Do you have an idea that you think could change the world?  Are you looking for mentorship and cash to help you bring your innovation to developing countries?  Do you want to meet with other student social entrepreneurs and innovators from across the globe?

The TechCon 2014 Innovation Marketplace showcases the concepts, innovations, and research of young innovators focused on international development. The Innovation Marketplace will take place on Monday, November 10th on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, as an integral part of USAID's Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN) TechCon 2014 agenda.

Cash  and in-kind awards will be made to the top innovators and researchers. This is an excellent opportunity to get exposure for you and your idea, build support for your project, receive technical feedback, and to practice your pitching skills.
Projects can be submitted to one of three categories:

• Innovation- your device, approach, or system is ready to go in the field!
• Research- wow, what you have just figured out is incredibly interesting, important, and changes everything!
• Concept- you have the next great idea and have begun working on it!

All applications, including all supporting documents and links to required multimedia files, must be submitted to SEAD by 
Monday, September 22nd. The SEAD team will evaluate all applications for completion and merit. The top ranked applications will then be submitted to USAID for final review and selection of Innovation Marketplace participants. SEAD will have a limited number of travel grants available to participants. 

View the documents below for submission requirements and how sell your idea through multimedia:

Throughout the summer, SEAD interns have been sharing with us stories and experiences from their summer internships.  Today's post comes to us from Divya Giyanani, who interned with USAID in the Global Development Lab.  The Global Development Lab "brings together a diverse set of partners to discover, test, and scale breakthrough solutions to achieve... the end of extreme poverty by 2030."

A wicked problem is like a tangled ball of yarn.  Each piece of the yarn that you pull can have positive and/or negative effects on the rest of this tangled ball; while some implications are expected and accounted for, others are unexpected and sometimes even unknown until much too late.  Thus, it is important to exercise immense amounts of caution when dealing with a tangled ball of yarn…or a wicked problem, if I might end my analogy here.

International development is one such wicked problem, and I would argue that it is likely one of the most significant. Between malnutrition and abject poverty, low literacy and inadequate access to basic healthcare, the challenges facing developing areas of the world (not excluding those in our own backyard) are vast, urgent, and complex. And with increasing globalization, the landscape of international development is shifting dramatically; public and private organizations as well as individual philanthropists are entering the field in droves to address these challenges.  As such, the methods and strategies once used are becoming increasingly obsolete. 

In an effort to address these challenges, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) recently launched the Global Development Lab with a role of discovering, testing, and scaling breakthrough development innovations to find solutions to some of the most critical global issues.

As a summer intern with the Lab, I work in the Center for Global Solutions to build platforms and tools around adoption at scale, focusing specifically on scaling adoption of drought-tolerant maize in sub-Saharan Africa.  And if I could describe my experiences thus far, I could, at best, sum it up to be a whirlwind of intense challenge and thrilling opportunity.

During my past month here at USAID, I have had the opportunity to collaborate with various teams across the Lab to conduct value chain analyses and market studies, in order to under the industry as a whole. I have had the opportunity (and the challenge) to think widely, critically, and extensively, and I have been asked to consider the unconventional…then to take it a step further.  I have had the opportunity to work with some of the greatest minds in development, and the opportunity (along with the encouragement) to try, fail, and then try again.

My past month here at USAID has taught me much more than I could ever hope to learn in a classroom.  It has reinforced the idea that development work is hard, that development work is complicated, frustrating, and messy.  But if development work were not difficult, would it even exist?  This work is complicated, frustrating, and messy, but it is also fascinating, enriching, and ever so important. 

As old methods and strategies of development work become obsolete, the Lab seeks to find new ideas, new innovations, and new strategies.  In essence, it’s trying to change the way we do development. And I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it.

Divya is a senior studying corporate strategy and global health through her self-created major.  During her studies, Divya has made a point of practicing what she learns through her coursework through a variety of fieldwork.  She has worked for a national NPO in San Francisco to mobilize students in the fight against HIV/AIDS and also worked with a Duke research team to measure cumulative mental health trauma in Leogane, Haiti.  Last summer Divya participated in the Geneva Global Health Fellows Program through the Sanford School of Public Policy.

We think YOU could uncover a Blind Spot!

Blind Spot: an overlooked challenge in international development that can be solved using science, technology, innovation, and strategic partnerships.

The Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAD) invites you to enter the Blind Spots Essay Contest today for a chance to win recognition and a cash prize.  Deadline October 1.  Sponsored by USAID’s Global Development Lab, of which Duke University is a part, and Big Ideas @ Berkeley.  This contest is open to all Duke-affiliated students and researchers.

Details:
USAID and Big Ideas@Berkeley want the help of students and researchers to uncover and analyze the “blind spots” in international development. Through your development and field experience, you can help USAID identify development challenges that are currently overlooked, yet are in need of immediate attention. In particular, we want to hear about those unrecognized challenges that would benefit from the power of science, technology, innovation, or strategic partnership (STIP) and potentially improve the lives of millions.

This contest seeks essays, 1750-2000 words in length, which address the following questions:

• What and where is the unrecognized development challenge that you have observed?
• What social, economic, political, and/or environmental barriers exist that are related to this development blind spot? (Please cite studies, reports, and/or data to provide proof/background.)
• Is there a population subset—children, youth, women, minorities, LGBT, etc.—whose lives could be improved as a result?
• If the development blind spot were overcome using STIP, what might the impact be locally, regionally, nationally, or globally (qualitatively and quantitatively)?

The winners of the contest will receive the following cash prizes, as well as a variety of recognition prizes. 
                First place: $3,000
                Second Place: $2,000
                Third Place: $1,000

Deadline: October 1, 2014 
Full details here: http://bigideas.berkeley.edu/compete/blind-spots/ 

If you have any questions, please contact .  Good luck!

As part of SEAD and USAID's objective to contribute to a broadened and enhanced understanding of the conditions that foster or inhibit effective, sustainable, and scalable innovations in health and healthcare, this summer we put forth an RFP to Duke researchers for projects exploring scaling the impact of global health innovation.  The response we received was exciting and our team had a wealth of research projects to consider as a result!  

While it was a difficult decision, we narrowed down the field to these four projects for this year.  Researchers will be tackling a range of issues from postpartum hemorrhage treatment training in East Africa to social media impact evaluation in Latin America.  We look forward to seeing what insights they obtain through their research!  Below you can read more about each project and the work that they will be doing.  If you would like to find out about future SEAD RFPs, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.

Allan Shang/Praekelt Foundation: “A Database of Mobile Technology and Cellphone Distribution in South Africa”
Despite being the world's poorest continent, cellphone ownership in Africa approaches almost 80%. We propose to investigate the unprecedented spread of these devices, especially into the poorest, most remote rural areas and develop a model of the distribution pattern. This model would not only attempt to characterize this pattern but also determine the level of technology in use and, if possible, the capabilities of the data network in these rural areas. Using this information, appropriately designed, cellphone-driven medical devices could be disseminated along these targeted distribution routes to the population with the fewest resources and the greatest need.

Gary Bennet, Erica Levine: “A Process & Impact Evaluation of Pro Mujer’s Facebook Intervention: Pro Mujer Salud”
Little is known about how workplaces can leverage social media sites like Facebook to encourage adoption of healthy behaviors and change social norms regarding physical activity and better nutrition. This is especially true in the developing world where chronic disease is becoming increasingly prevalent. Pro Mujer is a social entrepreneurship organization that provides poor women in Latin America with the means to build livelihoods for themselves and their families through financial services, business training, and health care support. The Global Digital Health Science Center at Duke, in partnership with Pro Mujer, is conducting an evaluation of Pro Mujer’s Facebook platform to determine the reach, participation patterns, and engagement levels of the page among staff members. Additionally, we will evaluate the Facebook page’s effect on beliefs about the ease and effectiveness of chronic disease prevention habits such as: eating more fruits and vegetables, avoiding sugary drinks, good oral hygiene, and increasing physical activity. 

Jeff Taekman: “Postpartum Hemorrhage Education Via Simulation”
An inter-professional team in the Human Simulation and Patient Safety Center (HSPSC) is pioneering the use of scalable and distributable healthcare simulation using commercial game technology with a multi-player module that specifically addresses postpartum hemorrhage (PPH).  As a proof-of-concept for global health, the PPH simulation software will be used to address gaps in care at Mulago International Referral Hospital in Kampala, Uganda, and to decrease disparities in healthcare education. We will host inter-professional, interactive, games-based simulation training sessions from Durham to Mulago using the Internet. This pilot program aims to reduce the incidence of postpartum hemorrhage, to serve as a broader model for using simulation to scale education and spread virtual learning through the developing world, and to collect preliminary data to support a future proposal to study the efficacy of screen-based/games-based learning in global health.  

Key personnel include: Jeff Taekman (MD) who is the Principal Investigator, Megan Foureman (CRNA, MSN), Amy Mauritz (MD), Adeyemi Olufolabi (MB.BS; DCH; FRCA), Michael Steele (BS) and Genevieve DeMaria (BS).

Janet Schwartz, Dan Ariely: “Using Behavioral Science to Improve Linda Jamii Registration and Enrollment in Kenya”
Linda Jamii  is a non-profit micro-insurance scheme that provides low and middle-income Kenyans with a financial savings mechanism for health insurance. As is the case in many emerging economies, formal insurance products can be slow to catch on because strong cultural norms guide people to rely more on communal support than formal insurance. Unfortunately, these communal mechanisms are not always enough to cover expenses and people must resort to selling property to finance healthcare. This makes emerging from poverty that much more difficult. This project’s goal is to leverage insights from the behavioral sciences to boost registration and continued enrollment in Linda Jamii health insurance.