MIT Solve Announces New Solver Class of 33 Tech Entrepreneurs Solving Global Challenges

NEW YORK, Sept. 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Solve, an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, announces the 33 new Solver teams—selected yesterday at Solve Challenge Finals, the live pitch event to kick off UN General Assembly week in New York City. The Solver class was selected by Solve's Challenge Leadership Group judges as the most promising set of solutions tackling large-scale global Challenges. The new Solver class comes from 15 countries and was selected from a pool of 1,150 applicants from 110 countries. Out of the 33 new Solver teams, 61 percent are women-led; 64 percent of the selected solutions are for-profit, 24 percent are nonprofit, and 12 percent are hybrid organizations.

1. Meet the 9 new Solver teams for Solve's Coastal Communities Challenge
2. Meet the 8 new Solver teams for Solve's Frontlines of Health Challenge
3. Meet the 8 new Solver teams for Solve's Teachers & Educators Challenge
4. Meet the 8 new Solver teams for Solve's Work of the Future Challenge

"We are incredibly inspired by each new Solver selected at Solve Challenge Finals as they advance solutions to four of the world's biggest Challenges," said Solve's Executive Director, Alex Amouyel. "Today is just the start of the journey for our Solver teams; this is when the real work begins to broker partnerships with Solve members and partners on behalf of these innovators. We want to support our Solver teams so they can access mentors and experts to help validate and scale their solutions, as well as additional follow-on funding and in-kind resources."

Prize Funding: US $1 million in prize funding is available for the new Solver class, with a total of over US $3.5 million in funding announced for current and new Solver teams, including:

• US $2.6 million in follow-on funding for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Indo-Pacific Development Prize and the Atlassian Foundation International "10 in 10" Partnership Prize
• Recipients: Funding will be awarded to scale existing Youth, Skills, & the Workforce of the Future Solver teams
• US $100,000 for the Artificial Intelligence for the Betterment of Humanity Prize, supported by the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
• Recipients: Livox; Refactored.ai; ISeeChange; ADA4CHW
• An additional US $100,000 will be awarded to one of these Solver teams during Solve at MIT, May 7-9, 2019
• US $100,000 for the General Motors Prize for Advanced Technologies
• Recipients: Refactored.ai; Virtual Grasp; Livox; TalkingPoints
• US $150,000 for the Teachers & Educators Prize, made possible by an anonymous donor
• Recipients: CENTURY; Education Modified; Practical Education Network; StoryWeaver; Moringa School; Eneza
• US $100,000 for the Save the Children Prize for Breakthrough Innovations for Children
• Recipients: Ada4CHW; E-Heza: Digital Health Record; LYNK; Talking Points
• US $50,000 from Flagship Pioneering, a unique life sciences innovation enterprise
• Recipient Solver team(s) to be announced
• US $30,000 for the UN Women She Innovates Prize for Gender-Responsive Innovation, made possible by Citi, with support from SAP Next-Gen
• Recipients: Neopenda
• Additionally, Solve announced a total of US $330,000: $10,000 per new Solver selected.
• RISE: Solver teams for the Coastal Communities Challenge will be eligible to apply for up to $1 million US of investment funding with RISE.

About Solve:  
Solve is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that advances lasting solutions from tech entrepreneurs to address the world's most pressing problems. Solve issues four Challenges each year to find the most promising Solver class to drive transformational change. Solve then deploys its global community of private, public, and nonprofit leaders to form partnerships these Solver teams need to scale their impact. This year, Solve received more than 1,150 solutions from 110 countries tackling its four Global Challenges: (1) Work of the Future, (2) Frontlines of Health, (3) Coastal Communities, and (4) Teachers & Educators. Join the community at solve.mit.edu.

PR Contact:

Andrea Snyder, MIT Solve
[email protected]

SOURCE MIT Solve

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http://solve.mit.edu