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Her Majesty Queen Rania, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs – the Hon Julie Bishop MP Joining All-Star Lineup of Program Participants During United Nations General Assembly Week in New York where Finalists Will Live Pitch Expert Judges
Note: To attend the Solve Challenge Finals in New York City on September 17, apply for a press pass to the event here. Press inquiries and interview requests should be directed to sberg@skdknick.com and press@solve.mit.edu.
MIT’s new Solve initiative announced today that Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan will join the all-star lineup of program participants attending the Global Challenge Finals live pitch event on Sunday, September 17, during the United Nations General Assembly Week. During the event, selected innovators and entrepreneurs will pitch their solutions for Solve’s 2017 Challenges to expert judges and a live audience. Immediately following live pitch sessions, those chosen by the judges will be announced as Solver teams and join the Solve community to build partnerships with cross-sector leaders that help pilot, scale and implement their solutions. Queen Rania, who is the co-chair of the Youth, Skills, and the Workforce of the Future Challenge, will help congratulate the winners of the challenge following the live pitch event.
The live pitch day will also feature Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs – the Hon Julie Bishop MP, who will speak on a panel in the closing plenary session to discuss how cross-sector actors can work together and partner to implement solutions to address the challenges of our time. Up to US$1 million in grant funding from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s innovationXchange will be awarded to selected Youth, Skills, and the Workforce of the Future Finalists for their work impacting Indo-Pacific countries and development.
Atlassian Head of Foundation Mark Reading will join the Solve Challenge Finals as well. The foundation is pledging up to US$1 million in grant funding to the Youth, Skills, and the Workforce of the Future Finalists including non-government organizations, non-profits, social enterprises, academics, entrepreneurs, and for-profit organizations building scalable education models that prepare disadvantaged youth for the workforce of the future.
Other prominent leaders featured throughout the day include Cynthia Barnhart, Chancellor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Ursula M. Burns, Retired Chairman and CEO, Xerox Corporation; Her Excellency Mrs. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, President of the Republic of Mauritius; Carolyn Miles, President and CEO, Save the Children; Luis Alberto Moreno, President, Inter-American Development Bank;Dominic Price, Work Futurist, Atlassian; L. Rafael Reif, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Premal Shah, Co-Founder and President, Kiva; and Jane Wurwand, Co-Founder, Dermalogica and FITE.
In addition, cellist Yo-Yo Ma will speak on Solve’s panel at the 2017 Concordia Annual Summit the following day.
Solve also released the final event schedule including a full list of speakers, judges and finalists.
Solve is a community that brings together technologists, social entrepreneurs, business leaders, policymakers, researchers and other change agents to unearth and implement solutions to specific, actionable challenges facing the world. More than 950 solutions from all over the world were submitted to Solve’s 2017 Global Challenges: (1) Brain Health, (2) Sustainable Urban Communities, (3) Women and Technology, and (4) Youth, Skills, and the Workforce of the Future.
To attend the Solve Challenge Finals in New York City on September 17, apply for a press pass to the event here.
About Solve:
Solve is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that identifies and supports lasting solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. Solve is a community that brings together technologists, social entrepreneurs, business leaders, policymakers, researchers and other change agents to unearth and implement solutions to specific, actionable challenges issued around the pillars of Economic Prosperity, Health, Learning and Sustainability. Learn more at solve.mit.edu.
Press Contact:
Ken Meyer
617-475-8067
press@solve.mit.edu
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