NetSquared has issued a call for submissions for the NetSquared Mashup Challenge. The mashup event will create the techology application you need to implement your idea.

To submit your idea to the challenge, sign up at NewSquared and follow the steps outlined in Enter the NetSquared Mashup Challenge Today!

NetSquared is looking for ideas for mashups with social impact. All you need is the idea, not the technical expertise for how to build it on the Web. Some examples of projects that combine data to create increased awareness around an issue include MAPLight.org and ChicagoCrimes.org. Here's NetSquared's video announcement of the Mashup.

Britt Bravo described a mashup and mentioned MAPLight on her blog Have Fun Do Good in the article NetSquared Mashup Challenge: How Do You Combine Data for Social Change?

Wikipedia defines a mashup as, "a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool." So, for example, MAPLight.org brings together campaign contribution data and legislators' voting records to raise awareness about the connection between money and politics.

If you have an idea for a way to combine data that could raise awareness around an issue, submit it to the NetSquared Mashup Challenge by March 14, 2008 5 PM PST for a chance to win cash prizes.

Twenty projects will be selected for the mashup. Those 20 winners get a trip to the NewSquared Conference and a chance at a share the $100,000 prize money. Deadline is March 14.

InSTEDD is "an innovation lab for technologies designed to improve early disease detection and rapid disaster response." InSTEDD came to my attention from Earth Loving Tech's article InSTEDD.

InSTEDD is a network that is all about humanitarian collaboration through technology innovation and matching needs with good ideas. By reaching out to academia, industry, government, NGOs, etc, they hope to find the best ideas to address the problems faced by those involved in disease tracking and disaster response. When they have something useful, they take it to the field for user testing and stability assessment. When it proves itself as consistent and stable, it will be released open-source for free. Currently in the lab, you can check out useful tools like "SMS Geo-Chat," a proof-of-concept level tool that allows you to connect a cell phone to your computer and use it as a central ‘station’ for receiving and responding to SMS with a map as the main interaction tool.

One of InSTEDD's projects is in Cambodia. Blogger Mary Jane Marcus describes her work in Cambodia in the article How can you make a difference in a country with over 600 NGOs?.

That’s one of many questions we are grappling with as we travel through Cambodia from the capital Phnom Pehn to the remote Lao/Cambodia border. We are meeting with a range of organizations in our effort to understand the terrain and where we can share our expertise and experience in a useful manner.

InSTEDD invites your participation in their Forums and has three Blogs that will help you keep track of their work tracing disease and disaster response.

Social Innovation Camp is an event scheduled in London between 4th-6th April 2008. Louise at Social Media Goodness explains more about this Barcamp/unconference style event.

The camp is sponsored by Yahoo, Nesta and the Young Foundation and aims to bring together designers, developers, people with ideas, mentors and sponsors for a few days in a Barcamp stylee to develop ideas on how to use social media to solve social problems.

It’s great to see the sponsors actively hunting out individuals with ideas and providing a place where there’ll be others who can help them make it happen. And this is definitely not a short term thing - they want people who are up for spending time after the event getting the ideas off the ground.

It sounded a bit daunting, but checking out the current list of ideas has already got my brain ticking, it doesn’t have to be world changing, just tackle a specific issue or need. Go have a look! Ideas deadline is 7 March.

Social Innovation Camp asks you for your idea with this list of questions and then gets down to how the Camp can help you with these questions:

In order of importance for helping the development of your idea at this stage how would you rank the following:

1. Geek - to help you create your software
2. Mentor - to help you through the process of turning your idea into reality
3. Funder - to give you some initial cash

- If Social Innovation Camp is able to help push your idea forward, do you have the time or desire to take ownership of it?

- If not, would you be happy for someone else to take your idea forward?

There are many other examples of groups taking technology and making it work for a social goal. Please share any that you know about with us.