Google Impact Challenge prize winners

  • Media release

Today I announce the four winners of the "Technology Against Poverty" prize, a partnership between the Australian Government's innovationXchange and Google.org.

The $2,000,000 prize is a component of the Google Impact Challenge run by Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google.

Australia is the first government to partner with Google.org to deliver a prize as part of the Impact Challenge, which is conducted worldwide to support local non-profit innovators to use technology to solve key social and development problems.

The "Technology Against Poverty" winners are each awarded a $500,000 prize to support their work in improving the lives of people in the Indo-Pacific region through the innovative use of technology.

The four prize winners are:

  • The University of Technology Sydney, to remove arsenic from groundwater in Vietnam using a purification and renewable energy system to produce drinking water;
  • Oxfam, to provide access to micro-financial services in the Philippines using a digital finance platform;
  • Engineers Without Borders, to create a social enterprise using innovative water treatment technology to provide drinking water in Timor-Leste; and
  • 40K Foundation, to improve learning outcomes for children in India and Cambodia by combining technology and interactive education programs with local facilitators.

The innovationXchange identifies, trials and scales innovative new approaches to foreign aid to improve the effectiveness and impact of Australia's aid program. The partnership with Google.org used an open call for innovation to encourage entrepreneurs, not-for-profits, experts and academics to bring new technologies to Australia's aid program.

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