Voting Now Open: Meet the 2019 Finalists for the Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge

You may vote for as many entries as you like, but you can only vote once per entry. Winners will be announced on May 20, 2019. 

Solar Freeze

Food losses amount to roughly US$ 310 billion in developing countries. Estimates from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank show that up to 47 per cent of the $940 billion needed to eradicate hunger in sub-Saharan Africa by 2050 will be required for the post-harvest system. Fruits and vegetables, dairy products and tubers have the highest loss rates of any food in developing countries at 45-50% occurring at post-harvest level.

Oorja: More crop per drop – Oonnati PAYG Community Solar Pumping Systems

100 million farmers in India depend on expensive and polluting diesel pumps for irrigation. Solar pumps are a cost-effective and sustainable solution, but 90% of farmers cannot afford them. Oorja deploys PAYG Community Solar Pumping Systems for groups of smallholder farmers. Digital flowmeter and payment technology enable a pay-per-use model without upfront cost to farmers. They access affordable water services year-round, reduce irrigation costs, grow high-value crops and double their incomes.

TrashCon Labs Private Limited: Automated Zero Waste Technology

TrashCon is solving the waste menace by our invention - The World's first completely automated Municipal Solid Waste segregation technology - TrashBot. A one-stop solution to segregate any kind of mixed municipal solid waste automatically into Bio-Degradable waste and Non Bio-Degradable waste upto 99% efficiency thus enabling Zero Waste. The Bio-degradable is converted to compost, Bio-gas and the Non Bio waste is recycled thus providing a complete end-to-end integrated solution.

Calla Imaging: an integrated hardware and software solution for cervical cancer screening.

Cervical cancer affects the lives over 500,000 women annually, with over 80% in low-and middle-income countries, and 50% of these women die. This is due to a lack of affordable, accessible, and accurate screening. Our vision is to democratize screening through 1) imaging technology that community health providers or women themselves can use for screening; 2) automated algorithms for accurate diagnosis without an expert; and 3) mHealth app for patient data storage and communication for follow up.

BlakBear: Soil Sensing Platform

Intensive agriculture is necessary to feed a growing world, but it is destroying our farmland. In this project we will use novel sensing technology and cloud intelligence to increase the yield farmers can get from their land, using no more fertilizer than is necessary. We achieve this by combining electrochemical sensing innovations with statistical algorithms to measure and understand soil nitrogen levels instantaneously, and provide optimised nitrogen fertilisation instructions.

Check out the other finalists for the 2019 GPS Challenge to cast your vote.