Mobile

New mHealth Alliance Award to Spur Innovation in Wireless Solutions to Global Health Challenges

Award provides dedicated mHealth funding as part of Vodafone Americas Foundation’s Wireless Innovation Project

To spur innovation in the development of wireless solutions to global health challenges, the Vodafone Americas Foundation and the mHealth Alliance announced today a partnership that will expand the Vodafone Americas Foundation’s Wireless Innovation Project to include the new mHealth Alliance Award. The award will be granted to the developer of an innovative wireless technology with the most potential to address critical health challenges, especially in developing regions.

“In places where roads remain unpaved, and where basic infrastructure such as clean water and electricity are scant, mobile phones already have become an empowering force for millions,” said David Aylward, Executive Director of the mHealth Alliance. “The mHealth Alliance Award challenges innovators and social entrepreneurs to use mobile technology to advance health delivery in even the most remote environments, such as through improved diagnosis, treatment or access to information.”

The winner of the mHealth Alliance Award will receive a cash prize and benefits totaling $50,000, including participation in Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society’s Global Social Benefit Incubator Program (GSBI™), a highly competitive program that connects innovators with a Silicon Valley support network and provides instruction on how to achieve maximum sustainability and impact in social enterprises. In addition, the winner will receive strategic and networking assistance from the mHealth Alliance, an umbrella group founded by the Rockefeller Foundation, United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation that supports cross-sector collaboration in delivering healthcare to the furthest reaches of wireless communications.

“We are thrilled to partner with the mHealth Alliance to further encourage new technology in the field,” said June Sugiyama, Executive Director of the Vodafone Americas Foundation. “This is an ideal partnership because we share a common goal of improving livelihoods through wireless and mobile technology.”

The Vodafone Americas Foundation Wireless Innovation Project is now underway, with applications being accepted through February 1, 2010. Although projects may be global in scope, the applicants must be from nonprofits based in the United States. A panel of judges from the fields of wireless engineering, international development, social entrepreneurship and business will evaluate the applications for their potential to solve a critical global issue in the fields of education, health, access to communication, the environment or economic development. Vodafone Americas Foundation will award first ($300,000), second ($200,000) and third ($100,000) prizes, and the new mHealth Alliance Award. The winner of the mHealth Alliance Award is eligible for the first three prizes as well. mHealth Alliance Award and Wireless Innovation Project winners will be announced at the Global Philanthropy Forum in April 19, 2010.

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2009 Wireless Innovation Project Winners
Last year’s Wireless Innovation Project winners included two second prizes awarded to mHealth related technologies-- CellScope, a mobile microscope capable of identifying infectious diseases such as TB and malaria; and CelloPhone, a mobile blood and fluid analyzer that can identify and transmit results from fluid samples in the field, The first prize was awarded to EnHANTs, a disaster recovery system that can locate people trapped by fires or structural collapse. Complete detailed information about eligibility and an application can be found at http://www.project.vodafone-us.com/

About the Vodafone Americas Foundation
Vodafone Americas Foundation is part of Vodafone’s global family of foundations. We are affiliated with Vodafone Group Plc, the world's leading mobile telecommunications company, with ownership interests in 31 countries and Partner Markets in more than 40 countries. As of June 30, 2009, Vodafone had approximately 315 million proportionate customers worldwide. In the U.S., our foundation directs its philanthropic activities towards the San Francisco Bay and the Metro Denver Areas where most of our employees live and work, and where we strive to make a positive and enduring impact on our communities. The Foundation is driven by a passion for the world around us. We make grants that help people in our communities and around the world lead fuller lives. For more information about the Vodafone Americas Foundation, visit http://www.vodafone-us.com/

About the mHealth Alliance
The mHealth Alliance is dedicated to enabling the delivery of quality healthcare to the farthest reaches of wireless networks in the developing world. Created by the United Nations Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Vodafone Foundation, the Alliance’s mission is to be a catalyst and accelerant, supporting leaders, celebrating successes, creating hard research, filling gaps, making connections, and forging public-private partnerships. More information is available at www.mhealthalliance.org or info@mhealthalliance.org.

About Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society
Santa Clara University is committed to educating leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion who will help fashion a more just, humane, and sustainable world. As a University center of distinction, the Center for Science, Technology, and Society undertakes three integrative activities: educating students, engaging the public, and exemplifying the realization of social impact through our flagship Global Social Benefit Incubator Program (GSBI™). In so doing, we forge strong connections across local and global businesses, civic and academic institutions, and the technology innovators of Silicon Valley in the context of Jesuit values of service. For more information visit www.scu.edu/sts or contact Sherrill Dale at sdale@scu.edu.

Vodafone Americas Foundation Wireless Innovation Project

New mHealth Alliance Award to Spur Innovation in Wireless Solutions to Global Health Challenges

Award provides dedicated mHealth funding as part of Vodafone Americas Foundation’s Wireless Innovation Project

To spur innovation in the development of wireless solutions to global health challenges, the Vodafone Americas Foundation and the mHealth Alliance announced today a partnership that will expand the Vodafone Americas Foundation’s Wireless Innovation Project to include the new mHealth Alliance Award. The award will be granted to the developer of an innovative wireless technology with the most potential to address critical health challenges, especially in developing regions.

“In places where roads remain unpaved, and where basic infrastructure such as clean water and electricity are scant, mobile phones already have become an empowering force for millions,” said David Aylward, Executive Director of the mHealth Alliance. “The mHealth Alliance Award challenges innovators and social entrepreneurs to use mobile technology to advance health delivery in even the most remote environments, such as through improved diagnosis, treatment or access to information.”

The winner of the mHealth Alliance Award will receive a cash prize and benefits totaling $50,000, including participation in Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society’s Global Social Benefit Incubator Program (GSBI™), a highly competitive program that connects innovators with a Silicon Valley support network and provides instruction on how to achieve maximum sustainability and impact in social enterprises. In addition, the winner will receive strategic and networking assistance from the mHealth Alliance, an umbrella group founded by the Rockefeller Foundation, United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation that supports cross-sector collaboration in delivering healthcare to the furthest reaches of wireless communications.

“We are thrilled to partner with the mHealth Alliance to further encourage new technology in the field,” said June Sugiyama, Executive Director of the Vodafone Americas Foundation. “This is an ideal partnership because we share a common goal of improving livelihoods through wireless and mobile technology.”

The Vodafone Americas Foundation Wireless Innovation Project is now underway, with applications being accepted through February 1, 2010. Although projects may be global in scope, the applicants must be from nonprofits based in the United States. A panel of judges from the fields of wireless engineering, international development, social entrepreneurship and business will evaluate the applications for their potential to solve a critical global issue in the fields of education, health, access to communication, the environment or economic development. Vodafone Americas Foundation will award first ($300,000), second ($200,000) and third ($100,000) prizes, and the new mHealth Alliance Award. The winner of the mHealth Alliance Award is eligible for the first three prizes as well. mHealth Alliance Award and Wireless Innovation Project winners will be announced at the Global Philanthropy Forum in April 19, 2010.

2009 Wireless Innovation Project Winners
Last year’s Wireless Innovation Project winners included two second prizes awarded to mHealth related technologies-- CellScope, a mobile microscope capable of identifying infectious diseases such as TB and malaria; and CelloPhone, a mobile blood and fluid analyzer that can identify and transmit results from fluid samples in the field, The first prize was awarded to EnHANTs, a disaster recovery system that can locate people trapped by fires or structural collapse. Complete detailed information about eligibility and an application can be found at http://www.project.vodafone-us.com/

About the Vodafone Americas Foundation
Vodafone Americas Foundation is part of Vodafone’s global family of foundations. We are affiliated with Vodafone Group Plc, the world's leading mobile telecommunications company, with ownership interests in 31 countries and Partner Markets in more than 40 countries. As of June 30, 2009, Vodafone had approximately 315 million proportionate customers worldwide. In the U.S., our foundation directs its philanthropic activities towards the San Francisco Bay and the Metro Denver Areas where most of our employees live and work, and where we strive to make a positive and enduring impact on our communities. The Foundation is driven by a passion for the world around us. We make grants that help people in our communities and around the world lead fuller lives. For more information about the Vodafone Americas Foundation, visit http://www.vodafone-us.com/

About the mHealth Alliance
The mHealth Alliance is dedicated to enabling the delivery of quality healthcare to the farthest reaches of wireless networks in the developing world. Created by the United Nations Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Vodafone Foundation, the Alliance’s mission is to be a catalyst and accelerant, supporting leaders, celebrating successes, creating hard research, filling gaps, making connections, and forging public-private partnerships. More information is available at www.mhealthalliance.org or info@mhealthalliance.org.

About Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society
Santa Clara University is committed to educating leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion who will help fashion a more just, humane, and sustainable world. As a University center of distinction, the Center for Science, Technology, and Society undertakes three integrative activities: educating students, engaging the public, and exemplifying the realization of social impact through our flagship Global Social Benefit Incubator Program (GSBI™). In so doing, we forge strong connections across local and global businesses, civic and academic institutions, and the technology innovators of Silicon Valley in the context of Jesuit values of service. For more information visit www.scu.edu/sts or contact Sherrill Dale at sdale@scu.edu.

Press Contact:
Adele Waugaman, United Nations Foundation
(o) 202-887-9040, (e) awaugaman@unfoundation.org
Denise Lamott
(o) 415-381-8793, (m) 415-235-6458, (e) Denise@DeniseLamottPR.com

Hi,

My name is Brittany Hinchliff and I work for the Vodafone Americas Foundation. We launched a new initiative called the Vodafone Wireless Innovation Project, where we’re seeking to identify and fund the best innovations using wireless related technology to address critical social issues around the world.

I hope you will help spread the word to potential applicants by forwarding the attached fact sheet and press release, and directing them to the Foundation website at: http://www.vodafone-us.com/innovation.html and pressing the "enter" button below it, or directly reach the Project website at: http://project.vodafone-us.com

Three winners will be awarded prizes of $300,000, $200,000 and $100,000 for unique, late-stage wireless innovations that offer the best potential for creating social change in the areas of education, health, economic development, the environment and access to communication.

The Vodafone Wireless Innovation Project is open to projects submitted by applicants from universities and nonprofit organizations based in the United States. Eligible projects must:

· Demonstrate a multi-disciplinary approach that uses an innovation in wireless related technology to address a critical global issue

· Hold the potential for replication and large scale impact

· Include a business plan or basic framework for financial sustainability and rollout

Applications will be accepted online from November 17 to February 2 at http://project.vodafone-us.com/

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at project@vodafone.com

Thank you very much for spreading the word about the Wireless Innovation Project, and helping to discover innovations that can change the world.

Brittany

MobiChange will be piloted in Mumbai's Dharavi, which is Asia's largest slum, with a population of over 600,000.

MobiChange will work closely with grassroots non-profits in the slum to build a code base and user interface that is flexible enough to be customized for development-oriented applications in the areas of education, activism, and micro-enterprise. It will be the first social networking experience for many slum residents and allow them to do some of the things we take for granted on social networks: learn, earn and build a community.

MobiChange will subsequently release its open source code base and train non-profits in emerging Asia and Africa to use it as a powerful development tool in the local communities they work with.

Even as the ubiquitous use of mobile phones bridges the digital divide between the developed and developed countries, another digital divide — digital divide 2.0 — is opening up between the haves and have-nots. Digital divide 2.0 is not about access to communications devices; it is about the ability to leverage the power of group-forming social technologies to collaborate with others, self-organize into grassroots communities and create crowd-sourced content that is relevant for these communities.

Most of the present mobile social networks are aimed at high-end users with feature-rich, location-aware smartphones and are inaccessible to most mobile users in emerging countries, in terms of both affordability and usability. A mobile social networking platform for emerging Asia and Africa needs to be designed to be accessed almost exclusively by $50 mobile phones via intuitive, lowest common denominator, multi-lingual voice and text message based menus.

MobiChange will be the first social networking experience for millions of mobile phone users who have limited ease with English and use a $50 mobile phone as their only computing device. It will allow them to do some of the things we take for granted on social networks — meeting new people with common interests, benefiting from new opportunities for learning and earning, even sharing their own knowledge and skills with others.

Its open-source code base will be developed on the basis of extensive ethnographic research amongst mobile phone users and non-profits in developing Asia and Africa to ensure that its multi-lingual voice and text message based user interface is intuitive even for first time mobile users and its functionality addresses real problems in their everyday lives.

MobiChange will be an open-source, multi-lingual mobile social networking platform, accessible by voice and SMS, designed to support local communities and help mobilize social change.

MobiChange will be the first social networking experience for millions of mobile phone users who have limited ease with English and use a $50 mobile phone as their only computing device. It will allow them to do some of the things we take for granted on social networks — meeting new people with common interests, benefiting from new opportunities for learning and earning, even sharing their own knowledge and skills with others.

MobiChange will work in close collaboration with grassroots NGOs and NPOs to customize its open source code base and use it as a powerful development tool in the areas of education, activism, and micro-enterprise.