Duke students have the chance to participate in two great innovation competitions coming up this spring semester.  If you're looking for ways to put your skills and studies to the test, be sure to check out these competitions!

2015 SEAD Case Competition
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

The SwitchPoint Youth Contest
When: April 23th - 24th
Where: SwitchPoint 2015; Saxapahaw, NC
More info: http://event.switchpointideas.com/contest  

The SwitchPoint Youth Contest is about finding new ways to spark innovations that will save lives around the world. We challenge individuals 30 and under to think across boundaries, to see everyday objects in new ways, and to channel their ingenuity to address some of the many global health and humanitarian challenges we face today.

This year, we’re looking for breakthrough solutions to help health workers better serve communities in need around the world. What’s your breakthrough solution?

How to Participate:
Submit a video no longer than 90 seconds (or a 350 word essay) describing or demonstrating your break through solution, or switchpoint, to help health workers better serve communities in need. Must be 30 years or younger. 

Deadline for submissions is April 6, 2015. For more info and to submit your idea, visit the SwitchPoint website.  

2015 has arrived and the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAD) is proud to announce our 2015 cohort of innovators.  These eight innovators now bring the SEAD network to 25 innovators in East Africa, India, and Latin America.  From innovative approaches to healthcare access to technology development, our newest innovators all have the potential to influence healthcare models globally in addition to their daily work of improving the lives of the communities they operate in.

These innovators were chosen from a pool of more than 120 candidates as part of a highly competitive selection process.  Like our other two cohorts, these innovators bring a diverse set of experiences and expertise to the SEAD network.  While each organization is working on unique challenges, they are linked by their common commitment to scaling better healthcare opportunities around the world.

SEAD brings together interdisciplinary partners through a coordinated effort across Duke University and leverages institutional relationships and networks to create an integrated global health social entrepreneurship hub for diverse stakeholders across the globe. SEAD, in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the USAID Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN), mobilizes a community of practitioners, investors, policymakers, faculty, staff, and students to identify, assess, help develop, build capacity of, and scale solutions, technologies, and business models for healthcare delivery and preventive services in developing countries around the world. SEAD is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under cooperative agreement number AID-OAA-A-13-00004.

Meet the 2015 SEAD cohort:

Afya Research, East Africa, nonprofit

Afya Research operates kiosks located in rural villages, making it easier for community members to access services such as well-baby and ante-natal visits.

Ayzh, India and East Africa, for-profit

Ayzh develops low-cost, appropriate technology such as safe birthing kits designed to meet the needs of women in resource-poor settings.

Bodhi Health Education, India, for-profit

Bodhi Health provides medical education training materials that explain complex medical topics to less literate health workers with highly pictorial e-Learning content available in regional languages.

MicroClinic Technlogies, East Africa, for-profit

MicroClinic Technologies, is commercializing ZiDi, Africa’s first enterprise health management solution which enables clinics and hospitals across Africa to improve management of patient care, medicines, and personnel.

Noora Health, India, for-profit

Noora Health provides training that empowers families of patients to be better care givers in the hospital and at home. Noora operates in India and US.

SevaMob, India, for-profit

SevaMob offers primary healthcare and insurance via mobile clinics.  It offers rapid point-of-care diagnostics and provides healthcare sponsorships for orphanages.

SWAP (Safe Water and AIDS Project), Kenya, nonprofit

The Safe Water and AIDS Project (SWAP) engages Community Health Promoters to provide health education and door-to-door sales of health and hygiene products in rural Kenya.

ZanaAfrica, East Africa, for-profit

ZanaAfrica is a social enterprise that locally manufactures and distributes affordable, high quality sanitary pads for girls and women in East Africa. ZanaAfrica also focuses on issues such as health education and policy advocacy for girls.

Do you have an amazing mHealth idea?

Apply for a chance to pitch your idea to Duke mHealth solution experts! The team with the winning pitch will get exclusive access to content experts as well as consulting hours with software engineers and business/startup consultants. There will also be a cash prize of $500.

Goals of the Shark Tank:

• To provide a platform for the Duke community to share innovative ideas in mHealth or digital health
  
• To give applicants useful feedback on their ideas/solution
  
• To advance mHealth research and/or practice at Duke
  
• Network with the Triangle mHealth community and have fun!

Ideas at all stages of development are welcome and the competition is open to anyone though at least one person on the team should be a Duke student.  The winner of the competition will have the opportunity to work with professionals at the mHealth@Duke conference April 15th, 2015, to accelerate their idea in addition to the cash prize.

For more information, please visit the mHealth@Duke website. Deadline for submission is January 28th.

By Sayari Patel

From November 8th-10th, researchers, students, entrepreneurs, innovators, field practitioners, and private sector professionals convened at the Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN) coference, TechCon 2014 in Berkeley, California. TechCon showcased innovations emerging from the eight HESN Development Labs and the broader development and higher education communities focused on innovation for social good. These various stakeholders met to energize science and technology solutions for development. We will be featuring blog posts from Duke students reflecting on their weekend at TechCon.

Lynelle Cameron, senior director of sustainability at Autodesk and President and CEO of The Autodesk Foundation was the first speaker on the morning of day 3 of TechCon.  She started off her presentation by saying that for years we’ve gotten design wrong.  It was a sort of smack in the face, which in essence was saying that we have FAILED for years. I scribbled into my notes moments after, “What are the characteristics of “good design” and how can we get it right this time?”, and as if she had read my mind, the rest of the speech shed light on inspiring example after example of the power of innovation and the ways in which innovators have harnessed the power of “good design” globally. 

This included companies like MASS Design and D-Rev, which have both come up with creative design solutions to improve the health of the poor. MASS Design collaborated with Dr. Paul Farmer to build community and reduce in hospital transmission of disease through architecture. The Butaro Hospital in Rwanda included views of the outdoors, group rooms, and hallways in the open air which were essential in reducing transmission of disease as well as improving health outcomes through the creation of a space of healing and dignity. Their projects not only tap into local materials but result in economic empowerment of communities through the creation of jobs as well as infrastructure (clinics, schools, etc) essential to improving human capital. D-Rev, on the other hand, is a non-profit which creates medical equipment for people living on less than $4 per day. Their high performance high quality ReMotion knee has been fitted to over 6,200 amputees, 75% of whom still use the product. MASS design and D-Rev’s solutions and designs didn’t compromise quality for affordability but found creative ways to make the two symbiotic by leveraging the communities strengths and understanding it’s capacity.  

After listening to the 3rd or 4th example of the motivating work of innovators, it was easy to forget (yet essential to remember) that the speech began by stating that we’ve been culprits of bad design for years. This was until we neared the end, when Lynelle Cameron wrapped up the talk by adding the hopeful caveat that we have the “possibility to use the power of design to get it right this time”. 

Reflecting on that speech and on TechCon, I’d like to think that our break-out sessions were a part of what it means to create “good design”, be it technologies or programs.  They were interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral conversations about where our failures have been, and what we should be looking out for to ensure that we do justice to our innovation and aid policies.  In one panel our discussion about strategies for integrating gender and development ranged from presentations about the successes and failures of gender working groups in Afghanistan to pigeon pea commercialization and agriculture in places such as Rwanda.  In another session, we discussed the importance of integrating ethics into student curriculum surrounding entrepreneurship and teaching students to understand that innovation doesn’t only occur at an individual and household level but that of communities and states as well. 

 These break-out sessions also presented a more nuanced picture of what addressing suitability, scalability, and sustainability (all essential in “good design) looks like on the field from the conception of an idea to it’s follow-through.  One of the panel discussions about the necessity of feedback mechanisms to improve uptake of new technologies hit home for the importance of suitability and context when designing products. Usage of a solar powered autoclave increased by simply changing a “progress bar” indicator, which locals found confusing, to a voice interface. This ensured that surgical materials were now being properly sterilized and saving lives in the process. 

We may not have all the answers but this gathering of academics, entrepreneurs, students, investors, and development experts is a hopeful reminder that we haven’t stopped looking for the answers and that if there’s something that isn’t being done right we have an obligation to change it. For years we’ve been designing products that didn’t keep in mind accessibility and affordability to the populations they intend to serve dramatically reducing their impact, but now we’re sharing knowledge on how to reverse that trend.  Yes, we have failed for years, but we’ve failed smart. 

Sayari Patel is a senior at Duke University majoring in political science with anticipated minors in cultural anthropology and global health.  Her interests include studying the socio-political determinants of health, especially the impact of decentralization policies in rural India. She has spent time conducting research in India as well as China, and is currently the undergraduate research intern at IPIHD.  In her free time she enjoys writing and performing sketch comedy. Though, as a pre-med students, she is not yet convinced that laughter is the best medicine. 

The GHIC Innovation Prize offers two cash awards in the amounts of $10,000 and $5,000 to the two best social enterprise pitches that are presented at Unite For Sight’s 12thannual Global Health & Innovation Conference at Yale on March 28-29, 2015.  The GHIC Innovation Prize supports outstanding early-stage ideas, programs, and organizations which are locally-developed and locally-responsible.  The GHIC Innovation Prize is a new program of the Unite For Sight Global Health & Innovation Conference, which is the world’s largest and leading global health conference and social entrepreneurship conference.  The Global Health & Innovation Conference annually convenes more than 2,200 participants from all 50 states and from more than 55 countries.

What is a social enterprise pitch? The social enterprise pitch is an idea, program, project, or organization that is in the early stage of development or implementation.  The pitch submission should be program-focused and can be targeted for any country or countries worldwide.  Categories include, but are not limited to, global health, NGOs and community-based programs, social innovation and entrepreneurship, development, education, energy, environment, and technology. 

Who is eligible? Professionals and students, and non-profit or for-profit organizations, are eligible to apply for the GHIC Innovation Prize.

How do I apply? Complete details and application instructions can be seen at http://www.uniteforsight.org/conference/innovation-prize Applications are accepted on a rolling application deadline, and the first quality applications will be accepted for the semi-finalist round.  Applicants are encouraged to submit their application as soon as possible; the available semi-finalist round spots are expected to fill quickly.

Complete details about the 2015 Global Health & Innovation Conference at Yale can be seen at http://www.uniteforsight.org/conference

By Divya Giyanani

From November 8th-10th, researchers, students, entrepreneurs, innovators, field practitioners, and private sector professionals convened at the Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN) coference, TechCon 2014 in Berkeley, California. TechCon showcased innovations emerging from the eight HESN Development Labs and the broader development and higher education communities focused on innovation for social good. These various stakeholders met to energize science and technology solutions for development. We will be featuring blog posts from Duke students reflecting on their weekend at TechCon.

We have all heard the facts – preventable diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia take the lives of 2 million children each year, more than 805 million people lack enough food to lead a healthy life, 61 million children of primary school age are out of school, etc.  We have also all heard the call to action – that while the development world is making progress in addressing these issues, we need new, innovative ways to solve the world’s greatest challenges.

At the USAID Technical Convening a few weeks back, we had the opportunity to place ourselves in the shoes of an international development decision-maker through the innovation marketplace. We were given 1000 development dollars to “invest” in innovation[s] being presented, and it was our decision how to allocate those dollars.

I will be the first to admit that I am drawn to development work because of an opportunity for impact. In my mind, I wouldn’t really say that the specific type of impact matters much; the idea that the work that I am doing will have tangible (positive) impacts on the world around me is enough. So, when given the chance to “invest” in new ideas, I decided that I would give my money to the impactful innovations.

And looking back, I still remember walking in and feeling overwhelmed by the 40+ innovators vying for my attention.  I still remember strolling around the room once, twice, and even three times before selecting a place to start.  I still remember, many conversations later, staring at the development dollars in my hand, questioning whether I could even make an investment.

Because sometimes impact is not enough.

During conversations at the USAID Technical Convening, the idea of purpose within innovation was always emphasized.  Purpose meant that you knew (1) what issue you were trying to address, and (2) how that issue fit into the bigger picture.

Because sometimes impact is not enough.

My weekend at the USAID Technical Convening helped me to realize the significance of strategy behind innovation.  We are living in an incredibly exciting time, where globalization and the rise of modern technology bring us all just a little bit closer.  And this translates to the potential for small ideas to make huge impact. But when there are limited resources, impact is only one factor in creating the development agenda. 

Divya Giyanani is a senior at Duke University, studying corporate strategy and global health through a self-created major. During her time at Duke, she has made a point of applying what she has learned in her coursework to her fieldwork.  Divya has worked for a national NPO in San Francisco to mobilize students in the fights against HIV/AIDS and with a Duke research team to measure mental health trauma in Haiti.  She has also spent time in Geneva studying development policy and global health. Most recently, Divya spent this past summer interning in the US Global Development Lab at USAID, where she worked on a business case for scaling of an agricultural innovation in sub-Saharan Africa. 

In September, SEAD announced that it was awarding research grants to four exciting university projects that will contribute to our understanding of how to best scale the impact of global health innovation.  One of the projects, “Postpartum Hemorrhage Education via Simulation,” led by an inter-professional team in the Human Simulation and Patient Safety Center (HSPSC) at Duke Medicine, is pioneering the use of scalable, distributable healthcare simulation using commercial game technology with a multi-player module that specifically addresses PPH. Through the SEAD grant, the HSPSC team is funding a proof-of-concept training session between Duke and Mulago hospital in Kampala, Uganda. 

One of SEAD’s core goals is to meaningfully engage students in learning and experimentation around global health innovation, so SEAD was particularly pleased that HSPSC proposed to allow Duke students to compete for a spot on their research team and join them for field work in Uganda in Spring 2015.  HSPSC received applications from students across the university and were thrilled to have the opportunity to meet and interview so many impressive students.  The group ended up selecting Emily Comstock, an MSc in Nursing student, to join their team.  Emily comes to Duke with experience working in Haiti, Kenya, and Uganda, and demonstrated to the team that she had a realistic understanding of the challenges they could face in implementing the project.  Emily is excited about the prospect of working on innovative inter-professional trainings on a topic of great importance in the developing world.  Stay tuned for updates following their work in Uganda in Spring 2015.

By Priyanka Venkannagari

From November 8th-10th, researchers, students, entrepreneurs, innovators, field practitioners, and private sector professionals convened at the Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN) coference, TechCon 2014 in Berkeley, California. TechCon showcased innovations emerging from the eight HESN Development Labs and the broader development and higher education communities focused on innovation for social good. These various stakeholders met to energize science and technology solutions for development. We will be featuring blog posts from Duke students reflecting on their weekend at TechCon.

What’s in a word?

I had never really heard the word resilience used until this conference, especially not in the context of global health. Resilience is often used in the context of talking about coming back from a fight or not letting adversity hinder your goals.  Resilient Africa Network, a partnership of 20 African universities focused on nurturing and scaling innovation, describes resilience as “the capacity of people and systems to mitigate, adapt to, recover, and learn from shocks and stresses in a manner that reduces vulnerability and increases wellbeing.”  At first I wondered if the usage of the term was simply jargon, but by the end of the conference I know it was much more than that.

The power of language and the power of storytelling is something that was discussed multiple times. It wasn’t until after the fact that I understood the importance of the term “Resilience”. Resilience stands for knowing there is a long was to go but willing to put in the energy to get there. Resilience stands for not letting difficulties halt the course of advancement. Resilience stands for a lot of other things too but most importantly it’s a symbol of solidarity and empowerment. Having such a powerful term makes the cause seem stronger. It sets the stage for the future of international development and presents the ideals that are going to be at the core of the field.

The power of language and story telling cannot be undermined in what is to be the future of the world. How else can you captivate people to believe in a cause? One of the sessions we were asked to identify a goal we want to achieve in the next 5 years, the people who we are going to have to work with, the barriers we are going to face, and the principle we will use. I didn’t know what to say, because I had not idea what my goals are. I do not know where I will be in 5 years and I am ok with that. 

At the same time I know how important it is to define your goals. This is where the language comes in. Especially for a task as large as poverty reduction you not only need goals to mark success but to also make a statement for the work you are doing. It is important to make sure the importance of the work in international development is not taken lightly. This is why “resilience” means so much, because it creates that human reaction that makes people what to be a part of the movement. I do hope to see a resilient world one day and I think huge strides are being made in that direction. 

Priyanka is a current sophomore in Economics with a minor in Global Health and a certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She is really interested in the ways businesses and public-private partnerships can help improve and empower the world. 

By Libby MacFarlane

From November 8th-10th, researchers, students, entrepreneurs, innovators, field practitioners, and private sector professionals convened at the Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN) coference, TechCon 2014 in Berkeley, California. TechCon showcased innovations emerging from the eight HESN Development Labs and the broader development and higher education communities focused on innovation for social good. These various stakeholders met to energize science and technology solutions for development. We will be featuring blog posts from Duke students reflecting on their weekend at TechCon.

TechCon 2014 brought together the Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN) – a partnership between the U.S. Global Development Lab and seven universities to create a rich network of HESN Development labs. Over 400 attendees - ranging from young innovators, academics, investors, and government leaders – came together to discuss, ideate and share creative and best practices for international development.

Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator shares that, “This network represents something new and especially exciting in development – something more than a simple collection of universities. It represents a groundbreaking partnership…united by a single purpose: to mobilize the energy and ingenuity of a new generation…[to] harness the power of science, technology, and innovation to deliver transformational results in development.”

I have taken a few photographs to highlight the inspiring presentations, conversations, and panels I had the honor of attending. 

Libby is interested in the intersection of global health and social entrepreneurship and is the first student at Duke to pursue the Master of Science in Global Health and Master of Business Administration (MBA) as a dual-degree. Libby has a background in global change management consulting and was a Global Health Trustees Fellow with International Honors Program comparing health systems in India, Argentina and South Africa. This past summer she was in Nepal to collect data for her thesis, which explores the psychosocial and mental health impacts of climate change a changing environment on rural farmers. She is the Vice President and Founding Board Member of HeartMind International, a 501(c)3 dedicated to providing culturally-appropriate and sustainable mental health care to the most vulnerable populations  in Nepal and around the world.

November 8-10, 2014, a team of students from Duke University joined SEAD at the USAID HESN TechCon 2014.  TechCon is a chance for researchers and students, entrepreneurs and innovators, field practitioners, and private sector professionals to focus on creative approaches to solution ideation, testing, and scaling for international development.  After TechCon, we asked our students to reflect back on the conference and share with us insights and learnings.  

Today's post comes to us from Fuqua School of Business MBA student Jose Magaña Paredas.

It’s well known that entrepreneurial execution is what distinguishes good teams from good ideas. I would add that access to capital and adequate funding is paramount for entrepreneurial success. This is where USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures 3-stage funding model is a real plus for social entrepreneurs seeking to secure funding without having to worry about the intimidating world of venture capital, which usually entails relinquishing control over your company and equity dilution. DIV provides funding to test proof of concepts and other early stage testing (stage 1), followed by solution evaluation and positioning for scalability (stage 2), and finally for organizational transitions to large scale operations (stage 3). At every stage, DIV is seeking to understand how cost-effective, valid, and scalable an entrepreneur solution really is; something that entrepreneurs should be doing regardless of a DIV partnership. DIV funding can serve as a one stop financing shop because funding ranges from $100,000 to $15 million for a single venture, allowing for continued funding from a single entity and without the trouble and cost of searching for multiple venture capital partners.

Entrepreneurs who have innovative solutions to pressing problems in developing regions are encouraged to apply. Innovation means, per USAID’s DIV team member Duc Tran, ‘delivering higher impact at a lower cost than current models or practices’. The initial application is five page letter of intent and applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Entrepreneurs in academia or out of school who looking to provide solutions to global challenges are encouraged to apply regardless of the type of business entity or formation, i.e. LLC, C-Corp., B-Corp. etc... Special sectors and regions are eligible for additional funding support. These sectors include Water, Sanitation & Hygiene sector; Humanitarian sector; Haiti; Latin America & the Caribbean region. Don’t let this funding opportunity not be something you consider as you prepare to hit the pavement and raise money for your venture; I know I’m submitting an application because I can’t afford not to!

Jose’s an aspiring entrepreneur who’s currently leading a mobile health and diagnostics start-up that intends to bring alternative screening and monitoring solutions for chronic kidney disease to diabetic patients worldwide. His academic ambitions are as big as his entrepreneurial aspirations; Jose is pursing two Masters degrees at Duke University’s Business and Environmental Management programs. Prior to Duke Jose worked for nearly seven years, with five of those years belonging to the healthcare delivery space.