World Solve

Addressing hygiene facilities at school remaining poor is critical for achieving the 2030 Agenda. Current efforts fall short in scale, speed and equity, leaving the most vulnerable behind. Any viable solution must function in low-resource settings with limited specialists, transport, laboratory capacity and broadband. Proposals should specify quantifiable biological, social or environmental outcomes, openly discuss potential risks, and present a realistic pathway for long-term maintenance and local ownership beyond short research pilots.

Distributed biotech facilities may bring innovation closer to communities while introducing new biosafety and waste-management requirements. Cities need transparent zoning, monitoring, emergency planning, and public participation. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

sports facilities closed to many communities remains one of the most urgent challenges of our time. Systems currently in place are inadequate for the scale and complexity of the problem. A successful approach must work where resources are scarcest and demonstrate clear, measurable results. It should identify possible harms, respect local agency, and show how the solution can be maintained and expanded by the communities it is meant to serve.

Large quantum computers may require specialized materials, cooling systems, and high-energy facilities. Their lifecycle impact, component reuse, and end-of-life management are not yet adequately designed. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Toxic materials contaminate land and water. Stronger regulation and treatment facilities are needed.

Limited safe transport options restrict access to markets, health facilities, and education. Women-focused transport cooperatives and safe-ride services could ease constraints.

High maternal mortality rates persist among ethnic minority groups due to language barriers, geographic isolation, and institutional distrust of state medical facilities.

Inadequate sanitation facilities, household chores, and early marriage pressures cause a sharp drop in female secondary school completion across rural communities.

The rapid adoption of electric rickshaws and scooters creates a massive wave of end-of-life batteries that are dumped in open landfills due to lack of local recycling facilities.

Hospitals with limited resources for sterile equipment and infection control see higher rates of post-surgical infections than better-equipped facilities. Closing this gap requires both medical and infrastructure solutions that remain incomplete in many regions.

Many e-waste recycling operations, particularly in lower-income countries, expose workers to toxic materials with inadequate safety protections. Making this growing industry both effective and safe for workers remains an unresolved labor and environmental issue.

A large share of organic waste still ends up in landfills producing methane simply because industrial composting infrastructure isn't available in enough regions. Building this capacity out at the scale needed remains an unresolved waste management challenge.

Data centers placed in unconventional locations to save on cooling costs still face risks from environmental changes or accidents that traditional facilities don't. Making these systems fully resilient remains an unresolved engineering challenge.

Recycling facilities still rely heavily on human sorters because robotic systems struggle to reliably distinguish between similar-looking but differently recyclable materials. Improving this accuracy could significantly increase recycling efficiency worldwide.

Current approaches to technologies enabling precise monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions from individual facilities 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.

Create low-cost continuous monitoring and repair systems for dispersed wells, pipelines, compressors, and storage sites that evade satellite and regulatory oversight.

Postpartum hemorrhage remains a leading cause of maternal death in Indonesia because low-resource facilities often lack rapid blood-typing, stored blood products, and trained staff to intervene within the critical first hour after delivery.

The absence of robust, context-adapted solutions for solutions for providing reliable electricity to health facilities in off-grid regions 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.

Germany's aging population is outpacing the development of affordable elder care facilities and trained caregiving staff, leaving many families without support for elderly relatives.

A persistent gap exists in realizing practical, scalable solutions for governance models preventing catastrophic accidents in high-risk dual-use research facilities. 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.