Africa

Innovative technology has the potential to save lives, and wireless technologies hold a special promise for vexing global problems. In some resource-limited areas, access to reliable wireless service is among the only infrastructure platforms available.

That’s why the Vodafone Americas Foundation was delighted to give away more than $700,000 through our first Wireless Innovation Project, a competition that identifies and funds unique innovations using wireless related technology offering the best potential to address critical social issues around the world.

Too often promising social innovations languish because they don’t have a platform for effective and efficient delivery. We designed the competition to encourage cross-disciplinary cooperation within universities and encouraged non-governmental organizations and non-profits to apply. We also wanted to add the private sector rigor to the process of competing - a daunting online application forced teams to challenge academic and theoretical assumptions with real-world data.

Although fifty-one universities and 45 NGOs representing 25 states completed the online application, only nine finalists were selected to present before a world-class panel of judges. The panel represented the best minds in wireless technologies, global development and philanthropy.

The contestants heard feedback from venture capitalists who judge new technologies every day, to global mobile development experts who evaluate how technology can actually be deployed in the field, to engineers who evaluated whether the innovation was truly an innovation. For some contestants, it was the first time they had the chance to present their innovation outside their immediate field of research.

On April 23 the top three finalists shared the cash prize of $700,000 and were showcased at the Global Philanthropy Forum (www.philanthropyforum.org). The 2009 Wireless Innovation Project winners are:

· Active Networked Tags for Disaster Recovery Applications ­-- A system that uses wireless devices to track and locate survivors trapped by fires and structural collapse.

· CelloPhone ­-- A lensfree imaging platform on a cellphone for disease detection and diagnostics using digital holograms of the cells or bacteria, that is capable of monitoring HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and various other diseases.

· CellScope: Mobile Microscopy for Disease Diagnosis --­ A conventional cell phone is transformed into a compact, high-resolution, handheld microscope with the capability of on-site disease diagnosis and wireless transmission of patient data to clinical centers for remote diagnosis & treatment.

We at the Vodafone Americas Foundation were humbled by the ingenuity and sheer talent of all the applicants who participated. Come see project summaries, photos and video of the Wireless Innovation Project winners at http://project.vodafone-us.com

We hope that each and every one of the Wireless Innovation Project finalists will succeed. Success for us will mean hundreds of thousands of lives saved when these incredible innovations are fully unleashed.

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