Can innovation prizes help solve major challenges in development?

Prizes are widely used in the private sector to crowdsource ideas and new technologies and to stimulate markets, but can prize-driven innovation effectively tackle problems faced by the world’s poorest communities?

Join us on 7 July to debate this issue as we discuss initial findings and lessons learnt from the Ideas to Impact research and design process and launch our first set of learning papers.

Ideas to Impact is a DFID-funded, five-year innovation prize programme which aims to test whether prizes can lead to significant benefits for low-income communities. Specifically, the prizes we are launching address longstanding challenges across three themes: water and sanitation, energy access and climate change adaptation.

Why attend?

While this event is a chance for us to share with you our findings from the initial stages of prize design, it’s also a great opportunity for us to learn from your knowledge and experience – in innovation prizes or across our thematic areas.

The event will kick off with an introduction from Tim Wheeler, DFID’s Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser and director of the organisation’s Research and Evidence Division, who will outline how Ideas to Impact contributes to DFID’s wider research agenda. (TBC)

This will be followed by an overview of innovation prizes in development from Ideas to Impact team leader, Bryony Everett, before each theme leader takes a few minutes to outline key learnings from their papers. We’ll then be inviting participants to split into four smaller groups - led respectively by Bryony and each of the theme leads - to discuss prizes for development broadly; for WASH; for adaptation; or for energy access.

The Ideas to Impact team is led by IMC Worldwide in consortium with the Institute of Development Studies, GVEP International, Tremolet Consulting, ITAD and InnoCentive. The event is hosted in partnership with Nesta.

The event begins at 3pm on 7th July and concludes with drinks at 5:30 pm.

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