Grand Final of the 7th Edition of the Fundación MAPFRE Social Innovation Awards
Three projects, from Spain, the United States and Brazil, have emerged as winners
Awards
The auditorium at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid has once again hosted the final of our Fundación MAPFRE Social Innovation Awards, a contest that has become a benchmark for committed social entrepreneurs who want to transform our society.
From edition to edition, our awards grow, driven by the ideas and talent of the growing number of social innovators who share their ideas with us. In this seventh edition we received a total of 379 initiatives, from which the twelve with the greatest potential for social impact and the most viable from a technical, economic and organisational point of view were shortlisted.
Although ultimately only three projects emerged as the winners, the twelve finalists from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the United States, Germany, Malta and Spain were all the stars of our grand final. In the words of Antonio Huertas, President of Fundación MAPFRE, in his opening speech at the ceremony, “We lay the path, but you travel down it, the entrepreneurs and the people who are going to benefit from your social innovation, especially the 12 shortlisted teams. You are all winners because, regardless of the judging panel’s decision, you all have the potential to succeed with your projects.”
Three of the finalists each won a 40,000 euro prize that will give them a differentiating boost. Here they are.
In the Silver Economy category, the winner was ‘Cuidador de Confiança’, a Brazilian project that facilitates communication, monitoring, and decision-making for those involved in senior care. With AI-based technology and algorithm analysis, they design individualized health plans for every patient.
At the ceremony, its representative, João Paulo Nogueira, explained why this initiative came about: “About two decades ago, my mother was first diagnosed with cancer, which was followed by another cancer ten years later. Her strength and resilience inspire me constantly and push me to keep going. And it has made me aware that the care she requires is a growing need for countless families in Brazil and around the world.”
In the Health improvement and digital technology (e-Health) category, the winning project, from the United States, was Change Water Labs. Its representative, Diana Yousef-Martinek, presented the iThrone, a toilet that eliminates up to 95% of human waste through evaporation, without the need for a cistern or pipes, reducing the environmental impact and improving, at a low cost, sanitation in low-income and drought areas.
A mother and scientist, in her speech, the founder of this initiative explained why she launched it: “Girls around the world are forced to risk their well-being, their health and their own safety every day in search of something as basic as a safe toilet. Furthermore, the lack of safe toilets in half of the world’s schools is a major obstacle to girls even being able to get an education and have a chance to thrive in the future. This is, quite simply, a basic human right.”
In the Safe and sustainable mobility category, the winning project was Evix Safety, a Spanish initiative that has developed a cervical spine airbag system integrated into helmets, which inflates just before an impact or fall, reducing the likelihood of suffering a cervical spine injury. An AI-based algorithm constantly analyzes the cyclist’s movements and anticipates any accident.
Its co-founder and CEO, Marc Millet, shared with us what led him to create this technology: “This idea was born out of a passion for cycling, and being very conscious of my safety. I don’t want to hurt myself if I have an accident. Unfortunately, almost everyone knows someone who has had an accident or a scare while cycling. Being able to help these people and their families to enjoy cycling in a safer way is the rationale behind the project.”
The event was brought to a close with a speech by the Ibero-American Secretary General, Andrés Allamand, who was also one of those in charge of presenting the awards together with the President of Fundación MAPFRE, Antonio Huertas, and the CEO of IE University, Diego del Alcázar Benjumea.
From this moment on, all the finalists became part of Red Innova, our social innovation ecosystem for exchanging expert knowledge, comprising the participants from all seven editions of these awards. By offering them our support and keeping this community alive, we bolster our commitment to social innovation as a tool for change.
With this event we brought the seventh edition to a close but we have already started working on the next. We look forward to seeing you at the eighth edition of the Fundación MAPFRE Social Innovation Awards!