Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende launched a new competitive funding scheme that will provide up to NOK 50 million annually to innovative solutions that can help to combat poverty by 2030.

Under the scheme, research and educational institutions, civil society organisations, the Norwegian business sector, NGOs and others who have particularly promising projects in the field of health and education can apply for funding. The funding scheme is part of the Government’s efforts to follow up the national innovation initiative Vision 2030.

‘If we are to achieve the ambitious goal of eradicating all extreme poverty in the world by 2030, we need an innovative approach to health and education. We need to find new solutions, new technology and new ways of doing things. This is a global effort, and Norway has an excellent basis for making a contribution, as the Vision 2030 initiative shows,’ Mr Brende said, speaking from the Vision 2030 Conference in Trondheim.

The Government launched the global health and education initiative Vision 2030 in 2014. Since then, more than 100 project proposals have been submitted, and thirty of these are being discussed at the Vision 2030 Conference in Trondheim on 2-3 March. The proposals range from new methods of helping children in conflict-affected areas manage stress, to internet applications that serve a range of purposes in the fields of health and education. The proposals also include innovative technology, such as solar-cell lamps that also charge mobile phones.

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