Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Solve Global Challenges for Entrepreneurs 2018

Application Deadline: 1st July 2018

Eligible Countries: All

To Be Taken At (Country): New York (during UN General Assembly week, September 2018)

About the Award: The 2018 challenges include the following below. Each proposal must include a technology element. 

Global Challenges:

1. Work for the Future: How can those most affected by the technology-driven transformations of work create productive and prosperous livelihoods for themselves?
2. Frontline of Health: How can communities invest in frontline health workers and services to improve their access to effective and affordable care?
3. Teachers and Educators: How can teachers and educators provide accessible, personalized, and creative learning experiences for all?
4. Coastal Communities: How can coastal communities mitigate and adapt to climate change while developing and prospering?

About the Award: Solve at MIT is an flagship annual event held on the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA, bringing together over 300 leaders from the tech industry, business, philanthropy, government, and civil society. Solvers and their solutions will be featured on stage, in online and written materials, and through dedicated challenge workshops. Solve staff will continue supporting Solvers to match-make partnerships with our community members who will help make Solvers’ solutions a reality.
Anyone the world-over can participate in a Solve challenge and submit a solution. Whether you’ve just started building your solution and your team, you’re running a pilot, or you’re ready to scale, Solve is looking for innovators and entrepreneurs with the best solutions to these global challenges.
Solvers then gain access to Solve’s community. The Solve staff helps match-make between Solvers and leaders from the tech industry, business, philanthropy, government, and civil society who are seeking partnerships and opportunities to implement innovative, scalable ideas. Partnerships between Solvers and members will be announced at the flagship event Solve at MIT.

Type: Entrepreneurship

Eligibility: 

• Optimistic solutions. Innovative solutions. Human-centered solutions. Tech solutions. Solutions that need partnerships across industry.
• From research, to pilot, to growth, Solve accepts solutions at all stages of development. If you’re researching, Solve can help you develop a partnership to pilot. If you’re already piloting, Solve can help you grow. And if you’re already growing, Solve can help you scale.
• The most important thing is that your solution will solve the challenge posed.
• At MIT, every solution must include technology — whether new or existing — as a key component.

Selection Process and Criteria: In the first round, Solve staff will perform an initial screening of all applications for completeness, for coherency, and for whether the solution appropriately addresses the challenge. Then Solve judges will score the screened applications to determine finalists. Here are the criteria the judges will use to score the applications on the website:

• Alignment: Does the solution address the challenge that has been set forth?
• Scalability: Can the solution be grown and scaled to affect the lives of more people?
• Potential for Impact: Does the planned implementation of the solution have the potential to impact lives, and does the theory behind how it will work make logical sense? Does the team have a robust plan for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the solution?
• Novelty: Is this a new technology, new application of an existing technology, or new process for solving the challenge?
• Feasibility: Is it feasible to implement the solution, and does the team have a plan for the solution to sustain itself financially?

In the second round, each finalist will pitch before the challenge judges and a live audience. The judges will determine which solutions are the most promising. These new “Solvers” will receive support and partnership from the Solve community.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: All solutions selected in Solve’s four current Global Challenges will receive a $10,000 grant funded by Solve. Solver teams will be selected by a panel of cross-sector judges at Solve Challenge Finals during UN General Assembly week in New York City on September 23, 2018. The deadline to apply is July 1, 2018.

Duration of Program: 
August, 2018 – Finalists announced
September, 2018 – Finalists pitch in New York during the U.N. General Assembly week

How to Apply: Select a challenge and submit a proposal to the challenge. Each proposal must include a technology element. The finalists in each challenge will be invited to present their ideas at an event in New York (simultaneous with the UN General Assembly, September 2018), after which the selected winners will be offered partnership opportunities.
It is important to go through the application information in Program Webpage (See link below) before applying.

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)