data.org, a US nonprofit, has announced the winners of its “Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge”. The funding of 10 million US dollars will go to eight projects that use data science to improve people’s lives.

One of the selected projects is an app from the non-profit Swiss foundation BASE, which gives Indian smallholders access to secure cold chains and supports them in making decisions based on weather and market data wants to see whether cooling is worthwhile. In this way, more food should be protected from spoilage. A project by the University of Aalborg in Denmark is also being funded to develop a map that can be used to identify economically particularly vulnerable regions. Community Lattice from the USA wants to give everyone easy access to critical environmental information so that they can assess health risks. Fundación Capital combines Mozambique’s largest digital platform for jobs in the informal sector with an AI assistant to give job seekers a better overview of job and income opportunities.

The University of Chicago receives funding, to develop maps and open source tools that can be used to identify regions that are left behind when Internet access is fast. GiveDirectly wants to use machine learning to accelerate digital cash transfer in Africa. Solar Sister promotes the spread of renewable energies in Africa with market analyzes. Women’s World Banking aims to make it easier for women entrepreneurs in Mexico, Nigeria and India to access credit.

data.org is a platform that partners with local actors to promote the use of data science in the social and societal fields wants to advance. It is funded by Mastercard’s Center for Inclusive Growth and the Rockefeller Foundation.

(odi)