A Jamaican business is among nine proposals from Latin America and the Caribbean that were selected to design projects with financial support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The IDB announced Tuesday that the other “A” winning proposals for its “Silver Economy Innovation for Inclusion Challenge” came from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic.
The Jamaica winning proposal came from Mona Aging and Wellness Centre, “which seeks to establish a care model that takes advantage of the capacity of local communities with a clear focus on the demand of the most vulnerable, both in urban and rural”.
The challenge, which was launched in June and ended on July 31, sought to identify innovative solutions ready to be implemented in the areas of health services and long-term care, financial services and products, employment and training, and housing and transportation (mobility), as well as those that support the promotion and development of technology-based ventures that generate solutions for any sector related to the Silver Economy.
The IDB said it had received 181 proposals from 27 countries, 21 of which come from Latin America and six from non-IDB borrowing countries with participation from emerging companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), foundations, non-profit organisations, corporations, universities, think-tanks, public innovation agencies, accelerators, and other actors of the entrepreneurial ecosystem that come from any of the 48 member countries of the IDB group.
A panel of specialists from the IDB group evaluated the capacity of the applicants during the evaluation process. The evaluation criteria included the degree of innovation, the level of social impact, its scalability potential, financial sustainability, the technical capacity of the organisation, and the feasibility of execution.
“The selected applicants will initiate the designs of the projects to be considered to receive financing from IDB Lab and develop their innovative models in the nine countries mentioned. They will also be part of the IDB Group’s global network of innovators to meet the needs of the silver economy in the region,” the IDB said.
The IDB said that the results of Category B (honourable mention) will be announced shortly.
