Dell just announced a competition for students challenging them to come up with innovative ideas to solve global issues.

It’s very similar to Microsoft’s Imagine Cup with the difference being that the IC is focused more on applying the technology to the idea that the students come up with. I’ll be keeping an eye on this as I think that Dell are doing some really smart stuff like:

• Digg style ranking
• Completely transparent on the ideas submitted so teams will try to focus on unique ideas
• Aimed at all students not just those on technology courses. The best teams I’ve met when I’ve been to IC world finals are those that have students from multiple disciplines

(Hat tip to Andy Sernovitz’s Damn, I wish I’d thought of that)