Ten projects from Canadian non-profit organizations have been selected as the finalists for Canada’s first-ever Google.org Impact Challenge.
The nationwide competition is designed to find and fund non-profits that are using tech to tackle social issues in Canada and internationally. The 10 finalists will share $5 million, with five organizations receiving $750,000 and five receiving $250,000. One winner will be chosen by the public in a vote that runs until March 28. The remaining funds will be determined by a panel of judges in a live pitching session on March 30.
Among the finalists are companies that are using web applications and big data to drive social change and seek solutions to disrupt the non-profit space. The winners of this year’s challenge are:
- REDS by The Canadian Red Cross Society: The web-based Register Educate Deliver System (REDS) aims to register disaster-affected people, educate them with personalized information, and deliver financial assistance in a way that ensures dignity and enables choices.
- Services Advisor by Peace Geeks Society: Services Advisor is a web app that aims to centralize the collection and dissemination of services information to immigrants.
- Victoria Hand Project, which aims to use 3D printing technologies to address the challenge of physical disabilities due to upper-limb deficiency. The project works with amputees in low-to-middle income countries that can’t access appropriate prosthetic care.
- SIKU Platform by Arctic Eider Society, which is a social mapping network designed for the Inuit community to provide tools and services to improve ice safety, community-driven research, environmental stewardship, and education and training.
- Geodesic Growing Dome by Growing North, which is a geodesic greenhouse that will provide fresh produce at 51 percent of the current price in rural Northern Canada.
- Indigenous LearnCloud Portal by Rumie Initiative, which will address the lack of access to localized educational content for youth in Canadian Indigenous communities. The web platform will engage individuals throughout Canada to collaboratively organize the best open-source learning resources into offline-usable digital curriculums that teach Indigenous culture, history and language along with skills likeemployment training, health-care knowledge, English and financial literacy.
- ResUAV by GlobalMedic, which will perform emergency mapping flights to address the issue of access constraints and information gaps for actors in the humanitarian sector responding to international disasters.
- Pocket Doc for Pneumonia by British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital Foundation, which is a mobile health platform that will provide real-time individualized risk prediction to facilitate timely and effective targeted treatment of pneumonia at first contact.
- Teleaudiology Cloud by Worldwide Hearing Foundation International, which is an open-access platform that will enable audiologists and speech therapists to provide remote diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation for hearing loss. Field workers and technicians will be able to capture data on patients and refer complex cases to specialists.
- FoodAccess App by Food Banks Canada, which will help connect farmers, manufacturers, and retailers looking to divert surplus quality food away from landfills by donating it to agencies that deliver support to people in need.