We are pleased to announce that over 60 applications from across the whole country were submitted to Kolba Lab in response to our local governance challenge. After receiving and evaluating a wide variety of your creative ideas we then moved on to the next stage and invited a board of advisers and a jury of international and local experts to help choose the best ideas. Fresh ideas were submitted that offered solutions to a range of issues in public services, from transport issues to healthcare systems. Some of the applicants suggested entirely new initiatives, while others focused on the improvement of the existing services. The selection process wasn’t easy! Here is the final list of the 10 ideas shortlisted for the final stage:

1.  Arsen Vardanyan –“Solar battery-lighting”

2.  Gayane – Traffic lights run by solar energy

3.  Gharib Harutyunyan – Visualized budget

4.  “Initiative Youth, Developing Community” initiative group -“Clean Community”

5.  Karapet Gyumjibashyan – Social Local Governance

6.  Nelly Manukyan – Healthy Healthcare in Gavar

7.  Sergey Tonoyan – Public Transport Rates System

8.  Shushan Doydoyan – Crowdsourced monitoring of  cars usage by public officials

9.  Smartcity NGO- E-government system

10.Artur Dolmajian – Access to public transport

The next stage will include a series of design and development workshops to help finalists grow their ideas into functioning projects. You can learn more on what to expect from the final stage here.

Those applicants who haven’t been selected for the final stage but are still interested in participating in design workshops are welcome to join one of the above working groups. Drop us a line at idea@kolba.am indicating the idea you like the most and whether you would like to join that team for further cooperation. Check our “News” section to get informed when these further workshops will take place.

Following these design workshops, the 10 finalists will pitch their incubated projects to investors, donors and the public. Watch this space for further updates as they are announced!