MIT's Solve Initiative Announces Partnerships to CrowdSolve Global Challenges with Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, Yo-Yo Ma, Laurene Powell Jobs, and Ursula Burns and Up to $2 Million of Prizes Including from the Atlassian Foundation and Others

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 8, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Solve, an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will welcome more than 400 leaders from technology, business, non-profit, government and academia to CrowdSolve global challenges at its annual flagship event, Solve at MIT, May 8-10, on the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA.

In March, at its pitch event at the United Nations, Solve chose 29 innovators -- "Solvers" -- with tech solutions to its challenges on (1) refugee education, (2) carbon, (3) chronic diseases, and (4) inclusive innovation. This week, these Solvers are coming to MIT to workshop and develop partnerships with 400 cross-sector leaders that will help scale and grow their solutions.

Over 1200 attendees are expected at Solve at MIT's Opening Plenary "Does technology still create more opportunity than it destroys?" at Kresge Auditorium from 3:30-5:00PM EST. Featured speakers include MIT's President Rafael Reif, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and Ash Carter, 25th Secretary of Defense, MIT Innovation Fellow, and Director of the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School.

With its new application site just launched, Solve will announce four new challenges today asking for solutions from anyone from around the world. Submissions are due by August 1, 2017, on these four challenges:

1. Youth, Skills, and the Workforce of the Future 
2. Brain Health 
3. Sustainable Urban Communities 
4. Women and Technology

"We're excited to welcome our Solvers to MIT and to announce our new challenges and partnerships. Solve at MIT is all about building partnerships to turn promising ideas into powerful, real-world change. The goal is to connect our Solvers with the resources and expertise they need to implement and scale their solutions," said Solve's Executive Director Alex Amouyel.

"At MIT, we want to do good for the world. It comes straight from our mission statement, and it's the wellspring of MIT's signature culture of real-world problem solving. Yet we know that even our most brilliant technologists and scientists cannot make progress against the most serious global challenges alone. It was in that spirit that we created Solve: By joining forces with innovators and influencers from around the globe, and by focusing together on the most effective ways to bring science, technology and policy to bear on the world's great challenges, we aim to accelerate positive change," said MIT President Rafael Reif.

The event program can be found here, confirmed speakers can be found here, and Solve's advisors can be found here. 

Media interested in attending Solve at MIT may register at http://bit.ly/2pDrLjM. For the opening plenary, media can attend by bringing press credentials to Kresge Auditorium on May 8 from 2:00pm to 5:00pm EST. For the events on May 8 and 9, media can attend by bringing press credentials to the MIT Media Lab from 7:00am to 5:30pm EST both days.

All plenary sessions will be live streamed at solve.mit.edu.

Announcements of New Partnerships

New Challenge Chairs
Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and Laurene Powell Jobs, President, Emerson Collective will co-chair the Youth, Skills, and the Workforce of the Future challenge. Ursula Burns, Chairman, Xerox will be chairing the Women and Technology challenge.

Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Indo-Pacific Development prize
Up to US$1 million in grant funding will be awarded to innovative Solvers selected through MIT Solve's Youth, Skills and the Workforce of the Future Challenge by DFAT's innovationXchange who will have impact in developing countries in the Indo-Pacific (listed here). DFAT encourages in particular applications that address the needs of women and girls, and people with a disability.

Atlassian Foundation International Seeks to Further "10 in 10" Mission with US$1 Million in Partnership Grants
Atlassian Foundation International aims to help prepare 10 million disadvantaged youth for the workforce of the future, within 10 years, or "10 in 10." To further this mission, the foundation is pledging up to US$1 million in grant funding through MIT Solve's Youth, Skills, and the Workforce of the Future Challenge to selected Solvers that uncover the world's most scalable education models.

"Education has been proven time and time again to be the best way to break the poverty cycle, which is why we're focusing our philanthropic efforts on helping prepare disadvantaged youth for the workforce of the future. We're teaming up with MIT's Solve initiative to find the world's best scalable education solutions that will help prepare the workforce of tomorrow. We hope other organizations will join us in uncovering the very best education initiatives," said Mark Reading, Atlassian's head of foundation.

The Arts and Culture Mentorship prize curated by Yo-Yo Ma, Cellist
Yo-Yo Ma will bring together a group of artists and cultural leaders to mentor as many as three Solvers whose innovative solutions use arts and culture across all Solve challenges.

Forbes partnership with MIT's Solve on Sustainability and Women and Technology challenges
Forbes and Solve will partner together on the sustainability and women and technology challenges, including for the upcoming flagship Forbes Under 30 Summit, details to be announced.

VICE Impact
The newly launched advocacy platform, VICE Impact, is releasing a short documentary on Tuesday, May 9, about the refugee education challenge titled Solvers. VICE Impact's Director of Advocacy Nick Chedli Carter will also speak at Solve at MIT on Wednesday, May 10, during a working group on the new challenge Youth, Skills, and the Workforce of the Future. VICE Impact is the advocacy arm of VICE Media, the world's leading youth media brand. Launched in 1994, VICE now operates in over 30 countries and distributes its programming and content to viewers across mobile, digital, and linear platforms.

Axios
Axios's Chief Technology Correspondent Ina Fried will speak at Solve at MIT on Monday, May 8, during the opening plenary "Does technology still create more opportunity than it destroys?" Fried will also send out a special edition of Axios's daily Tech newsletter Login from Solve at MIT on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 9-10, providing a recap of each day's events.

About Solve
Solve is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that identifies and supports lasting solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. Solve is a community that brings together technologists, social entrepreneurs, business leaders, policymakers, researchers, and other change agents to unearth and implement solutions to specific, actionable challenges around education, health, sustainability, and economic prosperity.

Solve's mission is to crowdsolve global challenges by:

• Identifying the best solutions to specific, actionable challenges through open innovation.
• Building and convening a community of leaders and change-makers committed to partnering together to pilot and implement these solutions.

Participants at Solve at MIT May 8-10 will include representatives from Founding Knowledge Partners – the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Atlassian Foundation, X (part of Alphabet), the Inter-American Development Bank. Also present will be representatives from Xerox, Novartis, HP, Dell, Biocon, Lego, PepsiCo, Bain Capital, The Rockefeller Foundation, Draper Richard Kaplan Foundation, Emerson Collective, Save the Children, International Rescue Committee, Malala Fund, Harvard University, and many others.

Media Contact:
Kate Downen
406 224 5056
[email protected]

SOURCE Solve at MIT