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May 14, 2020
By the Philips Foundation team
Philips Foundation has awarded a start-up grant to Solvoz BV and AidInnov Foundation. The aim is to scale an ambitious international open platform for efficient humanitarian tendering at a time when developing countries depend on emergency aid while suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amsterdam, Netherlands — Solvoz, a digital platform set up in 2019 by social entrepreneur Claire Barnhoorn, received funding from the Philips Foundation to support in scaling their open international platform for efficient humanitarian procurement and tendering, adding modules for the coronavirus pandemic response. The platform provides an opportunity to incorporate a wide range of solutions, including those for primary healthcare, which can be vital in humanitarian environments, where speed can make all the difference. AidInnov Foundation supports the platform through the build and continuous improvement of a working open global catalog of solutions, products, services and suppliers. “This idea goes right to the heart of our mission to provide people with access to good healthcare. The intention to allow aid organizations to buy better, and more efficiently, appealed to us,” said Margot Cooijmans, Director of the Philips Foundation. “The platform, for which there is nothing comparable so far, can have a significant positive impact on better spending of budgets and time. Resulting in much smarter and enhanced procurement by NGOs and aid organizations and thus a greater, sustainable impact where it is most needed.”
It’s vital to enable aid organizations to get the best value for money by managing the procurement process on a platform which connects NGOs to local, regional and international businesses. Claire Barnhoorn
Founder of AidInnov and Solvoz
The platform is aimed at making procurement and innovation in the aid sector more efficient by translating response scenarios into concrete product and solution specifications, including service and maintenance. Their working prototype is already able to capture knowledge and turn this into an open-access expert knowledge database. “We want to facilitate aid organizations in responsible procurement. Responsible in the way solutions are found for the people in need, based on our technology, which matches needs with solutions,” added Claire Barnhoorn, Founder of AidInnov and Solvoz. “Especially in these critical times, it’s vital to enable aid organizations to get the best value for money by managing the procurement process on a platform which connects NGOs to local, regional and international businesses.” Solvoz is now working hard to rapidly improve its prototype in order to advance the practice of disaster relief related to COVID-19 on a global scale. The initiative has already attracted other funders. We encourage you to contact the people behind this ambitious initiative and join others to help scale Solvoz’s platform.
