At a glance
- The primary role of our team is to provide tools that enable the foundation to achieve its bold global health and development goals.
- For this, we exploit a comparative advantage of the foundation in general and Discovery & Translational Sciences in particular: the ability to invest in high-risk initiatives with potential for truly disruptive change.
- When possible, we aim to foster the generation of more deliverable, scalable, and sustainable versions of extant interventions. When not, we aim to drive the discovery and development of transformational advances toward impact that would otherwise not be possible.
- Our scope of work ranges from knowledge generation to proof-of-concept studies.
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Why we invest in innovation
Exemplars in Global Health: Q&A with Dr. Niranjan Bose
Our strategy
The Discovery & Translational Sciences team provides the tools needed to enable the foundation to achieve its bold mission. For this, we exploit a comparative advantage of the foundation in general and our team in particular: the ability to invest in high-risk initiatives with potential for truly disruptive change.
The scope of our work ranges from knowledge generation to proof-of-concept studies in humans (or the equivalent). When possible, we aim to foster the generation of more affordable, deliverable, scalable, and sustainable versions of extant interventions. When not, we aim to drive the discovery and development of transformational advances toward impact that cannot otherwise be achieved. Key functions in support of this mission include the continuous surveying of an ever-changing scientific and technological innovation space; the catalyzing and harnessing of cutting-edge technologies both for specific initiatives and for the development of platforms that can provide cross-cutting support to drug, vaccine, and biologics discovery and translation; and the fostering of an effective ecosystem of global health innovation, funding, and partnership.
We source, sustain, and accelerate innovation and innovative partners in diverse ways, ranging from RFP platforms (the Grand Challenges family of programs) to technology sentinel programs and directly targeted investments in technologies, investigators, and platforms across academia, research institutes, biotech, pharma, and product development partners. We work closely with the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute in the translational space. We place a high value on the continued expansion of a robust, open-science, open-data ecosystem to facilitate much more rapid, data-based decision-making in global health.
Grand Challenges
We recognize that solving the most pressing challenges in global health and development requires more of the world's brightest minds working on them. The Grand Challenges family of initiatives seeks to engage innovators from around the world to solve these challenges. Grand Challenges initiatives are united by their focus on fostering innovation, directing research to where it will have the most impact, and serving those most in need.
