Winners Announced: 6th Annual Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge
Skild is thrilled to announce that winners have been chosen in the 6th annual Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge, which aims to recognize new business ideas that leverage technology for social impact from early stage entrepreneurs around the world.
The winners will share a prize pool of $1M USD, which will help accelerate the adoption of their breakthrough technology, products, and services, driving economic development and/or solving social or environmental problems.
Claiming the Grand Prize and $250,000 is Drop Access, creators of VacciBox, a portable, low-cost solar-powered fridge for use in the healthcare industry. Globally, 3 billion people are at the risk of contracting a Vaccine Preventable Disease, because their healthcare facility does not have a cold chain to effectively and efficiently store vaccines. VacciBox utilizes the Internet of Things (IoT) to enable the easy and swift provision of data-driven technical support through online, remote monitoring, and troubleshooting. VacciBox is a versatile solution that eases vaccine distribution, stock management, and enables access to real-time and accurate data for planning. Watch Drop Access's winning pitch video here.
This year’s challenge generated nearly 1,200 submissions from teams in 99 countries. From this amazing array of teams and ideas, 15 winning teams were selected from 10 countries, including five not represented among previous winners: Australia, Colombia, Denmark, Ireland, and Pakistan. We are also thrilled to report that 67 percent of the 2022 winners have a woman founder.
In response to the growing urgency to respond to the climate crisis, this year Cisco introduced five new Climate Impact and Regeneration Prizes totaling $300,000 USD. These prizes recognize solutions that can reduce or remove greenhouse gas (GHG) from the environment or regenerate depleted ecosystems.
Click here for a complete list of winners. Check out Cisco’s official announcement here. And be sure to stay tuned for news about next year’s challenge!
