Welcome to the Changemakers “Disruptive Innovations in Health and Health Care: Solutions People Want” Collaborative Competition, which aims to find innovative solutions and catalyze a community of changemakers around the disruptive innovations transforming health and health care.



Eligibility Criteria
The competition will be open to all types of organizations (charitable organizations, private companies, or public entities) from all countries. We consider all entries that:

• Reflect the theme of the competition: Disruptive Innovations. The scope of the competition is to identify “disruptive innovations” able to transform health and health care. Entries are invited from organizations in all countries and proposed solutions should inform work being done in the U.S and around the world.

• Are beyond the stage of idea, concept, or research, and, at a minimum, are at the demonstration stage and indicate success.

• Are submitted in English and are complete.

Assessment Criteria
The winners of this Changemakers Collaborative Competition will be those entries that best meet the following criteria:

• Disruptive Innovation: This is the knock-out test. The application must describe the disruptive innovation that it is focused on. Does the innovation clearly reflect the ability to systemically transform health and health care by focusing on greater simplicity, lower cost, and enhanced convenience of services to more powerful, informed consumers? Does it enable more consumers in that market to afford and/or have the skill to use the product or service? Is the change caused by such an innovation so big, that it eventually replaces, or disrupts, the established approach to providing that product or service?

• Social Impact: It is important that the innovation has begun to have an impact on the field it addresses. Some innovations will have proven success at a small level, while others will have scaled to engage millions of people. Regardless of the level of demonstrated impact, it is important to see that the innovation has the ability to affect the world and not just one village. This will be judged by considering the scale strategy, ability to be replicated, clear how-tos, and a map to reach the big goals.

• Sustainability: For an innovation to be truly effective it must have a plan for how it will acquire financial and other bases of support for the long-term. Are strong partnerships in place for it to have a ripple effect? Is there a clear financial plan in place?

Competition Deadlines, Procedures, and Rules
Deadlines and procedure for entries will be announced shortly.
There are three main phases in the competition:

• Entry Stage - May 2 to July 18, 2007:Entries can be submitted until 12 pm Eastern US time on July18, 2007, and anyone can participate in an online idea review discussion with the entrants.

• Close of Entry Stage and Judging - July 18 to August 15, 2007: Online idea review discussion continues. In parallel, a panel of judges well-versed in the topic and Ashoka staff select the competition finalists.

• Voting - August 15 to August 28, 2007: Popular online voting to select the three award winners from the field of finalists. The Changemakers Collaborative Competition winners will be announced on August 29, 2007.

The Changemakers Collaborative Competition will include a cash prize of US$5,000 for the top three winners.
Participating in the competition provides the chance to get feedback on your model and to advise potential investors about how best to change funding/investing patterns for the sector and to maximize the strategic impact and effectiveness of their future investments. The competition will generate an Investor Advisory available to investors, foundations, and other funding agencies. Those participants whose contributions most help frame the contents of the advisory will be acknowledged and may be convened to advise investors at a global meeting

Disclaimer—Compliance with Legal Restrictions
Ashoka complies fully with all U.S. laws and regulations, including Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations, export control, and anti-money laundering laws. All grants will be awarded subject to compliance with such laws. Ashoka will not make any grant if it finds that to do so would be unlawful. This may prohibit awards in certain countries and/or to certain individuals or entities. All recipients will comply with these laws to the extent they are applicable to such recipients. No recipient will take any action that would cause Ashoka to violate any laws. Additionally, Ashoka will not make any grant to a company involved in the promotion of tobacco use.

For more information, contact disruptiveinnovations@changemakers.net. Or see our new FAQ