2024 SOLVE Global Challenges are live

Are you working to make learning more inclusive? Or have an idea to mitigate and adapt to the ongoing climate crisis? Are you improving access to quality health care? How about solutions that build peaceful and prosperous economies? Or strengthen Indigenous communities?

Solve’s Global Challenges seek exceptional innovators who are using technology to solve today’s most pressing problems. Submissions are open until April 18.

Those selected become a Solver team and join our nine-month support program, receive access to funding in grants and investments, join a powerful network of impact-minded leaders, receive coaching and strategic advice from experts, and gain exposure in the media, among many other benefits.

Since 2016, over 20,000 solutions headquartered in over 180 countries have been submitted in response to Solve’s Global Challenges. We’re now proud to support a diverse group of 299 Solver teams, who have collectively impacted over 190 million lives worldwide. These teams are 62% women-led and headquartered in 59 different countries.

What are the Global Challenges?

Every year, we seek solutions to the problems plaguing our world and communities in these core impact areas:

Climate
How can communities create a zero-carbon world and adapt to a warmer climate? Climate change is an omnipresent issue with the hottest recorded year, continuous extreme weather, and long-term impacts that will be determined by near-term choices. Technology and innovation have an important role to play in contending with the effects of climate change.

Economic Prosperity
How can we harness technology to build and sustain peaceful and prosperous economies? Peace and stability are baseline conditions for economic prosperity and a thriving society, and both are at risk with escalating conflicts and economic shocks. Technology and innovation can be powerful tools to promote peace and prosperity.

Health Equity
How can we use technology to make good health and access to quality care more equitable for all? Every person has the right to access the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they’re needed. Innovation can help new technologies be more affordable, scalable, sustainable, and community-focused.

Learning
How can we make learning more inclusive and equitable, while improving outcomes for all learners? The world faces persistent gaps in learning and educational opportunities. Technology in education works best when centered on the needs of communities and learners, and when designed to complement rather than replace human interaction.

Indigenous Communities
How can Indigenous innovators in the US and Canada build upon traditional knowledge and technology to meet the social, environmental, and economic goals of their communities? Indigenous innovation is as diverse and expansive as Indigenous communities, with entrepreneurs harnessing traditional knowledge systems, values, and teachings to reimagine and renew what is possible in their communities and beyond.

The Global Challenges are an open call for anyone, anywhere in the world with a solution to receive funding, support, and resources to scale their idea.

Who should apply?

We believe that to achieve a more sustainable and equitable future, we need new voices and solutions. Over 12,000 applications have been submitted to our Global Challenges from innovators in almost every country. If you have an idea that is using technology and innovation to drive change in your community or the world, we want to hear from you!

Winners, whom we fondly refer to as Solver teams or Solvers, are enrolled in our nine-month support program and are eligible for over $1 million in prize funding, including a guaranteed $10,000 grant from us. They also access coaching, strategic advice from experts in the MIT community, exposure to media, and marketing support, among many other benefits!

Selected Solver teams are announced in September during the UN General Assembly week in New York City. Teams are invited to attend Solve Challenge Finals to pitch their solution to an audience of over 200 investors, philanthropists, business leaders, and media outlets.

More information

For more information and application go to the website of Solve. Solve is an initiative of MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.