World Solve

Future governments may depend on private firms for cloud services, AI tools, digital identity, and critical infrastructure software. The unresolved problem is designing procurement rules that preserve interoperability, portability, and long-term public control. The challenge is especially acute in informal settlements, where legacy systems, coordination failures, and weak oversight can magnify harm.

Future states will need identity systems that work for migrants, displaced people, informal workers, and citizens missing formal paperwork. The challenge is building identity infrastructure that expands access without becoming a surveillance or exclusion tool. The challenge is especially acute in informal settlements, where legacy systems, coordination failures, and weak oversight can magnify harm.

Cookie consent banners have become a near-universal nuisance without necessarily giving users meaningful, easy-to-understand control over their data. Redesigning this system to be both genuinely protective and user-friendly remains unresolved.

Recommendation algorithms optimize for engagement, which can unintentionally narrow the range of content users are exposed to over time, reinforcing existing beliefs rather than broadening perspective. Designing systems that balance engagement with diversity of exposure remains unresolved.

Content that provokes strong emotional reactions tends to get algorithmically boosted because it keeps people engaged longer, regardless of whether it's accurate or healthy. Redesigning these systems without destroying platform business models remains unresolved.

Decoherence, error correction overhead, and materials issues limit current prototypes. New architectures and fault-tolerant schemes are needed.

Medical brain drain to Europe and the Gulf worsens staff shortages, especially in rural clinics. Task-shifting to trained community health workers and telemedicine could partially offset shortages.

By the time bills are opened for public comment, the major provisions are frequently already settled behind closed doors, limiting how much public input can actually shape outcomes. Earlier, more meaningful participation remains rare in most legislative processes.

The UN handles war and peace, the WTO handles trade, and the WHO handles pandemics, but none of them were built with today's cross-cutting crises in mind. This leaves gaps where no institution has a clear mandate at all.

Public hearings and consultations are often required by law but sometimes function more as formalities than genuine two-way input processes. Making these processes truly meaningful remains an unresolved governance challenge.

Old software often becomes unusable as operating systems and hardware change around it, forcing costly rewrites or abandonment. Designing for genuine long-term durability is rarely prioritized.

Bycatch, the unintentional capture of dolphins, sea turtles, and other non-target species in fishing gear, remains a significant driver of population decline for several marine species. Designing gear that fully prevents this remains technically unresolved.

Dams provide clean energy and water management benefits but can block the migration routes that many freshwater fish species depend on to reproduce. Designing infrastructure that serves both human and ecological needs remains an unresolved engineering challenge.

As cities and suburbs expand, they often replace the wildflower meadows and natural habitats that pollinators depend on with lawns and pavement. Designing urban growth that preserves pollinator habitat remains inconsistently practiced.

Foreign actors have repeatedly used social media and cyberattacks to influence elections in other countries, and defenses remain reactive rather than preventive. Protecting democratic processes requires staying ahead of these tactics, not catching up after the fact.

Concrete and asphalt trap heat, turning cities into dangerous hot zones during extreme weather, especially for people without air conditioning. Redesigning cities to stay cooler is now a matter of public safety, not comfort.

Employees in public institutions of India who report corruption face inadequate legal protection, discouraging disclosure of misconduct and undermining accountability mechanisms.

United States has too few licensed physicians per capita to staff rural clinics, and existing task-shifting frameworks for nurses and community health workers lack legal clarity, standardized training, and outcome tracking.

Low-income households in Kenya have almost no financial protection against climate-driven income shocks, and existing microinsurance products remain too costly or poorly understood to achieve meaningful uptake.

Create verification, dependency management, secure update, open-source support, and contracting standards for software bought by public institutions.