Deadline Date: April 28, 2026
The Gates Foundation invites applications for innovative solutions that significantly reduce the cost of diagnostic and screening tools while enabling scalable and effective deployment in low- and middle-income countries.
The initiative focuses on cost-disruptive diagnostic devices and $1-class tests, transformative high-risk and high-reward innovations, novel sensing modalities, software-defined diagnostics, AI-enabled or software-only approaches, scalable screening and same-visit decision-making, cross-sector and multimodal solutions, and platform-based innovations that improve cost efficiency and sustainability.
The challenge seeks to identify technologies that can dramatically lower the cost of diagnosis and screening by reducing capital expenses and enabling near-zero incremental costs per test or per person screened. These solutions are expected to address high-priority disease areas while meeting real-world deployment constraints, particularly in low-resource settings.
Applicants are encouraged to propose transformative approaches that rethink how diagnosis and screening are conducted, including innovations that integrate advanced sensing, artificial intelligence, and software-driven models. Solutions should demonstrate operational feasibility, especially in high-throughput screening environments, and include a clear workplan with milestones aligned to the maturity of the technology.
The initiative aims to support a diverse portfolio of projects ranging from early-stage high-risk concepts to more advanced solutions ready for adaptation and scaling. Proposals should present a credible pathway to achieving population-scale affordability, including clear assumptions and strategies for maintaining low costs through platform-based or multi-use applications.
Eligible applicants include research institutes, nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies, international organizations, government agencies, and academic institutions, all of which must comply with global access requirements and commit to independent evaluation and ethical and regulatory standards.
For more information, visit Gates Foundation.
