Can the world’s business leaders apply their creativity and financial acumen to help pull 2 billion people out of poverty? That’s the challenge put forth by a Dartmouth professor and a veteran marketer, who are soliciting designs for a $300 house.

The professor, Vijay Govindarajan, and the marketer, Christian Sarkar, laid down the gauntlet on a Harvard Business Review blog entry last August.

Govindarajan’s goal, which he outlines here, is to provide affordable housing to people who are living in shacks made of unstable materials like cardboard. Doing so, Govindarajan believes, will “regentrify slums on a massive scale.” The professor adds that only corporations can tackle the problem. However, he admits that $300 is a somewhat arbitrary figure, but will help aspirants narrow their efforts.

What began as a blog post has now become a contest. On April 20, Govindarajan launched a competition on 300house.com for prototypes and is offering a $25,000 prize (provided by sponsor Ingersoll Rand.) There are a few guidelines: The houses have to be made of tough, mass-produced materials and include water filters and solar panels. The owners should also be able to improve the houses if their circumstances get better. That's about it, though.

By employing crowdsourcing, which has been used for other living space conundrums in the past, the pair hope to find a solution.

So far, 300house.com has received dozens of responses, some of which are featured in the gallery below. With 30 days left in the contest, the best may yet to come. What do you think? Is this a workable idea or is it too utopian for serious consideration? Let us know in the comments.