Create transparent insurance systems that use credible local weather and yield data without excluding farmers whose losses do not match coarse satellite-based triggers.
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.
Publicly citable
Every problem has a stable citation code for reference and discussion.
Filtered by relevance
Search by category, geography, status, and keywords.
Builder-oriented
Use the repository to find startup ideas, policy leads, and research agendas.
Preventing vision loss from diabetic retinopathy in underserved districts
open
Mexico, North America
Create screening and referral models that use portable imaging, AI validation, and dependable follow-up for people with diabetes outside urban eye-care systems.
Continuous surveillance for zoonotic spillover at livestock interfaces
open
Vietnam, Asia
Build ethical, affordable systems to monitor animal handlers, farms, markets, and wildlife interfaces for pathogens with pandemic potential before sustained human transmission begins.
Reducing diagnostic delays for endometriosis in low-resource health systems
open
Global, Global
Create clinically sound pathways, tools, and training that reduce years-long delays in diagnosis and treatment for endometriosis where specialist care is scarce.
Affordable hearing screening for newborns and schoolchildren
open
Kenya, Africa
Create portable screening methods and referral systems that detect hearing loss early in communities without audiologists or specialized diagnostic equipment.
Develop scalable rehabilitation systems that combine community workers, telemedicine, low-cost devices, and culturally appropriate exercises for stroke survivors far from specialists.
Reliable detection of sepsis in clinics without laboratory capacity
open
Uganda, Africa
Create robust low-resource triage systems that recognize early sepsis using inexpensive sensors, clinical workflows, and locally calibrated machine-learning models.
Preventing heat-related kidney disease among outdoor workers
open
El Salvador, North America
Determine how heat, dehydration, pesticide exposure, and labor conditions interact to cause chronic kidney disease, then build practical prevention systems for agricultural and construction workers.
Mapping unsafe informal dialysis practices
open
Egypt, Africa
Develop surveillance and affordable safety protocols for dialysis delivered in fragmented private and informal systems, where contamination and equipment reuse may go undocumented.
Develop tamper-resistant, ultra-low-cost monitoring and backup cooling systems for vaccines, insulin, biologics, and diagnostic reagents where electricity failures are frequent.
Detecting antimicrobial resistance from wastewater before clinical outbreaks
open
Global, Global
Build low-cost metagenomic and biosensor systems that identify emerging resistance genes in sewage networks early enough for hospitals and public-health agencies to alter treatment protocols.
Development of integrated wildlife-livestock-human zoonotic spillover surveillance.
open
Ghana, Africa
Despite recognition of its importance, reliable methods for integrated wildlife-livestock-human zoonotic spillover surveillance are still lacking. Progress is hindered by incomplete mechanistic knowledge, high capital and operational barriers, and the absence of deployment models suited to the contexts of greatest need.
Field-ready systems for distributed methane leak detection and auto-mitigation systems.
open
Paraguay, South America
A persistent gap exists in realizing practical, scalable solutions for distributed methane leak detection and auto-mitigation systems. Scientific understanding, engineering readiness and institutional capacity remain insufficient to translate promising concepts into durable impact under real-world constraints of cost, skills and governance.
Robust methods enabling early warning systems for social unrest linked to climate and resource stress.
open
Tanzania, Africa
Achieving early warning systems for social unrest linked to climate and resource stress at meaningful scale demands simultaneous progress in fundamental research, engineering integration and socio-technical systems that work for low- and middle-income settings. Existing efforts remain fragmented relative to the magnitude of the challenge.
Systemic solutions addressing education and training systems that prepare populations for climate-driven livelihood transitions.
open
Paraguay, South America
A persistent gap exists in realizing practical, scalable solutions for education and training systems that prepare populations for climate-driven livelihood transitions. Scientific understanding, engineering readiness and institutional capacity remain insufficient to translate promising concepts into durable impact under real-world constraints of cost, skills and governance.
Integrated pathways for behavioral and structural interventions reducing food loss in tropical value chains.
open
Peru, South America
Despite recognition of its importance, reliable methods for behavioral and structural interventions reducing food loss in tropical value chains are still lacking. Progress is hindered by incomplete mechanistic knowledge, high capital and operational barriers, and the absence of deployment models suited to the contexts of greatest need.
Integrated pathways for institutional arrangements that improve coordination between health climate and development sectors.
open
France, Europe
Despite recognition of its importance, reliable methods for institutional arrangements that improve coordination between health climate and development sectors are still lacking. Progress is hindered by incomplete mechanistic knowledge, high capital and operational barriers, and the absence of deployment models suited to the contexts of greatest need.
Development of pathways for achieving high levels of circularity in the plastics and packaging sectors.
open
Solomon Islands, Oceania
Current approaches to pathways for achieving high levels of circularity in the plastics and packaging sectors 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.
Practical realization of institutional designs that make long-term infrastructure investment politically durable.
open
United States, North America
The absence of robust, context-adapted solutions for institutional designs that make long-term infrastructure investment politically durable 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.
Breakthrough approaches to systems ensuring the safety and reliability of AI systems used in critical infrastructure control.
open
Ecuador, South America
Achieving systems ensuring the safety and reliability of AI systems used in critical infrastructure control at meaningful scale demands simultaneous progress in fundamental research, engineering integration and socio-technical systems that work for low- and middle-income settings. Existing efforts remain fragmented relative to the magnitude of the challenge.