Edgar Sarmiento of Bogotá, Colombia, had a new degree in design, a head full of ideas, and no place to put them into practice. Then last year he saw a competition sponsored by a startup in Phoenix, called Local Motors, which offered a prize of $8,000 to anyone who could dream up a better city transit system.
That got him moving.
Within two months, Mr. Sarmiento had created the winning entry on his home computer.
