On September 29, 2020, MIT Solve announced that Opendream was selected as a 2020 Solver from a pool of over 2,600 applicants from 135 countries for our project PODD: Participatory One Health Disease Detection. Opendream is the first-ever team in health project from Thailand to be selected for MIT Solve.
Solve is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a mission to solve world challenges. Through open innovation Challenges, Solve finds incredible tech-based social entrepreneurs all around the world. Solve then brings together MIT’s innovation ecosystem and a community of Members to fund and support these entrepreneurs to help them drive lasting, transformational impact.
MIT Solve asked innovators to submit solutions that can help communities prepare for, detect, and respond to emerging pandemics, as well as strengthen access to affordable disease surveillance and healthcare systems.
As MIT Solvers, Opendream receives funding, mentorship, and becomes lifelong members of MIT’s global network of impact leaders.
PODD is a participatory disease surveillance platform that empowers communities to prevent zoonotic spillovers. We combat the spread of zoonotic infectious diseases before they spread to humans and become pandemics.
An estimated 75% of infectious diseases—such as SARS, MERS, Avian Flu, Swine Flu, and HIV—are zoonotic in origin, meaning they “spillover” from animals to humans.
Zoonosis is a major barrier to poverty alleviation around the world, particularly in less developed countries that lack disease surveillance infrastructure and depend on animals for daily life. As our cities grow, expanding farmland and deforestation encroach on wild animal habitats, increasing the likelihood of spillover. According to most infectious disease experts, it’s not a matter of if—but when the next pandemic will happen.
With PODD, and MIT’s support, we can stop the next pandemic before it happens.