At least 6 awards are made each year to teams that demonstrate innovative solutions to problems in local, national, and international communities. Each winning team has demonstrated to the judges that their project was innovative, sustainable, and feasible.

Having a good idea is an important first step, but it's just an idea. Each of the following projects is an idea brought to life through the team's energy and dedication.

We wish you good luck in conceiving and developing your own ideas this year, and please check out the Get Connected part of this site if you'd like to learn how we can help you along the way.

$ 7500 Muhammad Yunus Innovation Challenge Award
(Sponsored by Mr. Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel)

Cabanga

$ 7500 Muhammad Yunus Innovation Challenge Award
(Sponsored by Mr. Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel)

CellCentives

$ 7500 IDEAS Award for International Technology
(Sponsored by the Lemelson-MIT Program)

Vac-Cast Prosthetics

$ 5000 IDEAS Award for International Technology
(Sponsored by the Lemelson-MIT Program)

New DOTS

$ 5000 IDEAS Undergraduate Team Award
(Sponsored by the Baruch Family Fund)

Bluesteel

$ 5000 IDEAS Graduate Student Award
(Sponsored by the MIT Graduate Students Office)

Blowin' in the Wind

$ 2500 IDEAS Award
(Sponsored by the Coop)

Malaria Solutions

$ 2500 IDEAS Award
(Sponsored by the Coop)

Team Treatment Buddy

Cabanga

Drug adherence continues to be the central challenge in reducing the 1.7 million deaths that occur worldwide due to tuberculosis every year. Running DOT programs that target geographically dispersed rural communities in developing countries is a significant logistical challenge. Hence, reliable, up-to-date knowledge of field conditions – e.g., every patient's adherence record, a log of patient/DOT-worker interaction – is indispensable. Yet, such information is either unavailable or its accuracy relies on the motivation and conscientiousness of DOT workers. Furthermore, data is gathered manually, making it error-prone and costly to collect and distribute.

We propose the uBox: a cheap, rugged pillbox that is left with the patient and which electronically records times of dosages and DOT worker visits. Such data enables timely and targeted intervention leading to improved adherence and better patient care. It also allows a rigorous evaluation of new incentive schemes and other program innovations. The uBox requires virtually no training and does not rely on infrastructure or user literacy. A prototype uBox is being assembled and tested. It will cost about $2 per patient per trial (one-tenth the cost of the leading market solution). We are working closely with the Prajnopaya Foundation and their TB clinic in Bihar, India, where we are scheduled to conduct a trial with 100 uBoxes in October, 2007.

We believe that the uBox's low cost, ease of use and universal applicability will make it a global standard for treatment in the rural context, not just for TB, but also for HIV/AIDS where adherence remains a challenge.

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CellCentives

Youth in the 15—34 age range account for over half the TB cases, a
population we believe can be influenced to adhere to guidelines by
providing proper incentives. We propose an innovative solution
comprising of a comprehensive package of reminders, incentives and
community involvement to help enforce drug adherence. Since youth are
also interested in cell phone access, cell phones will be the
preferred means for delivery of reminders and incentives will be
offered as free cell phone minutes. For highly floating populations,
cell phones will allow health care providers to maintain continued
access to their patients if they move away (when they lose their jobs
etc.).

We distinguish ourselves from previous incentive schemes by
incorporating patentable software-based methods to restrict the
incentives to a short time window, thereby ensuring timely tablet
intake. Records are maintained in a centralized database, which allows
Public Health Administrators to tweak incentive levels in order to
achieve desired levels of drug regimen compliance in the population.
We also offer incentive schemes for the community-at-large to help
enforce adherence and promote the use of our proposed solution.

Because India has the largest number of TB infections, our market
entry strategy is to focus on TB and the Indian market. In the future,
we plan to market CellCentives to HMOs in developed nations as a
proactive strategy for drug adherence. Effective drug adherence for
other long-regimen diseases such as diabetes and hypertension will
reduce the operational costs of HMOs.

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Vac-Cast Prosthetics

There are over 25,000 new amputees annually in India as a result of accidents and disease. Despite the availability of free prosthetics and fitting services through several NGOs, only half of these victims receive a prosthetic device that is specifically tailored to their residual limb. One factor for a patient to opt for treatment is whether they can devote the time necessary for the prosthetic fitting and fabrication process in an urban clinic. Conversely, patient throughput by these organizations is limited by the finite resources that they can allocate per patient for the lengthy treatment.

Fortunately, there is a novel sand-casting (SC) fitting technique that could increase patient throughput by a factor of five. However, SC cannot be deployed everywhere because it requires a vacuum device that is costly and electricity-intensive. We have developed a simple alternative to this machine that overcomes these limitations. Our technology is unique, easy-to-use, human-powered, costs under $200, is built using materials commonly found in a mechanic shop, uses no electricity, and can be integrated seamlessly with the other sand-casting treatment devices.

We have developed this device in collaboration with the Jaipur Foot Organization, the world leader in supplying prosthetic limbs and its affiliates to guarantee that our technology will meet the same needs as the electric vacuum machine. We will work with JFO to conduct field tests in August 2007 in India, with the expectation of continued collaboration to manufacture and distribute our vacuum device to JFO clinics worldwide.

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New DOTS

Our system is a combination of a novel remote monitoring device and microfinance-based incentives:

* Novel urinalysis test strips check daily that patients have taken their drugs (reducing forgetfulness and procrastination);
* Reporting using widespread cell phone technology reduces the need for human resources (eliminating the issue of health worker absenteeism and lowering the cost to half that of DOTS); and
* Customized microfinance incentives reward compliant patients with progressively increasing benefits (encouraging them to continue treatment even when side effects cause discomfort or symptoms are alleviated but infection persists).

The New Dots system allows penetration of tuberculosis monitoring into disadvantaged areas where lack of infrastructure makes DOTS extremely difficult, if not impossible, to implement. Furthermore, we expect that our system will be so much more inexpensive and effective that it will be an attractive alternative for almost every organization that uses DOTS.

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Bluesteel

Commercially available products that aim to teach developmentally disabled children to ride traditional bicycles have simply proven inadequate. Adult training wheels and adapted tricycles are not only obtrusive and stigmatizing, but also fail to instill proper balance and steering techniques.

Bluesteel’s Revolution allows the developmentally disabled to safely ride a two-wheeled bicycle with guidance from an instructor. It is a custom-designed bicycle with a second set of handlebars that are mechanically linked to the main handlebars. While the rider pedals, an instructor walks behind, holding onto the rear handlebars that are positioned behind the seat. In this safe and subtle way, the rider effectively learns proper steering and balancing technique. While many riders will graduate to a traditional bicycle, all riders will experience the thrill of riding a two-wheeled bicycle.

There are 1.6 million children in the U.S. with developmental disabilities. Mastering this skill can bring them independence, self-confidence and social acceptance, which cannot be under-estimated.

We have worked closely with our community partner, the Cardinal Cushing School – a school for the developmentally disabled, throughout the design and testing process. The response to our initial prototype was astonishing and encouraging. We are convinced that our product meets a present and deserving need and intend to make Bluesteel’s Revolution available to all children who need it. Once this primary market is addressed, the potential exists for developing a less expensive, common household version that can be used to teach any child how to ride.

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Blowin' in the Wind

The seventh of the UN Millennium Development Goals aims to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water. Yet, all the peasantry in the Honduran community of Guadalupe Carney suffers from water scarcity during annual droughts. The insufficiency is restricted to the surface, as underground water represents a readily available alternative, albeit not easily accessible. Hand pumping is time consuming and health hazardous, and other automated means are not affordable. The hope is certainly not lost, because in this coastal region wind is a generous gift. Thus, there is a tremendous potential for the development of a cheap, robust, simple, and environmentally sustainable wind water pump to give low-income families access to underground water. We are novelly addressing this necessity in two complementary ways. First, we integrate a Savonious vertical-axis windmill and a rope pump, systems that have never worked together before. Then, we plan to develop guidance material for local implementation of wind water pumps in developing countries. The initial prototype has already been deployed, and now we need to correlate wind and rotor speeds in order to assess its performance. These results will drive design improvements, aimed at tackling the current weaknesses: low aerodynamic efficiency and high start torque. The system will positively impact our community from the first wind blow and the first mill spin. Not only will they improve their access to safe drinking water, but they will also thrive in the water demanding business of cattle breeding, which in turn will trigger economic growth. Guadalupe Carney is not one of a kind, but a vivid representation of that population that we hope will benefit from UN's ambitious goals, and our technology could be easily and rapidly disseminated in this quest for water.

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Malaria Solutions

We seek to implement a sustainable malaria intervention in Banizoumbou village, southwestern Niger, using neem extracts as a larvicide. The proposed methodology offers innovative alternatives to currently favored techniques such as insecticide treated bednets, indoor residual spraying, and case management, which are unaffordable luxuries for the impoverished population of Niger. Increased sustainability derives from the lack of reliance on outside donors and the potential for total self-sufficiency for malaria intervention at the village scale. We will use extracts from the ubiquitous neem tree to target subadult mosquitoes in rainfed ephemeral pools. In lab tests, neem tree extracts have been shown to be effective, species-specific larvicides, but do not threaten development of resistance. The combination of 99 effective chemicals prevents selection pressure for resistance against one single chemical. Banizoumbou village, Niger, has been the subject of our PhD field research for two consecutive rain seasons and it is the primary community to be served. We have come to know the villagers well, have the enthusiastic support and cooperation from the villagers and the chief and have gained valuable understanding of anopheles mosquito ecology. In addition, we have working contacts with Dr Jean Bernard Duchemin (medical entomologist) of CERMES, a medical research facility in Niamey, Niger, and Dr. Ibrahim Ousmane of the National Center for Malaria Control in Niamey. Both support our plans with guidance and logistics aid. We intend to prove the potential of neem for malaria intervention, improve Banizoumbou villagers’ lives, and influence local public health policy with our results.

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Team Treatment Buddy

Team Treatment-Buddies seeks to increase adherence to TB treatment in Bihar in India by improving the effectiveness of a DOTS program that is already being implemented by the Prajnopaya Foundation. Tuberculosis treatment lasts six months and involves taking a handful of pills under supervision biweekly, which are toxic and have side-effects. Within two months, the patient feels better, and discontinuing treatment appears desirable. However, if the full dosage is not taken, the bacteria remaining in the patient’s body can develop resistance to the TB drugs, thus introducing a dangerous strain of TB. Our solution increases patient adherence by making the treatment more convenient, providing the patient with education and trust, and shifting treatment from the individual to the community.

Our solution divides patients into single-gender local peer groups, each assigned a local paid peer worker, recruited from those who have successfully completed the treatment, who acts as a liaison between the health center and the patients. The peer worker dispenses pills, educates the patients about the treatment, and records weight and body temperature as well as symptoms and concerns through a tape-recorder. Peer workers work with patients who stop attending the group sessions to understand their reluctance find a way to help them stick to their drug regimen. As the current model requires patients to come to the clinic each time they need to take pills, this dramatically increases patient convenience.

This community-driven, trust-based model holds patient support, trust, and education as the most effective motivators of treatment adherence.

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