Past Laureates

2014 Laureates

Environment

Region of Impact: Latin America

Problem: Extractive industries (e.g. mining and drilling) have greatly increased activities in low-income countries in recent decades. Communities and indigenous peoples living near mines and drilling sites often suffer severely from pollution, but may have limited tools to demonstrate that contaminants such as heavy metals are present in their water, air, and soil and are responsible for their health problems. Without such evidence, they have little or no ability to hold polluters accountable and seek solutions or compensation.

Solution: Source International offers poor communities a suite of scientifically-validated testing technologies to examine their water, air, and soil for a variety of chemical contaminants. It trains community members in sampling and data analysis, and supports them in efforts to use the data to seek justice from polluters.

Impact: To date, Source International has worked with 15 communities in Mexico and Latin America. Successes have included changes to mining laws in Honduras, implementation of clean-up plans in the Peruvian Amazon, and millions of dollars in compensation, water treatment systems, and health insurance for community member in Carrizalillo, Mexico.

Inventive Power
Region of Impact: Latin America

Problem: Many industries need thermal energy provided by hot water or steam for their processes. Natural gas is the most common fuel source for generating industrial thermal energy, but many Latin American countries don’t have widespread natural gas distribution systems. Both natural gas and a common alternative, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), are fossil fuels whose combustion generates CO2, contributing to global climate change.

Solution: Inventive Power stripped down the parabolic trough solar thermal energy collector design used to generate high temperature steam for electrical power production. Their streamlined system is smaller and lighter, but generates water and steam temperatures of 180 – 400oF, which is more than adequate for most industrial thermal processes. The system can fit on the roof of most industrial facilities, and reduces fossil fuel consumption by up to 80%.

Impact: Inventive Power systems have been installed at numerous sites throughout Mexico. For the average customer, an installed system will reduce LPG consumption by more than 50,000 tons over the next 5 years - saving millions of dollars - and reduce CO2 emissions by over 130,000 tons over the same time period.

Education

Worldreader
Region of Impact: Global

Problem: 775 million people in the world are illiterate, and as the population grows, the problem is worsening. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, more than 200 million children live in locations where printed books are non-existent or prohibitively expensive, and 50% of schools have few or no books at all.

Solution: Worldreader uses inexpensive e-readers with extended battery life to provide books to children and young people. The program support the e-readers with extensive training and capacity building for teachers, facilitators, and librarians, and features fun activity plans that are designed to nurture a love for reading. Worldreader rigorously monitors and evaluates the project for literacy outcomes.

Impact: Worldreader has documented significant improvements in literacy in schools using the e-readers, particularly with girls. To date the project has reached more than 200,000 people in 27 countries (principally Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and India), providing them with more than 5,000 book titles in 23 languages (including Swahili, Twi, and Igbo).

Gooru
Region of Impact: Global

Problem: There is no single pedagogical approach or tool that can cater to all learners across all subjects, but K-12 teachers often have little flexibility in addressing each student’s needs within the school day, and are forced to adjust their instruction to the “average” student in their classroom. Technology makes it possible for teachers to personalize learning tools, but finding the right tools from the vast number of resources now available online can be intimidating or overwhelming.

Solution: Gooru provides a free learning facilitator for teachers to easily customize instructional content using digital collections from a catalog of educator-vetted, standards-aligned content. Students are more engaged by personalized learning experiences, and teachers are able to track their progress through data analytics.

Impact: Gooru has been adopted by educators in all 50 states in the U.S., and over 140 countries. Half a million users worldwide have created more than 70,000 K-12 collections, so far, and use continues to grow. Three major school districts in California are now partnering with Gooru to adopt the platform district-wide.

Young Innovator

Nanoly
Region of Impact: Global

Problem: Last year, nearly 20 million children did not receive immunizations and close to 2 million people died from vaccine preventable diseases. One factor contributing to this is the need to refrigerate most vaccines, which is not only expensive, but difficult to maintain in remote rural areas. This “cold chain” accounts for 23% of the total vaccine cost in the developing world and 14% in the developed world.

Solution: Nanoly – a team of young materials scientists at the University of Colorado - is developing a photodegradable polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogel biomaterial that encapsulates and protects thermally-sensitive biologics during storage. To release the encapsulated payload for vaccine delivery, controlled exposure to light disassembles the hydrogel.

Impact: Nanoly’s primary customers will include pharmaceutical companies and non-profit vaccine distributors such as UNICEF. The hydrogel product is expected to go on the market in 2017.

PAK-Energy Solution
Region of Impact: Pakistan

Problem: More than 16 million rural families in Pakistan do not have access to clean-burning fuels for cooking and heating, resulting in health problems for women and infants, environmental degradation and increased poverty.

Solution: PAK-Energy, headed by Ali Raza in Lahore, Pakistan, has developed a small, sustainable domestic biogas unit that can be installed in one day at a cost of $350. This solution is cheaper and easier to install than other biogas solutions in the region. PAK-Energy’s units use insulated fiberglass construction, resulting in longer life and consistently superior performance, particularly in the winter when production from “conventional” biogas units drop dramatically.

Impact: PAK-Energy has installed seven pilot projects in Lahore, and has plans to scale to more than 25,000 units in 5 years. Each unit generates sufficient biogas to satisfy a family’s cooking and heating needs, while reducing or eliminating fuel purchases (thus saving money), reducing waste production, and producing non-toxic organic residues that can be sold as fertilizer.

Health

Operation ASHA
Region of Impact: India

Problem: Tuberculosis (TB) is a global health problem focused on the poorest people of the world. TB is difficult to treat effectively in this population, given limited access to healthcare and the long course of antibiotics necessary to cure the infection. Inadequate treatment exacerbates the problem of drug-resistant TB, creating a vicious cycle that leads to mutant strains that are ever more difficult to eliminate, and more lethal.

Solution: Operation ASHA created the eCompliance project to combine biometric technology, deployed by community health workers (CHW’s), to ensure continuous and effective delivery of antibiotics to TB patients in India. Fingerprint log-ins allow nurses and CHW’s to accurately identify every patient, and record their ongoing compliance with treatment. The eCompliance system also notifies healthcare workers on a daily basis of patients that did not receive medications, allowing active outreach. In addition, these features allow program managers to monitor remote teams to ensure data integrity and programmatic fidelity.

Impact: OpASHA has facilitated treatment of more than 30,000 TB patients to date, with over 5,000 patients currently under care through 159 clinics in India. Treatment failures are greatly reduced, improving patient outcomes and saving lives, not to mention millions of dollars each year in healthcare expenses.

Gradian Health Systems
Region of Impact: Global

Problem: More than 2 billion people in low to middle income countries have limited access to safe surgical services. Unreliable electrical power, poor equipment maintenance, and a lack of compressed oxygen can render safe anesthesia delivery impossible using equipment designed for wealthier countries.

Solution: The Universal Anesthesia Machine (UAM) is a robust delivery system able to operate when necessary without compressed oxygen or continuous grid power. The UAM is easier to use and much less expensive than conventional anesthesia delivery systems, and has been rigorously validated in healthcare settings from the UK to Sierra Leone.

Impact: More than 80 UAM’s are currently in use in hospitals and clinics in 18 countries, with 400 clinicians and technicians trained in their use. At least 50,000 patients to date have undergone surgical procedures supported by a UAM, most of whom would not have been able to undergo such procedures in its absence, or would have been subjected to less effective/more risky alternatives.

Economic Development

myAgro
Region of Impact: West Africa

Problem: Approximately 75% of the population of West Africa are rural subsistence farmers. Banks and microfinance institutions focus on urban clients and have strict lending requirements. With only 7% of the population having access to a regular bank account, it is very difficult for most farmers to save money for fertilizer and seed in preparation for the planting season.

Solution: The myAgro technology platform enables farmers to enroll at harvest time, plan how many hectares they want to plant the following season, and open a mobile savings layaway account to save up to buy enough fertilizer and seed to meet those goals. Because myAgro buys high-quality seed and fertilizer in bulk, farmers pay less for their inputs. They also get access to expert advisors.

Impact: myAgro currently has 5100 farmers enrolled in Mali and Senegal. Using their unique client ID, farmers in remote villages can add money to their account at any time simply by sending an SMS message from a mobile phone. Clients experience 80% higher productivity, and thus make more income than farms of comparable sizes, a dramatic benefit for subsistence farmers.

Sanergy
Region of Impact: Kenya

Problem: In Kenya, 8 million slum residents lack access to adequate sanitation. Poor sanitation results in pathogen-rich human waste contaminating water and food supplies. Diarrheal diseases alone, spread by poor sanitation, kill nearly 1.6 million children each year worldwide.

Solution: Sanergy builds and franchises a network of small-scale, high-quality sanitation centers featuring their innovative “Fresh Life Toilets”. These centers are run by local entrepreneurs and receive ongoing operational support. Waste from the toilets is sealed into 30L cartridges, collected, and delivered to processing centers that convert the material into higher-value products: biogas (sold as cooking fuel) and organic fertilizer for farmers.

Impact: Since launching in 2011, Sanergy has opened 387 franchises in the Mukuru slum in Nairobi, providing more than 15,000 residents with access to sanitary toilets, and economically supporting 190 Fresh Life operators, most of whom are women. As Sanergy expands, it has also hired a team of 156 staff, 93% of whom are Kenyan, earning over $1700 /year plus benefits that includes private medical insurance, pension, and skills development.

2013 Laureates

Environment

Wecyclers
Country: Nigeria

Problem: Many households in developing countries lack reliable access to waste management.

Solution: Low-cost cargo bicycles and an SMS-based incentives platform offering convenient household recycling services in densely populated, low-income neighborhoods.

Impact: 3,000 households in Lagos, Nigeria, registered for service.

Antrix Corp./ISRO: Sujala Project
Region of Impact: India

Problem: More than two-thirds of India’s Karnataka state is drought-prone, resulting in low productivity, degraded natural resources, and poverty.

Solution: Watershed development through biophysical, technological, and social interventions improve rural socio-economic conditions and productivity of drylands.

Impact: 1270 villages, 0.35 million households, 12.8 million acres.

Education

Globaloria
Country: United States

Problem: Lack of high-quality education in computing innovation creates opportunity divides that result in an insufficient pipeline of STEM-ready professionals.

Solution: K-12 MOOC, with project-based game design and coding courses, professional development, and blended-learning support systems, that is easily integrated into any school or program.

Impact: 10,000 students, 500 educators and 300 leaders in 8 states and 20 countries, with 85% retention and 95% course completion rates; and ready to scale globally.

Enova: Learning and Innovation Network
Country: Mexico

Problem: 82 million people in Mexico do not have access to computers.

Solution: Learning and Innovation Network educational centers providing access to information technologies.

Impact: 70 centers, with more than 350,000 users.

Young Innovator

TOHL
Country: Chile

Problem: Providing access to water in remote areas is expensive.

Solution: Single segments of pipeline manufactured in lengths of 500 meters to several kilometers are loaded onto spools, which are then deployed by helicopter or truck.

Impact: Costs reduced, livelihoods preserved, homes protected, and resources conserved.

OPI: Yo Propongo
Country: Mexico

Problem: In Mexico, those without access to the Internet have limited ways to voice their opinions on public policy.

Solution: Video survey tools that increase participation by all segments.

Impact: Engaged 80,000 people in previously apathetic communities.

Health

D-Rev: Brilliance
Country: India

Problem: Jaundice is a critical neonatal health issue affecting 6.7 million newborns in the developing world.

Solution: An affordable, state-of-the-art phototherapy device that cures jaundice.

Impact: In its first 4 months, 170 units have been purchased by hospitals in 4 countries. In 5 years, Brilliance will treat 2 million babies.

Nazava Water Filters
Country: Indonesia

Problem: In Indonesia, 150 million people cannot afford safe drinking water.

Soution: Easy-to-use household water filters that provide a continued flow of safe drinking water, without wood, propane, or electricity.

Impact: 1 million people with improved health and an average annual savings of $70/household.

Economic Development

The Darfur Stoves Project (now known as Potential Energy)
Country: Sudan

Problem: People in camps for refugees and internally displaced persons spend 1/3 of their income on fuelwood, often skipping meals for lack of fuel.

Solution: An energy-saving metal cookstove adapted for local cooking traditions, and assembled from flat-kits that are easily stockpiled and deployed.

Impact: In Darfur, 27,000 stoves disseminated, benefiting 162,000 people.

Kilimo Salama: Syngenta Foundation
Country: Kenya, Rwanda

Problem: Traditional agricultural insurance is too expensive for most farmers.

Solution: A weather index insurance uses proxies to estimate farm losses while payouts are calculated automatically and sent via mobile phone to a farmer’s “mobile wallet.” No claims, no farm visits.

Impact: 100,000 insured farmers in Kenya and Rwanda increased annual income by 16% and invested 20% more in their farms than uninsured neighbors.

2012 Laureates

Environment

LEHR, Inc. Propane Outboard Motors
Region of Impact: North America

Problem: Small gasoline engines cause excessive pollution, yet electric/battery solutions do not provide the performance required to be a universally viable alternative.

Solution: Patented gaseous fueled engines that significantly reduce/eliminate pollution while improving performance and reducing cost of ownership.

Impact: To date, about 100,000 lawn and garden engines have been sold that eliminate evaporative emissions while reducing VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) emissions. 1,000s of marine outboard engines sold eliminate fuel spills into water while reducing methyl-mercury-causing particulate emissions by up to 96%.

Arup K. SenGupta
Region of Impact: Cambodia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam

Problem: According to World Health Organization (WHO), over 200 million resource-poor people are threatened with arsenic poisoning by drinking contaminated groundwater in Cambodia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Vietnam.

Solution: Use of appropriate simple-to-operate technology in rural setting to transform arsenic crisis into an economic enterprise while protecting human health.

Impact: Over 200,000 people including school children are benefiting in arsenic-affected countries.

Education

Literacy Bridge
Region of Impact: Africa

Problem: Basic health and agriculture knowledge isn’t reaching the world’s poorest billion people due to illiteracy and lack of electricity.

Solution: A simple and durable, battery-operated, audio computer playing locally produced lessons that address the practical needs of people in oral cultures.

Impact: 250,000 lessons delivered to 20,000 farmers in the poorest regions of Ghana. Farmers harvested 48% more crops for a 3x ROI, and 90% of maternal health lessons led to healthier behaviors.

TeachAIDS
Region of Impact: Global

Problem: Research shows that despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent worldwide on HIV "awareness" campaigns over 30 years, accurate knowledge of HIV still remains dangerously low.

Solution: Re-imagine the worldwide public health solution to focus on actual "education" rather than "awareness" and develop the most effective and flexible HIV education software after 5+ years of cross-disciplinary research at Stanford.

Impact: Provide HIV education with unprecedented efficacy to more than 200 organizations and governments in 73 countries, educating millions around the world, and including breakthrough implementations in regions which had banned sex education.

Young Innovator

Angaza Design
Region of Impact: Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia

Problem: 1.5 Billion people around the world lack access to electricity, and prohibitively high upfront prices for quality solar products prevent millions of off-grid families from purchasing them.

Solution: Low-cost, embedded Pay-As-You-Go technology that allows customers to pay for energy use in small amounts with cash-in-hand. Remotely regulated over cellular networks and integrated with existing mobile money platforms, these energy payments are cheaper than typical weekly kerosene expenditures.

Impact: Clean, bright light and cell-phone charging financially accessible to customers in Tanzania, Kenya, and Zambia.

Art Center College of Design, Designmatters
Region of Impact: Peru

Problem: In Cerro Verde, a slum on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, 30,000 people live without access to running water and sanitation.

Solution: Design and co-create with Cerro Verde families, innovative and cost-effective products tested by the community and implemented by Un Techo Para Mi Pais, a Latin American NGO dedicated to working with families living in extreme poverty.

Impact: Empower families and communities through responsible design to conserve water, reduces illness and generate social, cultural, and economic change.

Health

BioLite
Region of Impact: Global

Problem: Every year almost 2 million people die prematurely from indoor pollution caused by smoky open cooking fires; these same fires contribute more black carbon than all the cars and trucks in the world combined.

Solution: The BioLite Homestove: A low-cost, highly efficient wood-burning stove that dramatically reduces smoke and harmful black carbon emissions while reducing fuel needs by 50%.

Impact: Paying for itself in six to seven months, a single HomeStove lowers the rates of potentially fatal respiratory diseases while saving ~2000lbs of wood per year and averting the C02 emissions of a compact car.

Embrace
Region of Impact: Global

Problem: 1.1 Million preterm babies die every year, 75% could survive with inexpensive treatment.

Solution: A low-cost infant warmer specifically designed to address the needs of babies suffering from hypothermia.

Impact: Thousands of babies may be impacted by the warmers currently distributed with 11 partnerships in 8 countries.

Economic Development

Grameen Foundation USA
Region of Impact: Uganda

Problem: Lack of agricultural information among the poorest & hardest to reach rural farmers.

Solution: Social Enterprise with 800 CKWs that use smartphone-based knowledge to share expert agriculture information with small holder farmers and collect data through mobile surveys.

Impact: 17% increase in knowledge of 6 representative agriculture practices, 37% difference in higher maize prices vs. non-CKW-served farmers, and 51% difference in “access to extension services and training” vs. non-CKW-served farmers.

Pamela C. Ronald, David Mackill, Kenong Xu
Region of Impact: Global

Problem: Yields of rice, the most important crop for over half of our planet, are catastrophically reduced during floods. Because rice provides up to two thirds of the diet of many people in the developing world, many who live on less than $1 day, these losses have devastating impacts on farmers and their families.

Solution: Identification of a submergence tolerance gene and precise introduction of the gene into locally adapted varieties favored by farmers using modern molecular breeding.

Impact: In 2011, 1,000,000 farmers grew Sub1 rice, with millions more expected in the next few years. Yields of Sub1 rice are three to five folds greater than conventional varieties during floods.

Sustainable Energy

Simpa Networks
Region of Impact: India

Problem: 400 million people in India, and more than 1.5 billion worldwide are without access to reliable electricity.

Solution: Simple, affordable, pay-as-you-use pricing and mobile payment for off-grid solar energy solutions.

Impact: By 2015, more than 250,000 households with access to aspirational amounts of clean energy, 6.5 megawatts of distributed solar power installed, more than 160,000 tonnes of CO2 displaced.

Eco-Fuel Africa

Region of Impact: Africa

Problem: Clean cooking fuel is inaccessible for thirty million people in Uganda and 28 million poor farmers have no access to fertilizers.

Solution: Simple, locally made technology that can be used by local people to convert locally sourced farm and municipal waste into clean cooking fuel and organic fertilizers.

Impact: 6,000 families already benefiting from the technology, with 10,000 more expected to be reached by the end of 2013.

2011 Laureates

Environment

AguaClara, Cornell University, and Agua Para el Pueblo
Region of Impact: Honduras

Problem: In Honduras, safe drinking water is inaccessible to most of the population.

Solution: Water treatment facilities that operate without electricity and are reliable, affordable, and scaled to the community.

Impact: Daily service to 20,000 people in 5 communities.

MarineMap: Ecotrust
Region of Impact: United States

Problem: Stakeholder agreement on locations of marine protected areas is essential but extremely difficult to achieve.

Solution: A web-based environment for making decisions about the best economic and ecological uses of the ocean.

Impact: Aided in creating 107 approved or pending marine protected areas, covering 3,600 square kilometers along the coast of California.

Water, Agroforestry, Nutrition, and Development (WAND)
Region of Impact: Philippines

Problem: 2.1 billion people worldwide do not have access to toilets, including millions in the Philippines.

Solution: A low-cost composting toilet using local materials.

Impact: Improved water quality, reduced parasite infestation and diarrheal disease, and production of valuable fertilizer from human waste.

Education

Games for Change (G4C)
Region of Impact: Global

Problem: Digital games present excellent opportunities to engage young people in social issues and civic participation, but non-commercial games lack resources, best practices, and a marketplace.

Solution: Provide critical tools for humanitarian projects and social change by facilitating the creation and distribution of socially conscious games by partner organizations.

Impact: Catalyzed the development of social-change games played by millions of people around the globe, and guiding more than $8M of additional investment into the sector.

PhET Interactive Simulations, University of Colorado Boulder
Region of Impact: Global

Problem: Science education is not achieving desired levels of student interest, literacy, and technical expertise.

Solution: Freely available, easily translatable, interactive simulations of physical phenomena and principles that support better science education.

Impact: 50 million uses in 64 languages.

Whiz Kids Workshop: Tsehai’s Fidel School
Region of Impact: Ethiopia

Problem: Many young students in Ethiopia drop out of school before becoming functionally literate in the Amharic alphabet, with its daunting 231 characters.

Solution: Deconstruct the alphabet into a system of roots that are taught by Tsehai, a popular puppet on television who has also become a role model for young children.

Impact: The weekly show reaches 2.5 million Ethiopian children, improving their knowledge, health, and behavior.

Equality

Awaaz.De
Region of Impact: India

Problem: Rural people in developing regions lack access to on-demand localized information sources and a platform to “give their voice,” to share what they know.

Solution: An interactive, voice-based platform supporting knowledge sharing over phones. Offers high-quality, relevant information in any language.

Impact: Used in India by social development organizations in agriculture, labor rights, education, and women’s empowerment.

Kommunity Desk
Region of Impact: South Africa

Problem: Millions of children in developing countries lack proper desks when studying.

Solution: Light, durable, easily transported polymer desktops, imprinted with educational aids and key social messaging, that students balance on their laps.

Impact: 1.2 million desks distributed in Africa. In partnership with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Tutudesk Campaign expects to distribute an additional 20 million desks by 2015.

Universal Subtitles
Region of Impact: Global

Problem: Many videos are inaccessible because of the prohibitive cost and difficulty of creating captions and translations.

Solution: A simple, open, and collaborative way to subtitle videos.

Impact: 25,000 videos translated in the first 9 months, with 100,000 more expected by the end of 2011. Used extensively by media during recent global events, including the Arab Spring and Japanese tsunami.

Health

E Healthpoint
Region of Impact: India

Problem: Thousands of villages in India lack access to modern medical facilities and affordable, safe drinking water.

Solution: Tech-enabled clinics delivering reliable, affordable, high-quality care, medicines, and diagnostics through community health workers along with offering safe drinking water.

Impact: 8 clinics and 75 associated WaterPoints serving 250,000 people.

Sarvajal
Region of Impact: India

Problem: In India, potable water is unavailable to 150 million people and is unaffordable to those making less than $2/day.

Solution: Franchised water treatment facilities that provide real-time information over the cellular network to manage quality and quantity remotely. Among the distribution methods are solar-powered “water ATMs.”

Impact: 120 facilities in India, serving 60,000 people for less than $3/month/family.

WE CARE Solar
Region of Impact: Africa

Problem: Lighting, power, and communications are essential for operating clinics and medical facilities, but in many areas electricity is unavailable or unreliable.

Solution: A “solar suitcase” to provide emergency lighting and power for medical procedures.

Impact: Installed in 100 clinics in Africa, Asia, and Central America, and used for disaster relief in Haiti.

Economic Development

Rickshaw Bank Project
Region of Impact: India

Problem: Rickshaw drivers are among the poorest of urban workers in India.

Solution: “Rent to own” financing of newly designed rickshaws that are safer, lighter, and more efficient.

Impact: 5,000 new rickshaws in use, 1,700 already owned; improved health and earnings for rickshaw drivers.

Eko India Financial Services
Region of Impact: India

Problem: Financial services are inaccessible to a majority of India’s population.

Solution: Simple, instant, and safe banking and money-transfer services, using no-frill phones, through small-business partners.

Impact: 800,000 clients, including migrant laborers, carry out millions of dollars in transactions daily.

Nano Ganesh
Region of Impact: India

Problem: Remote irrigation pumps are difficult to monitor and control—compromising crop yields, wasting water and energy, adding to costs, and augmenting stress for farmers.

Solution: A simple, low-cost, mobile phone-based device that allows remote monitoring and operation of irrigation pumps.

Impact: 10,000 devices installed in India.