⚡people power
Good morning! If you’re new here, welcome and thanks for signing up. Here’s a link to yesterday’s update if you missed it.
It’s all about people
A key theme at this year’s UNGA was building and financing scalable solutions that are focused on addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We love this and will continue highlighting any projects we see that are enabling the creation of impact at scale.
Yesterday, we explored UpLink, “a new, open-source digital platform to foster mass participation from entrepreneurs, community groups, and other interested parties or individuals to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”
Today, we’d like to share two other possible solutions—
Challenge Prizes: Nesta Challenge believes that Challenge Prizes can incentivize innovators and entrepreneurs to develop lasting solutions to address the SDGs. To date, Nesta has awarded more than £19m (~$23m) in equity-free prizes, including:
Data-Driven Farming Prize: A partnership with USAID to challenge innovators to harness technology to create apps, sensors, software, and widgets capable of improving smallholder productivity in Nepal ($300k to four winners, incl. Plantix)
Fall Armyworm Tech Prize: Tackles devastating outbreaks of the invasive fall armyworm pest that can cause $13 billion in loss of crops ($450k to four winners, incl. Farm.Ink’s Fall Armyworm Virtual Ad)
Blockchain-Driven Collaboration: Consensys and World Wildlife Fund have designed Impactio, a blockchain-driven platform that “brings together project leaders, subject matter experts, and funders to make high-impact projects happen.” Using Impactio Tokens, SDG-focused projects are provided with the support and funding they need. These tokens also give funders the assurance that they are funding projects with impact. See how it works below:
Key Takeaway: UpLink, the Challenge Prizes, and Impactio have a common theme - they all put people at the center. We mentioned this yesterday and will continue to stress the message - we firmly believe that the solutions cannot come from just a handful of elite academics and institutions, they must come from all of us.
Hide your kids. Hide your wife. Hide your mortgages?
A new research report shows that banks are protecting themselves from climate change by shifting riskier mortgages—such as from homes in coastal areas—off their books and over to the federal government. This shifts the potential loss to the United States taxpayers. That’s you and me.
The researchers say their findings show “a potential threat to the stability of financial institutions.” With more frequent and more severe disasters led by global warming, more homeowners will not or cannot make mortgage payments, which would force their loans to go into default. Every year, $60 billion to $100 billion in new mortgages are issued to these coastal homes.
Our take: Banks are aware of the threat of climate change. They see it coming and so they’re adjusting how they operate.
Gautam Chebrolu and Yossuf Albanawi, cofounders of Pilleve
The opioid crisis is one of the biggest public health challenges in America today, with more than 115 dying of an overdose a day. Pilleve, cofounded by Gautam Chebrolu and Yossuf Albanawi, who himself struggled with substance abuse, aims to fight addiction through early intervention with its secure pill dispenser. Patients receive their opioid prescription in a Pilleve bottle and pills are dispensed one by one after patients input their pain levels, mood and side effects into an app. Pill intake data is also collected in real time and sent to providers if patients are taking more than prescribed. Pilleve has partnered with one of the largest pain clinics in Maryland to launch the device and is looking to expand its pilot to California, Massachusetts and Georgia in 2019.
Pilleve's aim is to fill in the gap between opioid prescription and addiction, which has affected millions of Americans and resulted in thousands of accidental overdoses.
Pilleve decreases the costs of opioid abuse and addiction for insurance companies, providers, loved ones and patients. This ranges from accidental overdoses to long term treatment. We do that by detecting the signs earlier, intervening, and ensuring patients are using their prescription opioids safely. In doing so, pilleve decreases the social and financial burden that cripples patients and their stakeholders.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16
Feeding Our Future: Perspectives Across the Value Chain in Food Sustainability
Interested in learning more about the different areas of innovation across the value chain in food sustainability? Please join the NY + Acumen Impact Circle on World Food Day for a discussion on the future of food sustainability. We will explore different perspectives across the various parts of the value chain, including investment, production, distribution and waste/renewability.
MONDAY OCTOBER 28
Conversations with Plant-based Entrepreneurship: Vegpreneur is a global entrepreneurs community that is made up of innovators who are building a plant based future and they’re hosting an evening panel on the state of plant-based entrepreneurship at General Assembly. Light snacks and refreshments will be served.
If you like what you read, please click on the heart below & continue sharing this newsletter!
Also, continue to support us by liking our Facebook page and following us on Instagram.
Tomorrow is a daily newsletter for today’s changemakers. Our purpose is to bring you the news and stories about people making a difference. Join the movement.