Solve Concludes "Solve at the United Nations" with Judges Selecting 19 Solvers Committed to Creating Solutions in the Challenge Areas of Refugee Education, Carbon Contributions and Chronic Diseases and Announces Program, Participants for Solve's Flagship Event at MIT, May 8-10, 2017

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 16, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Solve (solve.mit.edu), an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, together with UN Academic Impact (academicimpact.un.org), concluded its March 7 live pitch event, "Solve at the United Nations," with judges selecting 19 innovators, called "Solvers," who are committed to creating solutions in the challenge areas of Refugee Education, Carbon Contributions, and Chronic Diseases. The selected Solvers will join the Solve community-- comprised of leaders from the private, public, nonprofit, and academic sectors--at Solve at MIT, on May 8-10, 2017. Information on the event program for Solve at MIT, along with a list of those Solvers, is below. Detailed information on the event program can be found here, and detailed information on those challenges and Solvers can be found here.

Solve also announced today initial confirmed advisors and speakers for Solve at MIT on May 8-10. They include Vanu Bose, CEO of Vanu, Inc; Erik Brynjolfsson, Schussel Family Professor and Director at MIT, Professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management and Director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy; Ursula M. Burns, Chairman of Xerox Corporation; Eric Cantor, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Moelis and Company;  Thierry Déau, Founder & CEO, Meridiam; Amar Hanspal, Chief Product Officer and Interim Co-CEO, Autodesk; Ernest Moniz, Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems Emeritus and Special Advisor to the MIT President at MIT; Rachel Haot, Managing Director, 1776; L. Rafael Reif, MIT President; and Megan Smith, 3rd U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Entrepreneur, Engineer in the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy-- along with other leaders in business, technology, social impact, academia and the public sector.

Solve at MIT will address the following topics in its plenary sessions:

• Does technology still create more opportunity than it destroys?
• How can we design stronger, smarter cities globally?
• How can we get rural communities connected for opportunity?
• How can we harness talent and ingenuity everywhere to solve global challenges?
• Fast-forward. What might the world look like in 2050?

Also during Solve at MIT, Solvers and members will join working groups on Solve's current challenges on Refugee Education, Carbon Contributions, Chronic Diseases and Inclusive Innovation to workshop and develop partnerships. The new Solve challenges will also be announced on May 10, and participants will also have the opportunity to join working groups on these to develop action plans for success.

The program for the event can be found here, confirmed speakers can be found here, and Solve's advisors can be found here.

"At Solve we are building a community of change-makers who are committed to partnering together to pilot and implement their solutions to global challenges-- and we look forward to convening our Solvers and members of the Solve community at Solve's MIT flagship event in May," said Solve Executive Director Alex Amouyel.

"Solve at the United Nations" was a collaboration between the United Nations Academic Impact and Solve, an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At the event, 40 selected finalists pitched their solutions to three challenges issued by Solve last November — on Refugee Education, Carbon Contributions and Chronic Diseases — to a panel of expert judges and a live audience of over 350 non-profit, academic, student and private-sector leaders.

Below is a list of Solvers who presented onstage at "Solve at the United Nations" on March 7. These Solvers will present their solutions at Solve's MIT Flagship Event May 8-10, 2017 in Cambridge, MA. More information on the Solvers and their solutions can be found here.

Refugee Education:
Lucrezia Bisignani -- Kukua; Rama Chakaki – EdSeed; Mohsin Mohi Ud Din – Me/We Syria; Jacqui Jorgeson – The SchoolBox Project; Richard Rowe – A Syrian Educational Library Network; Chrystina Russell – SNHU Global University

Carbon Contributions:
Simon Black – ecotrack; Ed Cullinan – Carbon-Neutral Syngas Production and Storage; Adam Flynn – Team Creo; Michael Hands – Inga Alley Cropping; Kyle Kornack – Global Citizens Imperative; Mike Stanley – Transit X

Chronic Diseases:
Nick Gogerty – healthcoin; Maria Elena Gonzalez – Nutricount; Abhinav Khare – Remote Patient Care; Shailesh Prithani – Doxper; Teemu Suna – Nightingale; Reza Yavari – Beyond Care; Nirinjan Yee – BreathResearch

Media interested in attending or learning more about Solve at MIT May 8-10 may contact [email protected].

About Solve
Solve is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that identifies and supports lasting solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. Solve is a community that brings together technologists, social entrepreneurs, business leaders, policymakers, researchers, and other change agents to unearth and implement solutions to specific, actionable challenges around education, health, sustainability, and economic prosperity.

Solve's mission is to solve world challenges through open innovation and partnership by:

• Identifying the best solutions to specific, actionable challenges through open innovation.
• Building and convening a community of leaders and change-makers committed to partnering together to pilot and implement these solutions.

Solve achieves its mission by launching specific actionable challenge on its open innovation platform. Anyone can submit a solution to these challenges, and judges - MIT faculty, industry experts, civil society leaders - pick the best solutions that pitch live for the opportunity to become Solvers. Solvers receive support from Solve and its partners, and participate in the flagship Solve at MIT. Solve is a marketplace bringing together the people with great solutions and cross-sector leaders with the resources - financial, technical, organizational - to fund, pilot and scale those solutions.

Media Contact:
Kate Downen
406 224 5056
[email protected]

SOURCE Solve at MIT

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http://solve.mit.edu