Mountain View, CA (June 27, 2013) –Singularity University (SU) and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF have announced a new partnership to create transformative technologies that will save and improve the lives of the most vulnerable children and women in developing countries. SU and UNICEF will work together to find sustainable solutions to some of the most pressing challenges in the areas of nutrition, water, energy, security, health, and education.
“At Singularity University, our mission is to educate and empower the brightest people on our planet with the tools of exponential technology and entrepreneurship to solve humanity’s greatest challenges,“ said CEO Rob Nail. “Our new partnership with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF will now give us access to a global network to directly implement these solutions in localities of greatest need.”
A key provision of the partnership is the creation of a UNICEF Innovation Lab on the campus of Singularity University. The new lab will provide UNICEF with access to SU principals, management, start-up companies and the university’s global network of scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs. Together SU and UNICEF will work with academia, government, and the Silicon Valley business community, as well as young people to expand the network.
The partnership will allow UNICEF to leverage its expanding network of Innovation Labs and build on its long history of scaling transformative solutions for children, including deploying the first low-cost water hand-pump to rural communities, pioneering the use of radio for social mobilization, and developing RapidSMS, the award-winning open source data collection and communication platform that has improved health systems.
“UNICEF works to give the world’s most vulnerable children access to education and healthcare to help them thrive on an even playing field,” said UNICEF Advisor on Innovation, Christopher Fabian. “Our partnership with SU can help achieve these goals, while keeping an eye on future potentials. The new UNICEF-SU Innovation Lab will match the world’s toughest problems with the people who can solve them.”
“Finding a way to expose our Singularity University participants, faculty and staff – especially the participants in our Global Solutions Program, to the specific needs in the developing world will greatly enhance our institution’s understanding of its mission and social impact globally,” said Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom, Chief Impact Officer and Exec VP of Operations, Singularity University, who traveled with UNICEF to tour Innovation Labs in Uganda and Burundi.“There is no substitution to seeing these challenges first-hand and understanding them from the user standpoint and interacting with the local populations,” continued Paat-Dahlstrom. “UNICEF’s global network of experts and experience in country in their Innovation labs, and wealth of case studies will make this easier in the future.”
Singularity University’s mission is to assemble, educate, and inspire a new generation of leaders in business, science, finance, and government who strive to understand and use exponentially advancing technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges. Since 2009, SU has hosted students and industry leaders from more than 70 countries at its campus at NASA Research Park, Moffett Field, CA. Corporate Partners include Autodesk, Cisco, Credit Union Roundtable, ePlanet Ventures, GE, Genentech, Google, Intelius, Kauffman Foundation, Nokia, Steelcase, and Triple Ring Technologies.
About UNICEF
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) works in more than 190 countries and territories to save and improve children’s lives, providing health care and immunizations, clean water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF supports UNICEF’s work through fundraising, advocacy, and education in the United States. Together, we are working toward the day when zero children die from preventable causes and every child has a safe and healthy childhood.