
About the Challenge
TIkkun Olam Makers (TOM) is a global venture that supports inventions and innovation around the neglected needs of vulnerable populations. Inspired by a bold vision of helping millions of people worldwide, TOM supports and inspires a global network of communities.
The Abraham Accords Open Innovation Challenge (AAOIC) is a 6-week competition in humanitarian innovation among teams of student-makers and Need Knowers to create open-source, affordable, and accessible solutions to neglected challenges of people living with disabilities. In the TOM tradition, all solutions are open source and will be documented and uploaded to the TOM platform, making them accessible to anyone anywhere. While the competition includes the nations that joined the Abraham and Normalization Accords - UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, Kosovo, Israel, and the US - the AAOIC is open to teams from all over the world. The AAOIC will culminate in a celebratory event at the Expo 2020 in Dubai on March 28, 2022, where winning teams and participants will present their solutions and receive awards and honorable mentions.
Within each TOM Team, makers will be required to team up with Need Knowers, who are people that live with and represent a disability that does not have an affordable and accessible market or government solution. Each team will focus on one real-life challenge presented to them by the Need Knower, and jointly develop an open-source, affordable and accessible solution.
Teams may also work off of an existing solution and offer innovations to make it more affordable or accessible. All competing solutions must be documented using the TOM Documentation System and follow the different submission phases - Concept, Working Model, and Prototype.