Challenge Overview
The Zika Innovation Challenge aims to contribute tangible ideas and actionable solutions that might mitigate the challenges related to the Zika epidemic in the Americas, and global health security at large.  Ideas and solutions for the Zika Innovation Challenge should address one of three major focus areas, and each team can determine the focus area on which they will work.  It is notable that these ideas may also be relevant and applicable to other epidemics and outbreaks that threaten our global health security.
 
Throughout the challenge, interdisciplinary teams of Duke University students will have the opportunity to learn from Duke and external experts through the Kickoff Event and workshops.  Top teams will have the opportunity to present their ideas to a panel of expert judges, and the top two teams will have the opportunity to present their ideas to the team at USAID mandated to identify innovations around Zika and global health security. All Duke University students are eligible to participate.
 
Sponsored by the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAD), Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI), the Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative (I&E), and the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE)
 
How do I participate?
Register online by midnight March 14th to participate in an Innovation Challenge team.  You may register as an individual, as a partial team, or as a complete team. Ideally teams will have 4-5 students from a variety of academic backgrounds. If you would like to have more than​ 5 members on your team, email us to coordinate.

If registering as an individual or partial team, we will match you with other students to create interdisciplinary teams.  If registering as a complete team, we encourage you to be sure that your team is interdisciplinary.  You will choose to work on one of two focus areas for the Challenge:

1. Boost Tracking & Surveillance Activities.  Data collection and analysis tools are important for informing decision-making, resource deployment, and containment strategies.  How might we develop context-appropriate tools to increase our understanding of the disease; better track mosquito populations carrying the virus, exposures, and adverse outcomes (including microcephaly and Guillain Barre syndrome); and enhance communication among key stakeholders?  What tools exist that we could build upon, test, and rapidly deploy to facilitate data collection and analysis? 
2. Awareness Among & Protection of Pregnant Women.  How might we support pregnant women’s health, including awareness of the threat, access to protection from Zika, and a greater system of healthcare support?  How about other women of reproductive age? How could local communities, health workers, and/or others contribute to this effort? 
3. Integrated Vector (i.e. Mosquito) Control.  How might we improve the efficacy, cost-effectiveness, ecological soundness, and sustainability of efforts to manage or control mosquitoes carrying and transmitting Zika virus? What can we learn from other vector control efforts (e.g. malaria control) that can be applied in this context? 
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What is required?
As a participant, you are strongly encouraged to attend the Innovation Challenge Kickoff event the evening of Tuesday, March 22nd from 6-7:30pm and you are encouraged to send at least one of your team members to the optional workshops on Thursday, March 24th (6-7:30pm).  It is up to you and your team how much or how little time you will dedicate to the challenge, and you will be required to submit a brief slide deck.  If your team is a finalist, at least a few members must attend the Finalist Presentations & Feedback session on the evening of Wednesday, March 30th (6-8pm).
 
Schedule

Questions?  Email Kimberly.Langsam@duke.edu or Katherine.Black@duke.edu ​

Thursday, March 19th from 12:30-1:30pm
Gross Hall Room 100A
Lunch will be provided; please RSVP

Ticora V. Jones, PhD, Chief of USAID’s Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN), is a social innovator and scientist who bridges the worlds of science, policy, and international development.

Dr. Jones will share her own exciting career trajectory, offer insights on key trends she sees in careers in international development, and discuss how students can make themselves competitive, and answer questions.

As part of the USAID Global Development Lab, HESN forges a new model of engagement to facilitate relationships between the academic community and USAID.  In addition to leading HESN, Dr. Jones has also played a key role in the establishment of a new approach to science & technology at USAID as a critical force for development.  Prior to joining USAID, Dr. Jones served as the 2008-2009 Materials Societies Congressional Fellow for Senator Russell D. Feingold (D-WI) where she worked on energy and environment issues. Before beginning her congressional fellowship, Dr. Jones conducted post-doctoral research focused on creating and characterizing nanoparticle/composite-based functional materials at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Dr. Jones earned her BS degree in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT and her PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Follow Ticora on Twitter: @TicoraVJones

RSVP at: http://tinyurl.com/ticoracareer

When: March 20th - March 25th
Where: Duke University
Register: http://tinyurl.com/seadcasecomp2015

The SEAD Case Competition offers a unique opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students from diverse schools and disciplines to work together in teams of four to five to tackle real-time challenges facing an innovative health care initiative in the developing world. 

Student teams will work through a real-life case scenario and develop concise, strategic recommendations for a client organization; the case will require an interdisciplinary approach that may involve issues related to policy, marketing, behavior change, and business.  Teams have approximately three days to work on the case study and compete against other teams by submitting their recommendations to a panel of judges.  Finalists will have the opportunity to present and discuss their proposed solutions with the client as well as a number of the judges.

Students can register to participate as a self-selected team, as a partial team (requesting additional team members), or as individuals (to be placed on a team).  In addition to the obvious educational benefits and networking opportunities, students will also compete for a cash prize.

Schedule
Friday, March 20th: SEAD Case Competition Launch, teams receive materials during SEAD Symposium
Sunday March 22nd: Students have opportunity to get support from selected mentors
Monday, March 23rd at midnight: Slide decks due
Wednesday, March 25th: Finalists meet with client and judges to present their idea

Register your complete team, partial team, or as an individual by March 17th at: http://tinyurl.com/seadcasecomp2015

Media Coverage
Duke Chronicle, October 16, 2014
Duke Global Health Institute, October 28, 2014
NPR, November 5, 2014
      Cross posted on WUNC
WRAL, November 5, 2014
Durham Herald Sun, November 6, 2014
Duke Global Health Institute, November 10, 2014
Duke Today, November 11, 2014 [video]

Challenge Overview
As parts of West Africa are being ravaged by the Ebola epidemic, stakeholders around the world are attempting to coordinate to identify the most effective ways to address the spread of disease.  One response, from USAID and partners, is to launch Fighting Ebola: A Grand Challenge for Development in an effort to elicit innovative ideas focused on the role of healthcare workers.  To start, partner OpenIDEO has launched the first part of this initiative with a wide call for ideas.

The Duke Ebola Innovation Challenge offers a unique opportunity for Duke graduate and undergraduate students from diverse schools and disciplines to work together in teams of four to five to generate innovative ideas for the OpenIDEO Fighting Ebola Challenge.  

Read about some of the students participating in the challenge here.

Resources
Throughout the week we will be posting helpful articles and other resources on our Twitter feed.  Be sure to check out the following sites as well:

• Duke Global Health Institute's Ebola Outbreak Information & Resources page
• Webinar Series "Training Health Workers for Ebola - Protection, Detection, & Response" by IntraHealth & MPowering Frontline health Workers
• Consortium of Universities for Global Health's Ebola Outbreak Information Center

• NPR StoryCorps; Experience in the field 
• OpenIDEO Ideation Tools
  
• Ebola Resources for Health Workers
• Ebola Communication Network

Schedule

Find the detailed scheduled of events here.

Deadline to Register: October 23 at midnight
Kickoff Event & Teams Announced: October 27, 6:00pm; Fuqua School of Business McClendon Auditorium
Speakers: Erin Worsham, Executive Director for the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE)
                  Cameron Wolfe, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Infectious Diseases at the Duke School of Medicine
Workshop (optional): October 29, 6:00pm; Sanford School of Public Policy 
Speakers: Dykki Settle, Director of Health Workforce Informatics for IntraHealth International
                  Debra Hunt, Director of Biological Safety for Duke University Health System
                  Ting Shih, Founder and CEO of ClickMedix
                  RJ Andrews, Project Manager for Duke Institute for Health Innovation
Submissions Due: November 2 at midnight 
Finalist Presentations & Feedback Session: November 5, 6:00pm; Fuqua School of Business McClendon Auditorium
Judges: Catherine Admay, Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the Duke Center for International Development
               Dennis Clements, Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics at the Duke School of Medicine
               Alex Deghan, Visiting Senior Fellow at Duke University and former Chief Scientist at USAID
               Will Mitchell, Professor of Strategy at the Fuqua School of Business
               Nimmi Ramanujam, Professor of Biological Engineering at the Pratt School of Engineering
               Eric Toone, Vice Provost and Director at the Duke Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative  
Deadline for OpenIDEO Challenge Idea Submission: November 7

The final deadline for the Duke Start-Up Challenge is this October 30, 2014 at 11:59pm
 
Over $100,000 in prizes for all Duke students.
 
Student Competition Prizes
$50,000 Grand Prize (open to all Duke students)
$20,000 Best Undergraduate-led team
$5,000 AARP Foundation Prize for best project helping low income seniors
 
We also offer $10,000 in prizes in the separate Open Competition for alumni, faculty, staff, and student teams with non-student ideas.
 
In February, the top 60 student teams will be invited to create a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.
During the summer, we offer $5,000 summer stipends for the top 7 teams (eligibility: Duke students must be working full-time on the startup over the summer with an intention to continue after the summer).
 
Next steps!
·  Submit your Idea Summary (see samples) on our competition page
·  Learn more about the Duke Start-Up Challenge
·  See some of the videos from last year's competitors (and two years ago)
·  Watch the Grand Finale Event with Max Hodak '12 from September 2014
·  Read interviews with this past year's Finalists
·  Twitter: @dukestart
·  Follow us on Facebook

Want to change the world?  Interested in learning more about social entrepreneurship? Do you have an innovative solution that you wish to develop, or are you interested in working with others who do? Join us for an interactive workshop exploring the meaning of social entrepreneurship.  

Learn the basics of designing your own social venture focused on social or environmental issues you care about, and discover programs and resources at Duke and that can help! Last year, students learned about designing business models for social entrepreneurship, examined case studies from successful entrepreneurs, and heard from students involved in their own projects at Duke.

The workshop is open to all Duke students.  Continental breakfast, sandwich lunch, and refreshments provided.  Space is limited to 50 participants so be sure to sign up soon!

Tuesday, September 16th, 2014
5:45p.m., Fuqua School of Business, Lilly Classroom
Light reception to follow
RSVP at https://duke.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_eLmdqBrevDcRp3v

An estimated 15% of drugs sold in the world are fake—in Africa and Asia this figure can range from 10% to 30%, compromising 10% of the global medicine market. In addition to therapeutic failure and drug resistance resulting from counterfeit medications, anywhere from 30 to 2,500 patients have died from individually recorded instances of counterfeit drug sales every year. Further counterfeit drugs decrease incentives for pharmaceutical companies to enter markets, potentially limiting access to needed drugs.
Sproxil is a U.S.-based company that provides world-class brand protection in emerging markets through software and services that work anywhere there are mobile phones.  Sproxil allows consumers to verify product genuineness within seconds through SMS texts.  This technology allows patients to ensure at the moment of purchase that their drugs are from reputable providers; limiting the chance of negative health impact of counterfeit drugs and products.  To date, Sproxil has verified over 6 million products, giving everyone along the supply chain the power to quickly and confidently verify the authenticity of a drug at each step, ensuring patient safety.  For more information about Sproxil, visit http://sproxil.com/
Speaker Alden Zecha serves as CFO and Strategist of Sproxil, where he is responsible for the overall strategy, finance and administration of the company, Zecha brings to the role more than 25 years of broad-range executive expertise in operations, strategy and finance, and vast experience from work in more than 20 countries. Prior to joining Sproxil, Zecha co-founded and served as CFO of ultra-luxury travel company PrivatSea and as CFO of Rethos, a sustainability and corporate social responsibility social media website. Zecha received his MSE and BSE with honors in chemical engineering from Princeton University, where he was a United Technologies Scholar, and holds a certificate in finance from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

Interested in learning about social entrepreneurship? Have an innovative solution you wish do develop or want to network with others?

Join us for an interactive workshop exploring the meaning of social entrepreneurship.  Learn the basics of designing your own social venture focused on social or environmental issues you care about, and discover programs and resources at Duke that can help!

Open to all Duke students. Lunch, snacks, and refreshments provided.

The 2nd Annual SEAD Summit brings together leading healthcare innovators from around the world for an intensive three day accelerator focused on scaling proven healthcare solutions.  This year's Summit will take place at Duke University from April 2-4, 2014 in Durham, North Carolina.  All SEAD innovators are invited to send one participant to attend the full training which provides an opportunity to meet CEO's of leading healthcare innovations, work with leading professors from Duke's Fuqua School of Business and Duke Medicine, network with undergraduate and graduate students, participate in roundtables with USAID and other healthcare funders and showcase their innovations to the broader Raleigh-Durham community.  While the accelerator portion of the SEAD Summit is closed to SEAD innovators, the general public is invited to attend the SEAD Symposium taking place on Friday, April 4th with registration found here.

For more information, please visit our main SEAD Summit and Symposium site.