Grand Challenges Explorations Round 18 open ($ 1,000,000)

The Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative invites applications for Round 18 of its Grand Challenges Explorations grant (GCE). Deadline of submission is November 9, 2016. Phase I grants of $ 100,000 will be awarded with an opportunity for successful projects to receive a follow-on Phase II grant of $ 1,000,000. GCE is open to non-profit organizations, for-profit companies, international organizations, government agencies and academic institutions.Topics for Grand Challenges Explorations Round 18 are:

Assess Family Planning Needs, Preferences and Behaviors to Inform Innovations in Contraceptive Technologies;
Develop Novel Platforms to Accelerate Contraceptive Drug Discovery;
Design New Solutions to Data Integration for Malaria Elimination;
Accelerate Development of New Therapies for Childhood Cryptosporidium Infection.

GCE supports hundreds of early-stage research projects - including many ideas that have never before been tested – and scientists and innovators from a wide range of disciplines and regions. The Explorations initiative funds innovative ideas that could lead to new vaccines, diagnostics, drugs, and other technologies targeting diseases that claim millions of lives every year, as well as improvements and innovations in agriculture development and others of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation priority areas. GCE is an extension of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s commitment to the Grand Challenges in Global Health, which was launched in 2003 to accelerate the discovery of new technologies to improve global health.