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2020 Solver Teams are 51% Women-Led and will Access Over $2 Million of Funding Over Course of the Solver Program
September 29, 2020 (Cambridge, MA)—MIT Solve, an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, announced 35 new Solver teams from 20 countries at Virtual Solve Challenge Finals, Solve’s annual social impact pitch event. The incoming 2020 Solver Class was selected by Solve’s expert judges from a pool of over 2,600 applicants from 135 countries. 74 percent of Solver teams are headquartered in countries based in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, or the Middle East and North Africa. Meet the seven Solver teams for each Challenge:
“Welcome to our new class of 2020 Solver teams—we are thrilled to help you on your journey to solve some of the world’s most intractable challenges and scale your work and impact,” said Solve’s Executive Director, Alex Amouyel. “In this most uncertain year, we received a record number of submissions from a diverse global applicant pool. We’re proud to say 51 percent of our Solver teams are women-led, and this cohort represents 20 countries.”
Prize Funding: Over $1 million in prize funding was announced for the new 2020 Solver Class, including:
$300,000 for the Elevate Prize for Health Security, supported by The Elevate Prize Foundation
Recipients: Biometrics for Vaccine Delivery
$100,000 for the AI for Humanity Prize, supported by the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
Recipients: International Wakashan AI Consortium; MapSights; Moskeet; and Ubenwa
$100,000 for the GM Prizes on Learning for Girls & Women and Good Jobs & Inclusive Entrepreneurship, supported by General Motors
Recipients: Cascade of Learning; Digital Literacy Rights; Someone Somewhere; and Tamo Junto
$100,000 for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Funded Award for Maternal & Newborn Health
Recipients: Bioforge Neonatal Incubator; Democratizing Ultrasound Imaging Across Africa; Maisha; Maziwa Breast Pump; and Salamat
$75,000 for the Innovation for Women Prize, supported by Vodafone Americas Foundation
Recipients: Cascade of Learning; D2; and Maisha
€50,000 for the Gulbenkian Award for Adult Literacy, supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Recipients: Humans in the Loop and Tamo Junto
$50,000 for the Experian Prize for Financial Health Innovation, supported by Experian
Recipients: Amplify Her Voice; Cascade of Learning; Empower 1.5 Million Girls to Go to School!; SOLshare; and Tamo Junto
$50,000 for the Health Workforce Innovation Prize, supported by the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court
Recipients: Ubenwa
$45,000 for the Andan Prize for Innovation in Refugee Inclusion, supported by the Andan Foundation
Recipients: Digital Literacy Rights; Humans in the Loop; and SOLshare
In addition, all solutions selected for Solve’s five current Global Challenges will receive a $10,000 grant from Solve.
The remaining funding from the over $2 Million committed by partners, including the Future Planet Capital Prize and The People’s Prize, will be disbursed and announced throughout the Solver program or at Solve’s flagship event, Solve at MIT, in May 2021.
For-profit and hybrid-model Solver teams will also be eligible to apply for investment to Solve Innovation Future, a first-of-its-kind innovative philanthropic venture fund that invests in Solver teams.
About MIT Solve:
Solve is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a mission to solve world challenges. Solve is a marketplace for social impact innovation. Through open innovation Challenges, Solve finds incredible tech-based social entrepreneurs all around the world. Solve then brings together MIT’s innovation ecosystem and a community of Members to fund and support these entrepreneurs to help them drive lasting, transformational impact. Join Solve on this journey at solve.mit.edu