Branson, Berners-Lee, Google, £2m: LET'S SAVE THE WORLD

Who will defend us from privacy-stealing mega-corps? Oh

Google is waving £2m in front of charities, promising to donate dollops of the dosh if the orgs develop tech that improves people's lives.

The not-for-profit bodies are invited to apply and compete for the cash; four "data-driven" projects that successfully prove their worth will each get a £500,000 cheque from the advertising giant.

Heavyweight support for the competition will be offered by World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson, both of whom will be on the judging panel for the so-called Global Impact Challenge along with a number of Google wonks.

The winners will also get computers from the search giant to help make their projects a reality.

Google, the $260bn biz with the motto "don't be evil", said applicants must be UK-registered charities and must "submit a technology-based project that has the potential to change society on a large scale". It added that the company will review the projects based on three criteria including how the tech and innovation could be used to "make the world a better place".

Ten finalists will be plucked out of the application process in May. The judging will take place in June. You can find more details this way, over here. ®