The winners of the Fidelity Future Impact Prize were announced on Monday at the inaugural Partnering for Global Impact conference in Lugano, Switzerland. Sponsored by Fidelity Worldwide Investment, the Prize supports ideas that have the potential to become solutions of the future. A large number of social entrepreneurs applied for the competition, presenting a range of innovative early stage business ideas from around the world.
First place was awarded to SwissLeg, which received a main prize of CHF 12,500 for their model to provide affordable advanced mobility to amputees using an innovative prosthetic design. SwissLeg combines a simple manufacturing process with low-cost and readily available materials. The company, led by Mohammad Ismail, Roberto Agosta, and Paulo Gonçalves, is based in Switzerland.
"SwissLeg is a very inspiring company," said Carola Schropp, President of EBD Group. "Their model provides access to prosthetics at a competitive cost for those who would not otherwise have access to this technology. Each of the winners presented solutions to difficult social problems. We are proud to congratulate them all on this achievement."
The second place award of CHF 7,500 went to Ruby Cup, makers of a high quality, long-lasting menstrual hygiene product sold in Kenya through women-to-women sales. The product improves the health of women and also addresses the problem of lost school attendance and professional opportunities due to lack of a viable type of menstrual hygiene. The third place award of CHF 5,000 went to VIVUS, developers of an innovative rural transportation system enabling the efficient collection of crops and agricultural waste available in small quantities in rural areas of Ghana. Information about the competition can be found at http://www.partneringforglobalimpact.com/program/future_impact_prize.
Partnering for Global Impact in collaboration with HUB Zürich, an incubator for innovative social ventures, sourced and selected the group of outstanding early stage entrepreneurs who competed for the award. The finalists presented their project ideas live in Lugano in front of a prestigious jury including: Stephen Brenninkmeijer, Founder, Willows Investments; Filipe Santos, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Academic Director, INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Initiative; Jack Sim, Founder, World Toilet Organization; and Alfred Strebel, Country Head, Fidelity Switzerland.
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About Partnering for Global Impact:
Partnering for Global Impact was founded by Carola Schropp, Gamil G. de Chadarevian and EBD Group, the leading partnering firm for the global life science industry. Carola Schropp is Founder and President of EBD Group. She is widely recognized as one of the original proponents of global biotech/pharma partnering. Over the past 20 years, Carola has built EBD Group into the leading partnering firm in the life science market that today spans six international partnering events on three continents and generates over 30,000 one-to-one meetings annually. Gamil G. de Chadarevian is a successful entrepreneur and investor, and helped build seven biotech companies in the US and Europe from 1995 through 2009. Today, he serves on the Advisory Board of Hand In Hand and Venture Valuation AG. Gamil also has been the initiator and co-founder of the successful yearly Asta di San Patrignano benefit dinner in Milan (2001) and has helped Guy Laliberte launch his One Drop Foundation (2006/7).
Partnering for Global Impact is supported by a distinguished advisory board which includes Percy Barnevik, Chairman of Hand in Hand International; Ken Korfmann, current chairman and principal shareholder of Korfmann Burnett & Partners providing strategic advisory and executive search services to international clients; Cornelius Pietzner, CEO of Alterra Impact Finance, a social impact investment firm in Zurich focusing on sustainable European companies; Amer Vohora, a private equity and corporate finance advisor to entrepreneurs and families; and Ingo Weber, a passionate impact investor and part of the team that founded the LeapFrog Inclusion Fund.
The conference is designed to promote social impact investments and philanthropy by facilitating transactions with measurable social impact. It is a unique, innovative forum where social entrepreneurs, project incubators, philanthropists, fund managers, foundations, financial institutions, families and family offices, and forward-looking investors can partner, identify and generate investment and funding opportunities. Presenting companies will discuss their social impact projects as they relate to the following five key sectors: education, healthcare, housing, financial services, and water.
Information on Partnering for Global Impact can be found online at http://www.partneringforglobalimpact.com.
Additional links and information:
Follow Partnering for Global Impact 2012 on Twitter: twitter.com/PGImpact (hashtag: #PGI12)
About EBD Group
EBD Group is the leading partnering firm for the global life science industry. Since 1993, biotech, pharma and medical device companies have leveraged EBD Group´s partnering conferences, technology and services to identify business opportunities and develop strategic relationships essential to their success.
EBD Group´s conferences are run with the support of leading corporations and international trade associations and include:
- BIO-Europe® and BIO-Europe Spring®, Europe´s largest life science partnering conferences, supported by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)
- BioPharm America TM, the fastest growing partnering event in North America
- Biotech Showcase TM, a unique forum in San Francisco for presenting to investors and business development executives, co-produced with Demy-Colton Life Science Advisors
- BioEquity Europe, the investor conference co-organized with BioCentury Publications and BIO
- ChinaBio® Partnering Forum, the first dedicated biotech/pharma partnering conference in China, co-produced with ChinaBio® LLC
- EuroMedtech TM, EBD Group´s partnering event for the innovative medical technology industry
- Partnering for Global Impact®, a new partnering conference providing an innovative forum to partner, identify and generate social and philanthropic investment and funding opportunities
EBD Group´s sophisticated web-based partnering service, partneringONE®, is used as the partnering engine at numerous third-party events around the world, and partnering360® is the open online community of life science dealmakers that enhances partnering experiences at industry events.
Outside of the conference format, EBD Group´s consultants provide hands-on assistance for firms seeking to in- or out-license products and technologies.
EBD Group has offices in the USA and Europe.
For more information please visit www.ebdgroup.com.
