The 2020 Westly Prize winners, including Perimeter co-founders Bailey Farren and Noah Wu, were announced on Thursday, January 23.

The prize is awarded annually by the Westly Foundation to young, early-stage social innovators in California. Eight finalists were chosen to present their innovations to a panel of judges on January 18, resulting in three prize winners being selected.

Winners are awarded cash prizes through the Westly Foundation’s partnership with the Packard Foundation, with the goal of jump-starting early development of innovative projects. Submissions are evaluated on the basis of the projects’ novelty and sustainable organization infrastructure, as well as the significance of the problem presented and the demonstrated growth mindset of the founders themselves.

Co-founders Farren and Wu began their work on Perimeter in late 2018 as students at UC Berkeley, after researching gaps in existing firefighting technologies. The Perimeter platform provides a way for first responders to collaboratively input and publish data directly to the public to aid with evacuation and incident prevention measures.

The Westly Foundation will continue to share information about Perimeter and the other prize winners over the next few weeks, focusing on the social impact of the winning innovations.

By Trevor Greenan. Questions? Get in touch at tgreenan@perimeterplatform.com.

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