidence boost but having the platform to learn, make mistakes and grow, and doing something new is absolutely phenomenal.”
“Truly an amazing competition.”
The 2025 Social Venture Challenge, presented by the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation, shifts its focus from water to food security. The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation is funding the prizes, with the grand prize totaling $15,000; additional awards honor the most innovative solution and greatest social impact, among other achievements.
“Today’s most pressing issues require innovation, new voices, and new perspectives to solve,” said Lyndsey Waugh, executive director of the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation. “Engaging young minds and diverse ideas to address nutrition access allows all of us to lean in as learners and consider new ways to improve health outcomes in our community.”
The foundation’s donation includes $25,000 for Brightside Produce, supporting an SDSU student program that brings fresh fruit and vegetable access to high-need neighborhoods across San Diego.
“Creating healthier communities takes all of us.” Waugh said, “and Sprouts is here to work hand-in-hand with Brightside Produce and SDSU students to support the community.
The competition is open to students from SDSU and other Southern California colleges and universities by invitation. The challenge is housed under the Fowler College of Business in partnership with the Division of Research and Innovation and Zahn Innovation Platform (ZIP) Launchpad, an incubator serving SDSU students, researchers, faculty and staff.
AgroSpike won the Chinyeh Hostler Grand Prize and two others (audience vote, best presentation) for a total purse of $19,500, and was the only winning project from SDSU.
Now an aerospace engineering sophomore, Ellegaard continued to work in a ZIP Launchpad summer program to maintain her momentum and get advice on bringing AgroSpike to reality. Later, she independently produced 20 iterations of a prototype using 3D printers; she hopes to further refine a working prototype next summer. The goal is a product that will cost less than a dollar to manufacture, last five years and save 2.5 million gallons of water per 10 acres. Almond orchards, big in California, are a key target; avocados could become an additional market.
This time around students were invited to address subjects that include food processing; distribution and aggregation; purchasing; and resource and waste recovery. The focus is on ideas, not companies or startups.
Finalists will present their pitches in a three-hour event scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday, March 21, at the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union Theatre, free and open to the public.
