Announcing the 2019 Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge Winners

Today, in our third year of the Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge, we are proud to be recognizing a new group of young entrepreneurs who are creating cutting-edge, technology-based solutions capable of solving some of the world’s toughest challenges.

This year, 335 teams from around the world competed for a total of US$300K in prizes. Teams put forth solutions addressing challenges across the environment, healthcare, critical human needs, and more. Every team showed a deep understanding of the magnitude of the problems facing our global community, and developed innovative solutions to address them.

It has been exciting for us to see the progress CareNX, the 2018 Grand Prize winner, has made advancing their solution—a wearable, low-cost, non-stress test fetal monitoring device called Feton. Since they won the Challenge last year, they have not only reached 15 times more mothers since their inception in 2016 (for a total of 20,000), but were selected to be one of the startups for the inaugural class of Google’s new Launchpad Accelerator India.

With each year, I’m continually impressed by the ideas and solutions developed by these young entrepreneurs and inspired by their drive to make a difference. It’s with much excitement that I introduce you to the winners of this year’s competition:

Grand Prize (US$100,000)

Oorja (Imperial College London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) deploys and operates pay-as-you-go community solar pumping systems to provide affordable irrigation services to smallholder farmers, allowing them access to affordable water services year-round, reduce irrigation costs, grow high-value crops, and double their incomes. Learn more in the Oorja pitch video and on the team’s website.

Read more about the rest of the award winners here.

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