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| Join the InnoCentive Sanitation Challenge |
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InnoCentive and Sanitation Ventures launch an open-source Challenge around the BSF larvae approach to improving latrines
Could you help us design a new on-site sanitation system? That’s what we’re asking problem-solvers worldwide, thanks to an online Challenge launched by InnoCentive, the pioneer in open innovation and crowdsourcing.
The Challenge is based on one of Sanitation Ventures’ approaches to reducing the problem of pit latrine filling. It seeks an affordable and user-friendly system that will allow Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae to be used to reduce waste mass in pit latrines and then harvested and used elsewhere as an economic resource. By consuming many times their body weight in organic matter, the larvae help tackle the problem of full pits, which cause health risks and expense to poor families. In addition, in their prepupae stage, the larvae are a valuable commercial resource which can be processed into high-protein animal or fish feed, biodiesel or soil conditioner.
A fresh approach to innovation
From Procter & Gamble and NASA, to the Rockefeller Foundation and The Economist, InnoCentive enables organisations to solve key problems quickly and cost effectively by connecting them to diverse sources of innovation. These include millions of employees, customers and partners, who together make up world’s largest ‘problem solving marketplace’.
"This is exactly the type of ambitious, far-reaching Challenge that will mobilise our Solver network," says InnoCentive President and CEO Dwayne Spradlin. "With the Earth’s population now exceeding seven billion, basic sanitation is an increasingly critical issue. Solutions to this problem will greatly enhance the lives of people who live in vulnerable communities."
How to take part
Anyone can become an InnoCentive Solver, so why not find out more about the Challenge and help improve lives worldwide?
The Challenge carries a total award payout of $10,000, with one guaranteed award of at least $5,000, and potential additional awards of at least $1,000. It runs until 19 January 2012, with the results announced in March.
"The global sanitation problem is huge," says Sanitation Ventures Director Walter Gibson, "which is why we’re particularly excited to work with InnoCentive and the Solver community on the BSF larvae approach. The potential impact of this Challenge is vast."
Read Walter’s blog about the challenge on InnoCentive’s website.
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| We develop innovations that offer longer-lasting, affordable sanitation for the poor, improving health and livelihoods by reducing exposure to disease and potentially freeing income to help support families. Read more
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| Coming soon... |
| The latest on our pioneering research into understanding and speeding up decomposition processes in latrine pits. |
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