World Solve

Addressing crushing levels of student debt 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.

Future progress on human development and planetary health depends on solving epidemic levels of loneliness and depression. Conventional approaches have proven insufficient. The required intervention must integrate community knowledge, data and appropriate technology while remaining affordable, privacy-preserving and operable with minimal external support. Strong solutions will articulate measurable impact metrics, risk mitigation strategies, and a plan for sustained operation by local actors after the pilot phase.

rising sea levels threatening coastal populations 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.

The problem of dangerous levels of air pollution in cities continues to affect hundreds of millions of people and undermines progress on multiple Sustainable Development Goals. Existing responses remain fragmented, under-resourced and poorly adapted to local contexts. A strong solution must operate effectively under severe constraints of skilled personnel, infrastructure, electricity and connectivity. It should define clear measurable outcomes, identify possible unintended harms, and demonstrate how the intervention can be sustained by local institutions long after initial funding ends.

When companion animals gain the ability to express complex preferences and demands, existing ownership models break down. The problem is defining rights, responsibilities, and welfare standards that protect both animals and humans without creating unmanageable legal or social burdens.

States and institutions may need registries of deployed AI models, their data sources, risk levels, and accountability owners. The challenge is building disclosure rules that support safety without exposing legitimate security or privacy risks. This becomes particularly difficult during fiscal austerity, because public institutions must remain fair, resilient, and accountable while adapting to new risks.

States and institutions may need registries of deployed AI models, their data sources, risk levels, and accountability owners. The challenge is building disclosure rules that support safety without exposing legitimate security or privacy risks. This becomes particularly difficult under climate migration pressure, because public institutions must remain fair, resilient, and accountable while adapting to new risks.

As digital navigation layers become permanent fixtures in daily life, physical landmarks lose meaning and people lose the ability to orient themselves without screens. The challenge is creating systems or practices that preserve spatial awareness and independent wayfinding while still allowing beneficial digital tools. Solutions must work across cultures, age groups, and infrastructure levels, avoid creating new dependencies, and remain usable when networks fail.

Warnings often fail because people lack transport, trust, shelter, money, or authority to act. The unresolved problem is linking forecasts to pre-agreed decisions, resources, and responsibilities at local level. 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.

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.

Insurers offering cybersecurity coverage often struggle to accurately assess a company's true risk level, leading to mispriced policies that either overcharge safe companies or undercharge vulnerable ones. Better, more accurate risk assessment tools remain underdeveloped.

Rising temperatures and changing winds are destabilising ice shelves and altering Southern Ocean circulation, with global implications for sea-level rise and extreme weather. High-resolution coupled climate–ice models and sustained observation networks are needed to predict these changes.

Uncertainties in ice dynamics, bedrock conditions, and ocean–ice interactions make it hard to forecast tipping points and metres of future sea-level rise. Better grounding-zone measurements and data-assimilation tools could sharpen projections.

Organised crime, drug trafficking, and gangs erode daily life quality and impose large economic costs on South American societies. Integrated crime-data platforms and evidence-based policing tools could support safer communities.

Droughts and glacier retreat complicate water allocation for cities, farms, and energy. Basin-level data platforms and negotiated allocation tools can support sustainable management.

Droughts and glacier retreat complicate water allocation for cities, farms, and energy. Basin-level data platforms and negotiated allocation tools can support sustainable management.

Sea-level rise and extreme rainfall threaten settlements and infrastructure. Climate-risk mapping and relocation-planning tools can guide adaptation.

Changing rainfall patterns and heat waves strain agriculture and urban supplies. Basin-level modelling and demand-management platforms can help cities and farmers adapt.

Low farm-gate prices and lack of bargaining power keep farmer incomes below subsistence levels. Producer cooperatives and transparent digital marketplaces can improve prices.

Governments lack integrated views of production, logistics, and consumption patterns. System-level food dashboards could inform policy.