Concordia and MIT Solve Programming Partnership Announcement

MIT Solve and Concordia are collaborating throughout 2018 in an aligned mission to develop an environment that supports social progress. The two organizations will create a multi-disciplinary and diverse platform at the 2018 Concordia Annual Summit by engaging their networks and communities, and will host an MIT Solve Challenge Design Workshop aimed at devising lasting solutions to the Challenges that affect the world at large.

Solve is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that advances lasting solutions from tech entrepreneurs to address the world’s most pressing problems. A marketplace for social impact innovation, each year Solve issues four “global Challenges” to find the most promising “Solver” teams who will drive transformational change. Solve then deploys its community of leaders and changemakers. As a Solver, these entrepreneurs have the opportunity to meet and build partnerships with Solve members to help accelerate their solutions and impact.  

At the 2017 Concordia Annual Summit, both organizations collaborated for a plenary session titled “Harnessing Technology, Arts, and Culture to Solve Global Challenges,” which explored the role of cross-industry cooperation and the need to cultivate talent and ingenuity from across the world. Yo-Yo Ma, Cellist and Curator of the Solve Arts & Culture Mentorship Prize, Alex Amouyel, Solve’s Executive Director, and Neri Oxman, MIT’s Associate Professor of Media Arts & Sciences, addressed how technology and the creative economy can be used together to tackle Challenges ranging from food and water scarcity to brain health and mental resilience.

In addition to bringing the Solve Challenge Design Workshop to the 2018 Concordia Annual Summit, both organizations will co-curate a plenary session focused on Solver teams. The plenary will consist of a panel of Solver teams, allowing the Concordia Annual Summit audience to hear first-hand of their innovative work and key next steps. Beyond the Annual Summit, Solve and Concordia will continue this partnership to further Solve’s mission to identify innovative solutions to specific Challenges. By working together and leveraging the insights of each organization, the partnership will convene a community of cross-sector leaders needed to pilot, implement, and scale these meaningful solutions.

Solve’s core values, which include optimism, partnerships, open innovation, and human-centeredness, align with Concordia’s mission of fostering innovative partnerships to achieve positive and actionable social impact.

To read more about MIT Solve, visit solve.mit.edu

To read more about the 2018 Concordia Annual Summit, including how to attend, visit www.concordia.net/annualsummit/2018annualsummit

Quotes:

“It was an immense pleasure to host Yo-Yo Ma, Cellist and Curator of the MIT Solve Arts & Culture Mentorship Prize, at last year’s Annual Summit, and I am excited to be continuing our partnership with Solve this year. I look forward to using our global platform to tackle the challenges that affect the world at large and to make a head start towards achieving palpable social impact,” Matthew Swift, Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO of Concordia

“We are delighted to continue our partnership with Concordia this year — a true leader in the social impact community,” said Alex Amouyel, Executive Director of Solve. “At Solve, we find the most promising tech-based solutions to global Challenges from applicants the world over, and then we connect these innovators to tangible partnerships to scale their work; participating at Concordia’s Annual Summit gives our Solver teams access to some of the greatest minds in the world of social impact, and we hope this will lead to more cross-sector partnerships that advance their work.”

About Solve:  

Solve is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that advances lasting solutions from tech entrepreneurs to address the world’s most pressing problems. Solve issues four Challenges each year to find the most promising Solver class to drive transformational change. Solve then deploys its global community of private, public, and nonprofit leaders to form partnerships these Solver teams need to scale their impact. This year, more than 1,150 people from 110 countries submitted solutions to Solve’s four Challenges: (1) Coastal Communities, (2) Frontlines of Health, (3) Teachers & Educators, and (4) Work of the Future.