Mozilla is probably the biggest proponent, outside of Google, of the power of the Web. They don’t believe in closed platforms or proprietary software. They believe in a future where everything is powered by a simple Web browser. To help advance that future, the non-profit is announcing a new contest.

Mozilla and the National Science Foundation will be announcing a new program – Mozilla Ignite – at the White House tomorrow. It will challenge “designers, developers and everyday people” to “build applications for the faster, smarter Internet of the future.” What kind of applications? The two organizations want apps that will benefit humanity in areas like education, healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, public safety and clean energy.

“Mozilla believes in the power of the open internet and the power of distributed, community-based innovation,” said Mozilla’s Executive Director, Mark Surman. “This is an invitation to designers, developers and civic thinkers to create software that shapes the future and helps their communities.”

Mozilla and the NSF are hosting Mozilla Ignite as part of the much larger US Ignite Initiative that was announced today by the White House. The goal is to “explore what’s possible through ultra-fast broadband networks.” As part of that exploration, Mozilla will be providing cash prizes to the winners.

How do you enter? The first part of the contest is the “Brainstorming Round” where people will submit ideas of how to use the Internet as a means of social advancement over the next decade. Anybody can submit and discuss ideas during this round.

Mozilla and the NSF will then select the very best of the ideas to receive funding and support. From there, participants will join together at hackathons and other events with the latest in Internet technology to test out their ideas. After all of the prep work is out of the way, the teams will compete for over $500,000 to make their ideas a reality.

If you want to get started on the Internet of the future right now, you can submit ideas through Mozilla’s site. The deadline for submission is August 23. There are already two ideas that have fantastic potential. You can expect future proposals to be even better.