The Vodafone Americas Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of the second annual Vodafone Americas Foundation Wireless Innovation Project, a competition to identify and reward the most promising advances in wireless related technologies, which can be used to solve critical problems around the globe. Proposals will be accepted from October 5, 2009 through February 1, 2010, with the final winners announced on April 19, 2010 at the annual Global Philanthropy Forum in Redwood City, California, one of the Wireless Innovation Project’s nonprofit partners.
“We’re committed to creating and fostering technology that will make a difference for the world,” said Terry Kramer, President Vodafone Americas Foundation. “Last year’s competition introduced the world to some impressive new wireless technologies, which are now strongly positioned to make a real difference in people’s lives in areas such as disaster relief and mobile health.”
Vodafone Americas Foundation will award a total of $600,000 to the first, second and third-prize winners of the Wireless Innovation Project.
Vodafone, through its foundations, has long recognized that wireless technology has the potential to make the most significant impacts in the world particularly in developing countries, which lack basic infrastructure, access to communication, and other key resources. Guided by its “Passion for the World Around Us,” Vodafone Americas Foundation created the Wireless Innovation Project to foster creativity and fund the most promising innovations, which have the potential to solve pressing issues around the globe. Continuing this important work is in alignment with Vodafone and its global network of 23 foundations which, through grants and contributions of close to $60,000,000, are helping hundreds of thousands of people around the world lead better, fuller lives.
Applicants for the Wireless Innovation Project must be nonprofits, educational institutions or social entrepreneurs based in the United States. Up to $600,000 will be awarded to wireless projects demonstrating exceptional promise to solve a critical global issue in the following fields: education; health; access to communication; the environment; or economic development. Moreover, the innovation can also represent a significant advancement in wireless related technology to help solve issues such as connectivity, language barriers and energy use. Projects must be at a stage of development where an advanced prototype or field test can occur during the award period. Complete detailed information about eligibility and an application can be found at.
“It was a thrill to have our work recognized last year,” said John Kymissis, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Columbia University and co-developer of Energy Harvesting Active Network Tags (EnHANTs), the 2009 first place winner. “Since then, we and other colleagues at Columbia University obtained an additional $16 million in grant money from the Department of Energy that will enable us to further develop the energy harvesting components of our system.”
2009 Winners
- Energy Harvesting Active Network Tags (EnHANTs) (First Place Winner, $300,000) –Wireless tags that harness solar and kinetic energy, and will be carried by people and embedded in buildings. In the event of a disaster, a building collapse or a fire, the tags will communicate with each other and create a wireless network that will provide rescue forces information regarding who is in a building and where they are located. (Developed by Columbia University)
- CellScope (Second Place Winners, $200,000) – A compact, high-resolution cell phone microscope using cell phone cameras to do onsite microscopic medical diagnosis in the developing world. The CellScope is particularly useful for infectious disease diagnosis, especially TB and malaria. (Developed by University of California, Berkeley)
- CelloPhone (Second Place Winners, $200,000) – A wireless and lens-free blood and fluid analyzer that can capture digital cellular images in the field, and transmit them to a central medical lab for diagnostic purposes. The CelloPhone is capable of monitoring HIV, malaria and TB in developing countries. (Developed by University of California, Los Angeles)
