The Problem
Have you ever thought you could improve sexual education? Does teen pregnancy prevention matter to you? Interested in developing technology that could change public health as we know it?
If yes, we invite you to enter the Innovation Next Awards.
The Innovation Next Awards, a program of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, has just announced a call for entries. In the first round, this new awards program will give $80,000 to 10 individually funded teams to develop technology interventions towards teen pregnancy prevention.
The submission period is from December 15, 2015 through January 31, 2016. Entries may be submitted at www.InnovationNext.org. Professionals from all backgrounds with a wide variety of experience and expertise are welcome.
The Problem
Nearly all teen pregnancies are unplanned. That is, teens say they did not want to get pregnant or cause a pregnancy. That alone is reason enough to care about preventing teen pregnancy. But, it is also the case that teen pregnancy is closely linked to a host of other critical social issues—poverty and income, overall child well-being, out-of-wedlock births, responsible fatherhood, health issues, education, child welfare, and other risky behavior. There are also substantial public costs associated with adolescent childbearing. Consequently, teen pregnancy should be viewed not only as a reproductive health issue, but as one that works to improve all of these measures.
Simply put, if more children in this country were born to parents who are ready and able to care for them, we would see a significant reduction in a host of social problems afflicting children in the United States.
Teen pregnancy is a classic "cloud problem" with a number of causes. Lack of knowledge about the full range of contraceptive methods, poor access, and bad relationships all contribute to the problem.
The Challenge Breakthrough
We are looking for breakthrough approaches using technology towards teen pregnancy prevention.
What You Can Do To Cause A Breakthrough
Additional rules
Who can participate:
Professionals from all backgrounds with a wide variety of experience and expertise are welcome.
Selection of Winner:
Based on the winning criteria, 10 prizes will be awarded in Stage 1 at a level of $80,000/team. In Stage 2, five teams will be awarded prizes that range from $275,000 - $325,000.
Details
Candidate teams for Stage One of the Innovation Next Accelerator will be evaluated on the following criteria:
Your team. The proposed team has a passion and commitment to working together to uncover new solutions for tackling teen pregnancy prevention. Your team should have a good mix of skillsets and be able to work together effectively. We also need all team members to agree to participate in all meetings and stages of the project as described herein.
Your perspective and potential for diffusion. We’re looking for teams who are committed to an end-user focused framework—Design Thinking—that is iterative and dynamic. This framework depends on in-depth work with and empathy for the target audience to unlock innovation. As such, we’re expecting innovation teams to come to this project willing to learn and apply what they learn. We also want to spread the potential value and opportunity of using the Design Thinking framework to address teen pregnancy and other similar issues. To that end, we’re looking for teams who can diffuse what they’ve learned to a broader network.
Your challenge and idea. We want to be addressing current disparities and gaps in programming. To that end, we are looking for innovative project ideas that use technology to address a teen pregnancy related challenge. We’re also looking for project ideas focused on high risk population(s) currently underserved by existing evidence-based TPP programs.
Registration and Submissions:
The submission period is from December 15, 2015 through January 31, 2016. Entries may be submitted at www.InnovationNext.org.
This opportunity is made possible by Grant Number TP2AH000023-01-00 from the HHS Office of Adolescent Health. Contents are solely the responsibility of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Department of Health and Human Services or the Office of Adolescent Health.
Challenge Guidelines are subject to change. Registered competitors will receive notification when changes are made, however, we highly encourage you to visit the Challenge Site often to review updates.
