Imagine Cup Solve This Initial Participating Agencies and Problems
Agency
United Nations
Development
Program (UNDP)
United Nations
Industrial
Development
Organization
(UNIDO)
Agency’s Areas of
Focus
 Education, Skills,
and
Employability
 Global
Partnership
 Gender Equality
 Entrepreneurship
Development
 Private Sector
Development
PSD
Desired
Solution
Build an
online
information
sharing portal

Create an
online
knowledge
network to
link private
sector
development
professionals
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Environment &
Sustainability
Health
Education, Skills,
and
Employability
Technology
Accessibility for
the Disabled
Poverty and
Hunger/ Food
Security
Global
Partnership
Gender Equality
Additional Detail
eLearn – equal access to education for all
We are confident that, with the use of electronic and blended learning techniques via mobile
devices, ip televisions, computers and low bandwidth, access to education can be extended to
reach more people than it is reaching right now. “eLearn” should function as an online
knowledge management system—akin to an online campus environment with classrooms for
different areas of interest that are directly and indirectly relevant to the users where teachers
and students can interact virtually, share and manage information collaboratively. Educational
content such as textbooks, past examination questions, video and audio tutorials, and
simulations, etc., will be developed and uploaded onto the hosted “eLearn” platform for students
or users to access, download and share. Users should be able to contribute to content via blogs,
wikis, forums, assignments and exercise functionalities. “eLearn” should be usable by both youths
and adults, since the educational materials that will be made available on the “eLearn” platform
will cut across the board. Even government officials at all levels should be able to use the
platform to educate themselves and the citizenry.
Connect – one interface unites economic development professionals worldwide
We believe that advancing private sector development (PSD) in developing countries creates
economic opportunities for all and eventually leads to an increased level of prosperity (and thus
reduces poverty). We also believe that PSD needs to be done in an environmentally responsible
manner. Environmentally friendly services and products present a real business opportunity for
developing countries – be it in sustainable energy solutions, waste management or green product
design – and that this can drive our move towards a greener and more sustainable future.
Naturally, a large number of experts, policymakers, aid officials, business(wo)men, civil servants
and academics are involved in PSD programmes worldwide – however, they are often not
interconnected and much of their intellectual capital remains isolated around them individually.
In addition, a large and growing quantity of information is available worldwide, most of it being
un-structured, scattered and/or difficult to access. We think that a global, web-based PSD
platform/portal could bring us all together in a unique networking environment and become
the main global repository of available and consumable information in PSD. This will facilitate
our common efforts to help societies to prosper, while maintaining a clean environment.
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Agency
UN Programme on
Youth – Global
Alliance for ICT and
Development (UNPYGAID)
United States Agency
for International
Development
(USAID)
Private Sector
Development
Agency’s Areas of
Focus
 Environment &
Sustainability
 Health
 Education, Skills,
and
Employability
 Technology
Accessibility for
the Disabled
 Poverty and
Hunger / Food
Security
 Global
Partnership
 Gender Equality
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United Nations
World Food
Programme (WFP)
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Environment &
Sustainability
Health
Education, Skills,
and
Employability
Technology
Accessibility for
the Disabled
Poverty and
Hunger/ Food
Security
Global
Partnership
Gender Equality
Poverty and
Hunger / Food
Security
Desired
Solution
Develop a
youth-focused
platform that
encourages
collaboration
and
representation
Additional Detail
Produce a
technologybased solution
to increase
literacy among
young children
Literacy4Dev
For international development agencies to achieve their basic education development goals,
there must be continued progress in ensuring that all children learn how to read, write, count,
add and subtract, in the first three years of primary school. Although the number of learners
receiving a basic education has increased dramatically in recent years, most fail to learn the most
basic skills despite the resources expended by their families, governments, and development
partners. Studies have shown that students who do not master these basic skills within the first
three years of school are on course for a lifetime of poverty and limited economic opportunity.
Literacy and numeracy are fundamental to virtually all future learning. Therefore, the
overarching goal of this challenge is to identify innovative technology-supported solutions for
promoting and assisting literacy and reading attainment for infants and children in lowresource settings.
Design a
better video
capture and
delivery
system to
showcase
impact
Fight Hunger, Live!
WFP often works in the world’s most remote areas, in extremely harsh conditions, and where
technology is yet to reach. The organization faces critical operational and security challenges to
deliver food to where it is most needed. WFP is making efforts to show the world the true impact
of its activities and the challenges faced. The availability of such stories is hampered by difficulties
in capturing, storing and transmitting video, or video feeds, which could much better “tell the
story” and allow people around the world to witness WFP in action. The ability to capture and
transmit Live! videos of thousands of people crossing a country border, or of WFP delivering aid
MDGs Virtual Youth Platform
Young people are actors committed to development, willing to participate in the MDGs challenge,
and yet, because of a lack of information and possibilities to communicate and collaborate with
other mobilized youngsters, this participation does not reach its potential. There is also a lack of
young people’s representation and voice in global forums, specifically in forums dealing with
youth issues. Our organizations are comprised of dispersed global stakeholders and act as
common platforms for collaboration on achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Currently, our efforts to bring these groups together via traditional social networks have not
produced the desired results due to language, technological, social and cultural barriers. We
require a solution that could overcome such hurdles using innovative technologies available
today, such as mobile, face-to-face, video, etc. Our vision is to encourage youth participation
and cooperation in global development efforts through the use of ICT.
in the mountains of Afghanistan through mules, or of planes taking off and landing in
earthquake-stricken locations with critical humanitarian assistance, would allow WFP to greatly
improve the public’s understanding of hunger challenges and solutions, and, ultimately, allow
WFP and humanitarian workers to save more lives.
Agency
Agency’s Areas of
Focus
Robin Hood
Foundation
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Research4Life/United
Nations Food and
Agriculture
Organization, United
Nations World Health
Organization, United
Nations Environment
Programme
(R4L/FAO, WHO,
UNEP)
NetHope
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Health
Education,
Skills, and
Employability
Technology
Accessibility for
the Disabled
Poverty and
Hunger / Food
Security
Environment &
Sustainability
Health
Poverty and
Hunger / Food
Security
Desired
Solution
Create a video
demonstrating
how education
can empower
those living in
poverty
Additional Detail
Fighting Poverty with Education Empowerment—Incite Action!
The Robin Hood Foundation invites New York students to use video to share their vision and
ideas on how education can be utilized to empower people living in poverty and change lives,
while inspiring other students to take action. You and a friend can team up to create a one-
minute video to present your best ideas, which will, in turn, activate and inspire other
students to help bring those plans to life. Entries will be judged by a panel of experts and
winners will be recognized by Mayor Bloomberg in a special ceremony. As the entry requirements
will map to the worldwide Imagine Cup Digital Media competition, students would also be able to
enter their videos into the worldwide competition, for a chance to win additional prizes.
Build an
application for
more reliable
connectivity
and
downloads for
subscribers of
R4L
programmes
TBD
Research4Life Download Manager
Research4Life (R4L) users are located in the poorest countries in the world with the worst quality
connectivity and highest cost of internet access. The quality of their internet access creates a
major challenge for users to access and then, most importantly, download the
articles/documents that they need from Research4Life. Download speeds are slow, leading to
frequent interruptions from time-outs and line breaks. Users then have to re-connect and start
the download from scratch, leading to lost time, increased cost of internet usage, and great
frustration. The R4L Download Manager will allow users to resume interrupted downloads and
queue multiple downloads, saving time and money while greatly increasing the user
perceptions of the R4L service.
TBD
For more information, press only: Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, (503) 443-7070, rrt@waggeneredstrom.com