Eight Awardees Announced as Part of $10 Million data.org Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge

Funding and support from data.org will facilitate data-driven projects for social impact around the world

Today, data.org announced the eight global awardees of the $10 million Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge. Launched in partnership with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and The Rockefeller Foundation, the Challenge will tackle society’s greatest challenges by harnessing the power of data science to help people and communities thrive. Winning projects from around the world include the use of AI to increase credit access for female entrepreneurs, data models to track how internet connectivity disproportionately impacts low-income communities in Chicago and an open-source quality of life map index to highlight where investment is needed most, among others.

“The Challenge was created to kickstart breakthrough data science ideas and also to provide financial support to existing innovative social impact projects,” said Danil Mikhailov, Executive Director of data.org. “We have been enormously inspired by the innovative thinking of these projects that implement programs and policies to lift up all segments of society.”

Recommended AI News: Genesis Appoints Dr. Derar Islim as Chief Operating Officer

Awardees were selected based on exceptional use of data science to advance inclusive growth. They are located in the U.S., Chile, Mozambique, Togo, Australia, Mexico, India, Denmark, Switzerland, Nigeria and Tanzania.

“Other than impact, we also selected our awardees based on their potential for replicability, scalability and practicality,” continued Danil Mikhailov. “The eight projects recognized by the Challenge not only are visionary, but also practical. They are the type of project we expect to one day fundamentally – and positively – impact the way we live our lives.”

“A year ago, data.org was launched with the belief that the world’s most pressing challenges and the lives of vulnerable people could be improved with data-driven insights,” said Mike Froman, vice chairman of Mastercard. “As we begin to recover from the global pandemic, today’s awardees are providing innovative approaches to ensuring economic growth is inclusive and sustainable for everyone. We’re committed to building a global network of data scientists solving these problems – because that’s what is needed to build the field of data science for social impact.”

Recommended AI News: ClearPoint Neuro Announces First Procedure Utilizing ClearPoint 2.0 Software

“As we recover from the devastation of Covid-19, a status quo approach to rebuilding our communities won’t work,” said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. “The awardees of the Challenge leverage the latest data science techniques to build a world where entrepreneurs have fair access to credit regardless of their gender, where workers have analytical tools to chart their own course, and where wage theft is a thing of the past. We founded data.org to reclaim data science as a tool for social impact. This cohort of projects makes that ambition real at a time when the need for an inclusive recovery couldn’t be greater.”

The Rockefeller Foundation and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth launched data.org with the vision of creating partnerships to build the field of data science for social impact. Its current partners include DataKind, Benefits Data Trust, Community Solutions and Tableau Foundation. All of these organizations are leveraging data science to help solve complex societal challenges. data.org is also thrilled to welcome The Paul Ramsay Foundation (PRF) to our list of committed partners who through this Challenge will be supporting an awardee from Australia.

Recommended AI News: Teradata Extends Hybrid Multi-Cloud Capabilities as Customers Move More Workloads to the Cloud