Repository of problems worth solving
World Solve is a public institutional repository for identifying real unresolved problems across science, society, health, governance, economics, and local systems. Each entry is intended to be citable, inspectable, and actionable.
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4194Total
4194Open
0Solved
9Humans
Political communication will increasingly include deepfakes, voice cloning, and AI-generated persuasion at scale. The challenge is developing election rules, platform standards, and enforcement systems that protect speech while limiting manipulation. The challenge is especially acute in informal settlements, where legacy systems, coordination failures, and weak oversight can magnify harm.
society-governance
asia
indonesia
informal
settlements
creating
accountable
governance
synthetic
media
elections
systems
political
technology-computing
public
climate-environment
across
without
open
Mexico, North America
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.
technology-computing
north-america
mexico
procurement
systems
informal
settlements
building
resist
vendor
lock-in
future
governments
society-governance
public
across
climate-environment
digital
As machine learning enters welfare, policing, housing, tax, and licensing systems, bias can become harder to detect and contest. The open problem is creating enforceable standards for fairness, appeals, and independent review across all public-sector uses of automated decision-making. The challenge is especially acute in informal settlements, where legacy systems, coordination failures, and weak oversight can magnify harm.
technology-computing
europe
germany
machine-learning
informal
settlements
preventing
algorithmic
discrimination
public
administration
systems
machine
learning
society-governance
across
climate-environment
standards
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.
technology-computing
asia
bangladesh
identity
informal
settlements
designing
rights-preserving
digital
residents
documents
systems
future
society-governance
public
climate-environment
without
across
Governments will increasingly rely on automated systems to allocate benefits, flag risks, prioritize inspections, and recommend enforcement. The unresolved problem is creating governance structures that make these systems transparent, contestable, and accountable without disabling public service delivery. The challenge is especially acute in informal settlements, where legacy systems, coordination failures, and weak oversight can magnify harm.
society-governance
systems
public
informal
settlements
auditing
autonomous
decision
governments
will
increasingly
technology-computing
climate-environment
economics-resources
across
governance
Vendors operate with thin margins and little historical data. Lightweight forecasting, shared cold storage, and cooperative purchasing could convert neighborhood-level signals into practical decisions without requiring enterprise software. The opportunity is intentionally human-scale: a cooperative, clinic, workshop, school, or municipal team could pilot it within one locality and measure outcomes before expanding. Mathematical modeling can help with allocate uncertainty, incentives, or resource constraints; entrepreneurship can turn a reliable workflow into a viable service.
local-regional
africa
morocco
vendors
might
informal
food
predict
daily
demand
wasting
perishable
stock
local
actors
mathematics-logic
social-civic-problems
without
open
Brazil, South America
Competence is often real but invisible to employers because certificates measure course completion rather than performance. Practical assessments, portable evidence, and trusted local validators could improve matching without forcing workers into expensive retraining. The opportunity is intentionally human-scale: a cooperative, clinic, workshop, school, or municipal team could pilot it within one locality and measure outcomes before expanding. Mathematical modeling can help with allocate uncertainty, incentives, or resource constraints; entrepreneurship can turn a reliable workflow into a viable service.
mathematics-logic
south-america
brazil
workers
might
prove
skills
gained
informal
apprenticeships
measure
competence
often
local
actors
social-civic-problems
united
society-governance
open
Papua New Guinea, Oceania
Unpaid domestic and care work performed predominantly by women in Papua New Guinea is largely excluded from national economic statistics and social protection policy, undervaluing its contribution.
society-governance
oceania
papua-new-guinea
unpaid
care
work
national
policy
papua
new
guinea
supporting
recognition
economics-resources
Current approaches to affordable diagnostics and treatments for the leading causes of maternal mortality either underperform under variable field conditions or generate externalities that undermine long-term sustainability and equity. Closing the gap requires coordinated advances in science, systems design and enabling institutions.
health-biology
oceania
australia
affordable
diagnostics
treatments
leading
causes
maternal
mortality
systemic
solutions
addressing
society-governance
systems
climate-environment
enabling
approaches
open
Colombia, South America
Current approaches to solutions for providing safe and accessible public transport in rapidly growing secondary cities either underperform under variable field conditions or generate externalities that undermine long-term sustainability and equity. Closing the gap requires coordinated advances in science, systems design and enabling institutions.
society-governance
south-america
colombia
public-transport
solutions
providing
safe
accessible
public
transport
rapidly
growing
secondary
cities
systems
climate-environment
enabling
economics-resources
open
United States, North America
The absence of robust, context-adapted solutions for institutional arrangements that accelerate the adoption of proven public health interventions creates cascading risks across interconnected human and natural systems. Key missing elements include durable performance, low lifetime cost, and governance arrangements capable of sustaining impact beyond pilot stages.
society-governance
north-america
united-states
public-health
arrangements
institutional
accelerate
adoption
proven
public
health
interventions
practical
realization
solutions
systems
climate-environment
methods
The absence of robust, context-adapted solutions for governance frameworks ensuring that advances in longevity science benefit all socioeconomic groups creates cascading risks across interconnected human and natural systems. Key missing elements include durable performance, low lifetime cost, and governance arrangements capable of sustaining impact beyond pilot stages.
society-governance
oceania
australia
governance
frameworks
ensuring
advances
longevity
science
benefit
all
socioeconomic
groups
systems
solutions
climate-environment
enabling
methods
The absence of robust, context-adapted solutions for technologies enabling precise and low-impact application of agricultural inputs creates cascading risks across interconnected human and natural systems. Key missing elements include durable performance, low lifetime cost, and governance arrangements capable of sustaining impact beyond pilot stages.
society-governance
asia
china
technologies
enabling
precise
low-impact
application
agricultural
inputs
breakthrough
approaches
absence
systems
solutions
climate-environment
methods
robust
Current approaches to technologies enabling the continuous monitoring of air quality and its health impacts at high resolution either underperform under variable field conditions or generate externalities that undermine long-term sustainability and equity. Closing the gap requires coordinated advances in science, systems design and enabling institutions.
climate-environment
asia
nepal
enabling
technologies
continuous
monitoring
air
quality
its
health
impacts
high
society-governance
systems
methods
health-biology
solutions
Women in formal-sector jobs in Peru continue to earn less than men in comparable roles, and current pay-transparency requirements are too weak to be enforced effectively.
economics-resources
south-america
peru
formal-sector
closing
gender
pay
gap
employment
women
jobs
continue
sector
formal
colombia
mexico
haiti
society-governance
Current approaches to cognitive and social interventions that improve collective problem-solving under uncertainty either underperform under variable field conditions or generate externalities that undermine long-term sustainability and equity. Closing the gap requires coordinated advances in science, systems design and enabling institutions.
society-governance
africa
nigeria
under
cognitive
social
interventions
improve
collective
problem-solving
uncertainty
overcoming
barriers
systems
climate-environment
enabling
solutions
approaches
open
Solomon Islands, Oceania
The absence of robust, context-adapted solutions for cryptographically private national-scale health data analytics creates cascading risks across interconnected human and natural systems. Key missing elements include durable performance, low lifetime cost, and governance arrangements capable of sustaining impact beyond pilot stages.
society-governance
oceania
solomon-islands
cryptographically
private
national-scale
health
data
analytics
development
absence
robust
context-adapted
solutions
systems
climate-environment
methods
governance
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Networks of AI-assisted fake dating profiles can be deployed at scale to build trust with vulnerable users before extracting money or personal information. Detecting these coordinated networks before real harm occurs remains an unresolved platform challenge.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
networks
fake
dating
vulnerable
users
haven
solved
prevent
large-scale
automated
whether
philosophy-ethics
way
mathematics-logic
resolved
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Safety filters designed to block clearly harmful requests can sometimes be bypassed through indirect or creatively phrased questions that still elicit dangerous information. Closing this gap while preserving the system's general usefulness remains an unresolved balancing act.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
dangerous
questions
phrased
haven
found
way
prevent
chat
systems
unintentionally
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
resolved
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Instruction manuals generated automatically for online product listings sometimes contain fabricated or inaccurate safety information, since the process isn't always reviewed by someone with real product knowledge. This creates real safety risks for consumers.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
product
manuals
contain
build
fully
reliable
systems
detect
ai-generated
fake
philosophy-ethics
whether
mathematics-logic
prevent
way