In 2021, the Milken Institute, in partnership with the Motsepe Foundation, launched the Milken-Motsepe Innovation Prize Program. The program is a series of multiyear, multimillion-dollar innovation competitions and awards harnessing Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to advance technological solutions toward the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa. 

The inaugural prize, the Milken-Motsepe Prize in AgriTech, launched in April 2021 and challenged global innovators to demonstrate solutions for smallholder farmers in Africa to utilize tech to bring more food to the table. More than 3,500 entrepreneurs from 105 countries across six continents registered. Competition judges reviewed and selected 25 finalists and awarded $250,000. The finalists had a year to field test their ideas across 16 countries in Africa. The five winners were announced at the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference, including the $1 million grand prize. 

The Milken-Motsepe Prize in Green Energy, launched in November 2022 at the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit and challenged global entrepreneurs to expand access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity in Africa. In May 2023, the judges selected the 20 most transformative ideas from hundreds of registrants and awarded, in total, $400,000 for teams to test their innovations. These teams represented 12 countries across three continents. Their innovations include potential breakthroughs in wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal electricity generation, as well as energy storage and distribution. The judges then selected five teams to advance to the finalist round and awarded a total of $450,000 to teams for further testing. In February 2024, the finalist teams field-tested their innovations in South Africa (see more information below). In May 2024, the judges awarded the $1 million grand prize and a Runner-Up Prize of $250,000 at the 2024 Milken Institute Global Conference. 

The Milken-Motsepe Prize in FinTech launched in May 2024 at the Milken Institute Global Conference to award innovative companies that best demonstrate the use of cutting-edge technologies to expand access to capital and financial services for small businesses in emerging and frontier markets. There is $2 million in prize funds available, with a $1 million grand prize for the winning company. Registration is free and open to anyone around the world.
 

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Increasingly, donors see themselves as investors, looking   to ensure their capital and other resources at their disposal are delivering a positive, long-term impact. The Philanthropic Investors Forum is held in conjunction with the Milken Institute’s flagship events, bringing key philanthropic leaders together to learn from and with each other about how to make strategic investments that galvanize progress.

Benefits of the Philanthropic Investors Forum

• Peer-to-peer learning and exchange with principals and heads of institutional and corporate philanthropies 

• Candid conversations with changemakers and thought leaders 

• Roundtable discussions focused on emerging trends, innovation, and system change

Feeding Change elevates Food Is Medicine (FIM) interventions to treat and prevent food insecurity and diet-related chronic disease, with an equity lens.

Feeding Change mobilizes global partnerships to address food systems as a climate issue through sustainable agriculture, food resiliency, and climate financing.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been called the silent pandemic. FasterCures seeks to encourage the development of new antibiotics by promoting policies that could incentivize drug developers, investigate ways to bring more private capital into the space, and highlight emerging approaches to treating bacterial infections beyond antibiotics.

Despite unprecedented advances in medical science that enabled the development of novel COVID-19 vaccines and therapies at record speed, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed deep deficiencies in our ability to detect, prevent, and respond to global health threats. FasterCures has sought to bring together global health leaders and experts to advance a vision for a coordinated global early warning system to address a key gap in current global disease surveillance efforts.

Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide. Recent technological advancements in the field of cancer, such as the emergence of multi-cancer early detection tests, have the potential to change not only cancer care but also the areas in which research is conducted in the future.

FasterCures seeks to amplify new approaches and developments affecting the field of oncology and address barriers to their innovation.

Cell and gene therapies are transforming how we can treat and potentially cure disease. In response to a rapidly growing pipeline and the hope these therapies offer, FasterCures convenes roundtables and discussions to bring to light the unique regulatory and access considerations posed by cell and gene therapies.

The underrepresentation of diverse groups in clinical research, mistrust in research, and the lack of diversity in the health workforce play significant roles in the persistence of health inequities. FasterCures aims to develop strategies and policies to increase diversity and inclusion in all stages of clinical research and to change the culture of systems within the biomedical research community to value diversity and representation in the development and execution of clinical trials.

The FasterCures LeadersLink Program is a capacity-building program to support the personal development of an emerging cadre of leaders of nonprofit organizations that fund or conduct biomedical research. LeadersLink focuses on building participants’ leadership skills and professional network and addressing their top priorities through mentorship, a capstone project, a series of convenings, virtual collaboration, and access to Milken Institute events and networks.