- March 20, 2020
- Posted by: MPA
- Category: COVID-19, News & Press Releases
Dear partners, colleagues and friends of IDB Lab,
The fight against Covid-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean will require the coordinated effort of the public and private sectors. At IDB Lab we are aware of the potentially significant consequences of this pandemic for public health systems, economic actors and in particular for citizens, so we want to join our partners, the region’s leading organizations, and entrepreneurs and innovators in identifying and supporting innovative solutions in the lines of action described below.
In this context, I encourage companies and agencies executing IDB Lab projects, and especially those working with the health and emergency food sectors and technologies, to send us their ideas and proposals on how to redirect remaining project resources to activities that address the pandemic and its effects, or if necessary, complementary resource needs for this purpose. I also invite entities that have been clients or executing agencies of IDB Lab in the past, as well as entrepreneurs and other entities that have relevant experience in health and technology, to send us ideas and proposals for innovations to fight the coronavirus.
Given the urgency of having solutions as soon as possible, I ask you to please channel your ideas through the IDB Lab specialist you have contact with, in your country or at headquarters, before the close of business on Tuesday, March 24, using the attached form.
For the selection of proposals, IDB Lab will give priority to those that include these elements:
- Focus on improving the response of one or more countries in the region to reduce infections, improve diagnostic/test tools and manage the health of infected people, preferably through innovative HealthTech and Telehealth tools.
- Alignment with the plans of the health authorities with respect to Covid-19 in the country of implementation.
- Implementable, replicable or scalable with the participation of the private sector.
- Compliance with the requirements of “Prototype Technical Cooperation”, the IDB Lab instrument on which this special pitching session will focus. See attached explanatory document. The main characteristics are:
- Maximum amount of US$150,000, with a minimum of 20% counterpart that can be in kind.
- Innovative technologies and solutions that can be implemented, evaluated and disseminated within a maximum period of 18 months.
- That already have identified the company or supplier of the solution or have a defined and agile mechanism to do so.
- Rapidly implementable and with an impact on the indicators for fighting Covid-19, such as the number of tests applied, management of test information, preventive actions such as reducing the number of infections, increasing the health management capacity of public and private actors, recovery rate of people under treatment, improvement of medical material supply chains, services to people in isolation, distribution of food and basic necessities, etc.
Additionally, from IDB Lab we are preparing complementary lines of action that address the economic consequences of Coronavirus, especially on vulnerable populations, startups and the ecosystems of entrepreneurship, innovation and impact investment. To this end, during the coming months we will identify projects for economic recovery. We will keep you informed, but we would appreciate if you could start, leveraging your grassroot contact, to think about relevant initiatives for the medium term context.
All the best,
Irene Arias Hofman
CEO, IDB Lab
For more information contact the BCCI via bcci@belize.org or call 223-5330/614-3138.
