Seeking Innovative Ideas to Improve Data Collection in the Global Dairy Sector for Human Health and Well-Being

CHALLENGE CLOSE DATE: July 11, 2013
Scientists Without Borders, in partnership with The Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science at the New York Academy of Sciences and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation seeks bold, innovative, feasible, and scalable ideas to leapfrog existing approaches and significantly improve the collection, reporting, aggregation, and sharing of data associated with dairy production and consumption all along the smallholder dairy production value chain in, but not limited to, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

We are seeking ideas that will appropriately and successfully combine and integrate technology-based approaches and innovations with social and cultural factors, rather than focusing on any one approach in isolation. Additionally, we seek ideas that provide a clear model of sustainability - meaning an identified and measurable pathway to scale and adoption of the idea proposed - and platform or program models that are open and shared, can piggyback or integrate with existing technology or program initiatives, and that can accommodate additional functionality as needs evolve. Finally, solvers must be cognizant when proposing a solution of the resource constraints and technology limitations operating at the household or smallholder farmer level in the relevant geographies.

Reward: Up to $7,500 for novel, feasible, and cost-effective ideas and approaches that significantly improve the collection, reporting, aggregation, and sharing of data associated with smallholder dairy production and consumption in the developing world. There may be opportunities for the winning solver to work with the partners to further develop the selected idea.

Solvers:  We are seeking student solvers at all academic levels (ranging from the middle school to postdoctoral level) in order to access nontraditional creative minds and passionate problem-solvers.  We encourage students to form teams or other models of collaboration to engage as many different perspectives as possible.