HECs Grand Challenge Fund 2020 HISTORY, APPROACH, THEMATIC AREAS, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
HECs Grand Challenge Fund 2020 HISTORY, APPROACH, THEMATIC AREAS, AND SOME POINTERS JAN 29, 2020 DR. ATHAR OSAMA, PROGRAMME CHAIR, GRAND CHALLENGE FUND HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION Presentation Outline Grand Challenges: Definitions and
HISTORY, APPROACH, THEMATIC AREAS, AND SOME POINTERS JAN 29, 2020
HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION
Grand Challenges: Definitions and History
P 3-5
Grand Challenges in the World
P 6-12
HEC’s GCF Model: Underlying Assumptions and Themes
P 13-17
Researchers Must Dos & HEC’s Additional Support
P 18-20
What Would a Successful GCF Project Look Like?
P 21
A grand challenge is one or more specific critical barrier(s) that, if removed, would help solve an important health problem in the developing world with a high likelihood of global impact through widespread implementation.
Grand Challenges Canada has developed a concept called Integrated Innovation to describe the importance and potential impact of combining scientific/technological, social and business innovation. The core of this concept is that:
Integrated Innovation is the coordinated
application of scientific/technological, social and business innovation to develop solutions to complex challenges.
in which he identified 23 specific challenges. There is also, some similarity between Grand Challenge idea with that of Prizes promoted primarily through the X Prize Foundation.
The concept was revitalized by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation who, in 2003, identified 14 Grand Challenges in Global Health. In 2008, they also launched a new $100M, five-year initiative called Grand Challenges Explorations, which is an extension of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative.
At the same time that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was developing its Grand Challenges Explorations initiative, a group of prominent global health scientists, under the leadership of Dr. Abdallah Daar, identified a set of Grand Challenges in Chronic NonCommunicable Diseases that were published in Nature November 2007.
Finally, in the summer of 2010, Dr. Rajiv Shah (the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development – the United States government agency for foreign economic and humanitarian assistance), committed to use science, technology and innovation to address Grand Challenges for Development.
Lately, number of Grand Challenge Initiatives have been launched in the UK including a GBP 1.5 billion Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and several smaller initiatives
Grand Challenges provides a sharp focus. A strong Grand Challenge is both highly
specific and highly focused identifying a specific barrier preventing progress in a
system based on clearly defined performance parameters.
Grand Challenges brings the best minds to the table. By articulating important
challenges that have the potential to deliver real impact and by allocating significant resources to address these challenges it brings the best minds to the table by engaging leading scientists who might not otherwise be engaged this research.
Grand Challenges help build and strengthen communities of innovators –
communities that are collaborative, interdisciplinary, and global.
Grand Challenges can capture the public’s imagination. Project teams led by
world-leading scientists working to solve pressing challenges can offer compelling storylines to capture the interest of media and the public.
Grand Challenges can be used as a platform to address policy and governance
issues.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in 2003, identified 14 Grand Challenges in Global Health.
Since these Grand Challenges were first identified, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has worked with a number of partners including the Wellcome Trust, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health to invest more than $450M to fund 44 research teams across the world who are developing and implementing solutions to these challenges.
14 Grand Challenges focusing on vaccines, disease transmission, nutrition, drug resistance, chronic infections, etc.
Article Published in Nature (2007) by A. Dar et al took a very detailed look at one problem, 6 goals, 20 grand challenges…
Raise Public Awareness Enhance economic, legal, and
environmental policies
Modify risk factors Engage business and community Mitigate health impacts of poverty and
urbanization
Re-orientate health systems
The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) is a £1.5 billion fund announced by the UK Government in late 2015 to support cutting-edge research that addresses the challenges faced by developing countries.
Equitable Access to Sustainable Development
secure and resilient food systems supported by sustainable marine resources and agriculture
sustainable health and well being
inclusive and equitable quality education
clean air, water and sanitation
affordable, reliable, sustainable energy.
Sustainable Economies and Societies
sustainable livelihoods supported by strong foundations for inclusive economic growth and innovation
resilience and action on short-term environmental shocks and long-term environmental change
sustainable cities and communities
sustainable production and consumption of materials and other resources.
Human Rights, Good Governance and Social Justice
engaing in fragile and conflict-affected states, while multiple refugee crises are applying mounting pressure in countries of
understand and respond effectively to forced displacement and multiple refugee crises
reduce conflict and promote peace, justice and humanitarian action
reduce poverty and inequality, including gender inequalities.
Support excellent research that addresses a significant problem or development challenge, directly contributing to the sustainable and inclusive prosperity of people in developing countries.
We will put the UK at the forefront of the AI and data revolution.
We will harness the power of innovation to help meet the needs of an ageing society.
We will maximise the advantages for UK industry from the global shift to clean growth – through leading the world in the development, manufacture and use of low carbon technologies, systems and services that cost less than high carbon alternatives.
We will become a world leader in shaping the future
in how we move people, goods and services around
extraordinary innovation in engineering, technology and business models.
UK’s EPSRC believes that by aiding the research community to work together we can accelerate progress towards major scientific breakthroughs. To this end we selected representatives from the physics community to suggest possible stimulating scientific goals or grand challenges which could be used as the focal point for future research endeavours.
Emergence and Physics Far From Equilibrium One of the key scientific advances of the latter part of the twentieth century was the appreciation that dramatic collective behaviour can emerge unexpectedly in large complicated systems, in ways that could not have been predicted from even a detailed knowledge of their components. Many
across the traditional disciplinary boundaries in science and will involve combining experiments under extreme conditions with the development of entirely novel classes of theory. This fundamental work will be driven by the ever-present possibility that emergent states may provide the foundations for the technologies of the future.
Quantum Physics for New Quantum Technologies Next generation quantum technologies will rely on our understanding and exploitation of coherence and entanglement. Utilising properties beyond the classical limit will transform metrology, communication, imaging, the simulation of complex systems, and ultimately computing. Success requires a deeper understanding of quantum physics and a broad ranging development of the enabling tools and technologies.
Nanoscale Design of Functional Materials The systematic design and construction of materials and devices based on structure at the nanoscale is a major challenge. The ultimate aim would be to be able to dial up a desired property using new principles rather than proceeding by trial and error, and to assemble targets cheaply in large
handling, energy harvesting and storage.
Understanding the Physics of Life The physics of biological systems and processes is not fully understood. A greater understanding of the physics of biological systems and processes would enable new arenas of experimentation, control and modelling. Physicists can learn from areas where nature has evolved a better way of doing things and exploit this knowledge in the development of new technologies. In turn, they are uniquely placed to contribute innovative instrumentation and alternative approaches to research that have always driven the study of life sciences. A central challenge for physics is for this approach to be embedded into biology, and increase the involvement of physicists with biological and medical researchers in a broad range of relevant areas.
In 2011, USAID launched Grand Challenges for Development as a primary instrument of its development policy. Together, the Grand Challenges partners have committed more than $508 million in grants and technical assistance to fund more than 450 innovations in 60 countries across 10 different challenges.
An effort to do a meta evaluation of USAID’s Challenge Fund posed the following questions:
innovation space?
groundbreaking prevention and treatment approaches for pregnant women and newborns?
the Saving Lives at Birth portfolio?
newborns can be attributed to the work of projects supported through Saving Lives at Birth?
The GCF Programme is premised on certain critical assumptions:
Universities have a central (if not leading) role to play in solving Pakistan’s toughest problems
Every problem has underlying scientific and research gaps that need to be addressed Large (national) problems require multiple stakeholders – academic, private, and government – to come together in
consortia to address them
While Research Intensive Universities are asked to ‘lead’ the consortia, there is definite role for smaller universities and
diverse expertise
Private Sector and Government partnerships are critical particularly when the former brings in prior IP or capability to the consortium and/or significant deployment, implementation, or scale up capability
International Partnerships will be encouraged when international partner brings a unique added value to the project team
Limitations
The Grand Challenge model, although adopted widely is not yet fully validated Restrictions on funds distribution puts some restrictions on how consortia would be built The issue of assignment of intellectual property rights need to be address fairly and equitably
In this first year, we have decided to keep the challenge statements relatively broad and, though we have suggested 3-4 grand challenges for each theme, we are open to receiving new ideas.
Food Security, including but not limited to:
agricultural productivity and resilience;
exploitation of agricultural value-chains;
Nutrition, Maternal and Child Health(MNCH); and
sustainable food eco-systems for rural and urban consumers and producers.
Water Management and Sustainability, including but not limited to, food, energy, water nexus, and focusing on grand challenges such as:
large-scale, low cost, and scalable waste water treatment systems;
significant reduction in irrigation related water losses; and
innovative socio-technical approaches to water conservation.
Sustainable Energy, including but not limited to energy efficiency, battery and storage Technologies, efficient and smart grids focusing on grand challenges such as:
low cost electric mobility solutions; sustainable platforms for urban, rural, and intercity mobility;
smart and sustainable energy solutions for urban, rural, and remote areas;
innovative mechanisms for reduction in transmission and grid losses in legacy infrastructures.
Development Economics, including but not limited to, export competitiveness, skills and labor market interventions, interventions for healthy life (such as antimicrobial resistance, non-communicable diseases) and focusing on grand challenges such as:
transformational innovation and enhancement of global competitiveness of Pakistani export value-chains;
indigenous development of high-end textile value chains;
industrial performance and productivity, competitiveness, and re-location (particularly in the context of CPEC);
future of work; and
the interplay between population growth and economic development.
Urban Planning, including but not limited to, sustainable urban design, low-cost housing, mobility, and transport and focusing on grand challenges such as:
planning for and preservation of urban space and life;
economic, sociological, and cultural triggers for the planning and creation of second tier (and new) cities and towns;
provision of quality of urban life such as issues related to transportation and congestion, waste collection and disposal, water and sanitation, healthcare and education, and law and order.
Climate Change and Environment, including but not limited to, climate mitigation, adaptation and disaster management and focusing on grand challenges such as:
metro-scale pollution reduction technologies and solution (such as Lahore smog or Karachi’s waste);
enhancement of the capacity to carry out climate modelling and evidence based policy and planning;
addressing and mitigation of large climate change impacts on marginal communities;
climate and disaster surveillance and management systems, etc.
Information Technology and Telecom, including but not limited to Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing and Big Data, and education and health-related information and communication technologies and focusing on grand challenges such as:
exploitation of economic and technological impacts of mobile broadband and 3G/4G networks particularly for less literate and largely illiterate populations;
addressing the disparities in access of technology;
development, deployment, and exploitation of 5G networks;
4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) within the Pakistani context;
scalable models of education and healthcare delivery through the use of ICT.
Innovative Governance and Reforms, including but not limited to healthcare governance, policy and delivery; educational governance and reforms; judicial reforms; and civil services reform and focusing on grand challenges such as:
the use of technology in bringing transparency and responsiveness to citizen services;
effective use of open data (OD) in evidence-based policy making;
use of Right to Information (RTI), citizen scorecards, or similar mechanisms for holding the government to account;
mechanisms for creating local capacity to provide policy advice in areas of critical national importance.
Sociology and Philosophy, which may include identity politics, gender, population, and work ethic focusing on grand challenges such as:
preservation of our intellectual heritage and material culture,
developing our literary canon in the wider context of world culture;
barriers to gender participation in the workforce and in national development;
future of work and family;
and cultural and sociological impact of CPEC.
This year, while there is flexibility in challenge specification, the onus of proving that a particular specific problem is a “grand” challenge and worth solving is partially on the proposers. From next year onwards, the challenge statements may become more specific.
Problem Definition and Solution Identification are the most critical piece of the proposal
Is the challenge you’re seeking to address the biggest piece of the solution?
Would everybody (including most reviewers) agree that this is the case?
Have you laid out a roadmap of potential solutions? Is your solution the best “bet” for addressing the problem?
Proposals must take a ‘problem’ oriented approach rather than a disciplinary or a blue-sky focus
A problem focus will also require having access to expertise (“whatever it takes”) and this means building consortia of smaller universities
Reviewers may grant leniency on whether you’ve applied a certain capability to a particular problem before or not, but will particularly look for gaps in capability that go unfilled.
HEC may provide further opportunities to network and collaborate after the PO stage of the proposal
Proposals must provide a potential (and viable) pathway to impact
Government and private partners could be critical to ensuring take-off of the research
Impact, not impact factor (or publishing) is the end goal here.
At the time of PO Submission, Principal Investigator must:
Have a clearly articulated problem statement, potential solution space, preferred solution, and research approach / methodology
Identified all PIs/Co-PIs and academic partners with a clear indication of what value they bring and roles
Identified and had discussions with Consortium Partners to identify what their potential role and value would be and have first level agreement (none of the potential consortium partners are final until the full proposal stage)
Indicative Budget. Researchers should be flexible and should leave some room in the budget as it may increase / decrease in the later stages due to addition / subtraction of new partners.
HEC shall:
NOT need any letters of support or final commitments from any Consortium partners at PO stage – just the proof that you have thought hard about how the problem would be ultimately solved and who could do what.
Provide substantive review and feedback on selected proposals at PO stage. It will also identify weaknesses that may have to be addressed to create a compelling project and may require addition / substation of proposed partners and/or budgetary changes.
After PO Submission:
HEC may provide an opportunity for those whose POs have been accepted to interact with those whose proposals may have been rejected to allow for some germination of ideas and/or re-teaming to allow for better quality proposals to emerge.
This will also ensure that those who were unable to submit proposals (from universities other than 32 research intensive universities) also have an opportunity to interact and participate.
HEC may also organize special workshops to allow GCF Principal Investigators to meet with others and/or special capacity building workshop(s) particularly for women Principal Investigators.
Modifications will be allowed in the proposals after the PO stage – to the extent that they don’t change the basic problem being solved and the lead Principal Investigator.
Consortiums are a must. Each GCF proposal should have atleast 3-4 entities including 1-2 non- academic partners for problem ownership and implementation AND more than one University as academic partners. And ideally / preferably one of the academic partners should be a non-Research Intensive University.
At the Full Proposal Stage:
The proposal will be treated as final and must have everything needed to satisfy reviewers and make a final award decision.
Must include a final list of all partners – including all academic partners. Any weaknesses at this stage will be consider final – and non-alterable – and would be a ground for rejection.
Must include firm commitments from all Consortium Partners including letters of support and/or financial commitments, if that’s the case.
A final detailed budget offer from the Principal Investigator.
At the Presentation / Negotiation Stage:
The Principal Investigator and his/her institutional head AND any significant Consortium partners will be required to make a presentation before an Expert Panel and defend GCF proposals and/or budget.
HEC will make a Go/No-Go decision subject to any further negotiations on budget and any other minor changes that may be deemed necessary by the Expert Panel.
A successful GCF funded project must primarily:
clearly demonstrate a solution or significant progress in addressing a grand challenge of national
importance and may result in development of a consensus and coalition for large-scale adoption, deployment, or scaling of the proposed solution in 3-5 years time from the point of award.
HEC will not hold the researcher responsible for what happens after the culmination of the GCF
grant, but the researcher is responsible for thinking very clearly about how the research part of the solution will feed into a pilot (possibly done within GCF grant) and implementation / scale up (after GCF grant ends).
Create a body of knowledge available to policymakers and practitioners seeking to address a
problem
Bring policy focus AND resource deployment to the problem
Secondarily:
Raise additional resources for research (including access to international grants) for continued
investment and further refinement of solution approaches
disseminate results in international peer reviewed journals, as well as to policymakers and
stakeholders in relevant disciplines.