Rockefeller Foundation: Innovation for the Next 100 Years
Hello Chris,
In celebration of our centennial, The Rockefeller Foundation is launching the Centennial Innovation Challenge. We are calling on the ingenuity of innovators across the globe to chart new paths that will transform the lives of poor or vulnerable people for the next 100 years.
Specifically, the Centennial Innovation Challenge seeks solutions that will improve livelihoods for workers in the informal economy. It is often out of necessity that 1.8 billion people find their livelihoods in the informal economy -- the business enterprises and jobs that exist partially or fully outside of government regulation. Informal workers lack basic safety nets like pensions and health insurance, and are typically without recourse if denied pay or asked to work in unsafe conditions.
Informal employment is a significant and growing part of the world's economy; it accounts for around 50% of employment in North Africa and in Latin America, 65% of employment in Asia and 72% in Sub-Saharan Africa. Given the vast number of informal workers, it is important to spur new innovations that improve workers' livelihoods.
So we ask you: how would you transform livelihoods in the informal economy? Submit your idea for the Centennial Innovation Challenge by April 1, 2013. As many as ten Finalists will be considered for a chance to apply for a grant of up to US $100,000 and win support in proposal-writing to enable the further development of submitted ideas.
Learn more today:
challenge.rockefellerfoundation.org
Sincerely,
Michael Myers The Rockefeller Foundation

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new of 2013 competition

We are thrilled to present the Next Century Innovators Award finalists. Based on your votes, one of these extraordinary innovators will be honored at the 2013 Innovation Forum, and will have the opportunity to apply for a $100,000 grant.




Medical Innovations for Neglected Patients

Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative

Focus of work: Global - LEARN MORE

Speedy Delivery: Putting Poorest Patients at the Center of Drug Development

VOTE



Providing Addresses for Slum Dwellers

Addressing the Unaddressed

Focus of work: Kolkata, India - LEARN MORE

Bringing GPS-based codes to provide unique addresses to slum-dwellers in India

VOTE


MEET THE FIRST TWO OF THREE NEXT CENTURY INNOVATORS AWARDEES

Out of close to 1000 nominations, we’ve selected the first two of three nominees to receive this year’s Next Century Innovators Award. These innovators are forging new pathways, changing the way we deliver services, and improving conditions for the world’s most vulnerable populations.

Discover the work of these remarkable innovators, and how it is improving the future for us all.



Financing conservation to strengthen economic development

The Nature Conservancy/Water Funds

Focus of work: Latin America - LEARN MORE

Turning the Tide: Engaging the Public and Private Sector to Conserve Watersheds



Challenging Sierra Leonian Youth to “DIY” their worldYOUTH

Global Minimum/ Innovate Salone

Focus of work: Sierra Leone - LEARN MORE

DIY Challenge: Empowering Youth in Sierra Leone to Invent Their Future

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other entrants include:

world’s most pressing problems, in exciting and unexpected ways.


SEE ALL OF THE NOMINEES

results are in http://centennial.rockefellerfoundation.org/innovators?utm_medium=e...

SPEEDY DELIVERY: PUTTING POOREST PATIENTS AT THE CENTER OF DRUG DEVELOPMENT

Only 10 percent of the world’s spending on health research is delegated to diseases affecting 90 percent of the world’s population, such as African sleeping sickness, chagas, malaria, pediatric HIV/AIDS and leishmaniasis. Through its patient-centered research and development model, Drugs for Neglected Diseases (DNDi) discovers, develops and distributes new, improved and affordable medicines for illnesses largely unknown by much of the world. DNDi’s collaborative partnerships with governments, research institutions, NGOs, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies ensure greater research and knowledge sharing that expedites the development processes and allows faster delivery of much needed drugs. DNDi has also developed new drug licensing agreements which put patient access as the priority.  DNDi has delivered six new treatments with the goal of producing 11-13 by 2018; 90 percent of people suffering from African sleeping sickness have been treated with DNDi-produced drugs.

Why it’s Innovative: DNDi rallies all relevant actors in drug development around specified goals to “de-link” the cost of R&D from the price of the final product.  This has required several innovations—including partnerships between historical adversaries (such as activists and pharmaceutical companies) and the development of licensing agreements that put patient needs first.

WHAT IS THE INNOVATION AND HOW DOES IT ADDRESS A PRESSING PROBLEM?

Right now, millions of people are suffering from deadly diseases which are, for the most part, unheard of in many parts of the world. Neglected diseases affect the poorest communities across Africa, Asia and Latin America, but since they do not represent a lucrative market for the pharmaceutical industry, little to nothing is invested to develop life-saving treatments. The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) delivers new treatments for neglected diseases that afflict millions of the world’s most vulnerable people. 
DNDi carries out patient-centered research and development (R&D) to discover and develop affordable medicines for patients suffering from Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, sleeping sickness, malaria, pediatric HIV/AIDS and specific filarial diseases. DNDi’s approach is to establish collaborative partnerships with public sector research institutions, particularly in disease-endemic countries, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academia, non-governmental organizations, and governments worldwide. DNDi manages every phase of the drug development process – from drug discovery to preclinical research to clinical trials to support for large-scale implementation on the ground – and develops new treatments specifically adapted to the needs of patients. Once developed, the treatments are affordable, non-patented, and made available as public goods.

WHAT EXISTING PRACTICES INSPIRED THE INNOVATION AND HOW DOES IT REPRESENT SOMETHING NEW?

In the late 1990s, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontiéres (MSF) doctors were increasingly frustrated at their inability to treat patients because needed medicines were either unavailable, toxic or did not exist.  In response, MSF committed a portion of its 1999 Nobel Peace Prize funds to develop an alternative model of R&D for drugs, and co-founded DNDi in 2003 with 5 public sector research organizations. 

The traditional industry business model for pharmaceutical innovation requires consumers to pay high drug prices in order to “recoup” R&D costs.  The DNDi model pulls together existing research capacity around well-defined goals in a way that de-links the cost of R&D from the price of the final product.

Innovative partnerships have been required to achieve this.  For example, DNDi harnesses the expertise of pharmaceutical companies on terms that will guarantee affordability and access for patients.  This has included the negotiation of increasingly favorable licensing agreements with companies that reduce exclusivity, ensure the widest possible geographic research and manufacturing rights, and aim to achieve the lowest possible sustainable price.

DNDi’s approach overcomes intellectual property barriers to innovation and access and promotes more open exchange of scientific knowledge and data than in the traditional industry business model, ultimately avoiding duplication, reducing R&D costs, and speeding up the R&D process for the benefit of patients.

PLEASE DESCRIBE THE SOCIAL IMPACT TO DATE, AS WELL AS POTENTIAL IMPACT IN THE FUTURE.

DNDi has delivered 6 new treatments, reaching millions of people. 
For example, DNDi has developed a new treatment for African sleeping sickness, a parasitic disease endemic in sub-Saharan Africa that, left untreated, is 100% fatal. Currently, over 90% of people suffering from African sleeping sickness receive a safe and effective combination drug called NECT, developed by DNDi and its partners. NECT is the first improved treatment for sleeping sickness in 25 years and is currently included on the WHO’s Essential Medicines List. Prior to NECT, the most commonly used medication was melarsoprol -- a drug so toxic it killed one in 20 patients. 
DNDi’s objectives are to deliver 11 to 13 new treatments to patients suffering from neglected diseases by 2018, to ensure equitable access to these treatments, and to build a robust pipeline of new drug candidates. With six new treatments developed in less than 10 years, DNDi is well on its way to achieving these goals and to bringing the best science to the most neglected.
DNDi is showing that a paradigm shift is possible in which R&D becomes needs-driven rather than profit-driven, and essential-health R&D is considered a global public good. This model could serve as an important example in international policy dialogues, such as the WHO’s exploration of new models to finance and coordinate essential health R&D, including a proposed new global R&D treaty.

interesting choice of grand winner

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I have not seen in my 71 years of life an opportunity to support youth co-create futures like SDG Metaverse Prize - since my father met von neumann the year I was born my family has kept an eye on entrepreneurial revolution open societal flows. living up to smithian or keynsian values 
Special thanks to zasheem launches of 2 journals with adam smith scholars and around Glasgow's greatest 20th C alumni for good. See alsdo EconomistDiary.com and Greatests of All Time
Following on with Japan ambassador to Bangladesh support from 2010 in mapping last decade of Fazle Abed and the billion womens economic model he gravitated over 50 years http://www.abedmooc.com, Team of Asian media graduates, and friends and I were lucky to follow movements of Guterres (very granular levels of 100 ops leaders inside UN) around digital un2.0 from their start in 2016.
As a statistician, datawise. I can offer a quick start mapping every last mile operation branch of UN that is linking in to maximise tech nd deep data with smartest possible logistics even as sad new fractures of world trade flows are caused most lately by Russia. Whats still needed is more clarity on which multilateral has the most data on broken value chains- fortunately i personally know who at the world bank has since 2006 the most data on food prices across every country. Maybe you know // sources .
 Digital cooperation has been celebrated solutionwise in Geneva where the ITU has actually been the digital twin of ny policy headquarters from the start in 1946 (and actually earlier since 1865 collaborations needed for there to be one telegraph standard instead of many).
By 2018 the first digital cooperation report mainly chaired out of geneva with 30 national tech leaders eg melinda gates representing USA to guterres and he formed tech envoy transformation office round 10 transformation processes -see Overview of the Office’s Ongoing Work | Office of the Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology
The ITU started taking its responsibility to a new level with AIforgood- specifically this went year round zoom not juts annual summit- and a first 50 operational branches of the UN identified at least one ai project each. Meanwhile Guterres hosted expert roundtables around the 10 processes uniting not just un branches and national leaders but corporations , leading ai university centres and NGOs -see https://www.un.org/techenvoy/sites/www.un.org.techenvoy/files/List_of_roundtables_key_constituents.pdf
Three more things came together- it turned out that 20 operational units of the UN had been discussing web1 &2 in annual vents of ITU -in thi=ose days called worldwide information society; the xprize out of moutnain view's singularity university got involved. By december the 10 million dillar avatar prize will  be debriefed- the last 4 xprizes have been on urgen tai solutions eg related to covid. And japan has been uniting about 40 cities' colleges through two investment streams geared to society5.0 and Osaka Data Track Expos - connection places where the UN has a training college and connecting AI regional epicentres fortunately Nordica, Netherlands & selected East Europe's smartest community AI researchers (ie who value DAO) are miles more connected than west EU's bureaucratic offices. (I did help moderate EU Knolwgeboard for 3 years so have followed this rather strange old world happening) You could also check with Romano Prodi as died and he shared most entrepreneurial revolution maps.
Back in 2018 the tufts arctic circle club were miles ahead on virtual reality than other boston students including mit100k prize that i once judged in a minor way.  The over 18 teams are effectively free to help the UN digitalise and connect this with web 3 or metaverse or ai or whatever is the leap forward 2020s that you see tech mobilising
 can a prize help celebrate new Greatest of All Time. This will be one way to unite celebrities of sports and fashions with real tech heroines.
Exponentially we are at a critical time as nature judges us. Due to last week's supreme court rulings, around the world nations are being told taht it is only at the state level they can expect any american partners of climate, energy etc. However there is a chnace e that if we map who cares about water this may even unite some republican states. 
Thanks to the work led by people like Eban he has a listing of which institutions joined their youth in March 2022. Is there a way to see who wants to help youth connect before december's starting line for year 1 of sdgmetaverseprize.org? As far as I can see this prize isnt just us last chance to be be trusted rest of the world on cop26 but it is every community's chance to benchmark digital gov. UN2.0 if succeeds  Meta will not only provide a benchmark for digital multilateral but will in effect unite every best govtech - at community state nation level. So already when it comes to goal 4 education places like singapore and south korea are both leaders of ai for every age group and leading connectors of Guterres Digital UN , and in effect every sustainability goal solution. of course the problem is penisular and  developed island states are not sufficient to help with massive inland solutions on continent scales let alone messy landlocked nations borders. The reality is west (US and EU) depends on Asian solutions  more than many Atlamtic policymakers view. Europe is not yet better situated for peace than the 1920s and this time round the US is not united on being a leader in saving the world. The great thing about the prize is with teams of 2-6 getting on with deep digital solutions youth can advance in joy and productivity even as elder generations have designed 60 years of accelerating media to propagate hate or fear or mental illness.
i welcome any way to follow this up eg whatsapp +1 240 316  8157, zooms, last month while wall street was still investing mainly in naked apes - educators started an NFT aimed at connecting 6000 educators; to be frank this is mainly k-12 leaving the 2 main areas fazle abed's last 20 years focused newly on university and pre-school maximum opportunity to represent women empowerments voice if you should so choose to collaborate
cheers chris macrae

===================please note most of this column is due to be re-edited we hope to issue a list of yunus top 10 stories but when it comes to solutions matching those challeges there's all to play for as web3 is humanity's last chnace to leap ahead

  hottest youth-spring question of our life and times-can online education end youth unemployment for ever ? yes but only if you help map how!

Breaking News to action now!

About Pro-Youth economics at Norman Macrae Foundation online library of norman macrae - The Economist's Unacknowledged Giant -videos 1 2 -fansweb  NMFoundation- youth projects - include yunuschoolusa

 

fullest press reports  Grameen Brand Partnership Architecture

exponential impact advisory: the social business youth networks inspired by muhammad yunus -without which millennium goal actions networks would be way behind are worth far more than any individual parts according to Norman Macrae Foundation  trilliondollaraudit methodology and charter notespace

Beyond the extraordinary investment of the members bank at Grameen, and the approximate third share its members foundation holds in grameenphone, here is our Unofficial League Table of Most Impactful Social Business Investments around yunus - last update 1 dec 2012

! Grameen Solar

2 Grameen Mobile Nursing nets and college

3 Portfolio of investments linkedin by Japan

4 Portfolio of youth-led networking inventions in US educationsystem  tertiar and secondary - transparency note NM Foundation has minor donation/loan interest

5 Investments in Grameen as collaboration brand linked in out of paris- the origin of global social business partnership funds

6 OpenTech investments of Grameen Intel

 

-------- while not controlled by yunus we see wholeplanetfoundation microcredit investment table and conscious capitalsm movements and hugely important to advancing pro-youth economicsmission of friends of youth and yunus

 

email chris.macrae@yahoo.co.ukif you have questions or recommendations of entries that should be in this league table

-please read notes about what pro-youth economists mean by superapps being most

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