Results 4 Development recognized the importance of data and community to the public sector — and that significant gaps existed in both areas. Innovations data was sparse, redundant, unorganized, and unreliable. Innovators (researchers, startups), Supporters (NGO's, Incubators), Adopters (governments, country teams), and Customers (target populations) could neither find nor learn from each other. Could R4D bring these stakeholders together on a global scale, achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) while strengthening their community?

Ekohe helped R4D solve for this challenge. With our design, development, and management of the Global Innovation Exchange, we harnessed our product and technical expertise to create one hub for these actors and their critical data needs. At its core, GIE helps all 4 stakeholders (across a variety of sectors) find and interact with each other, learning and reporting from their actions to generate useful insights. GIE keys its value on the most important features for innovation — including support for direct funding, focus-driven micro-sites (e.g. COVID), milestone-based tracking, reliable data analytics (from portfolio-level to on-the-ground initiatives), user-generated content, and much more.

Success is measured by impact: today GIE is the largest searchable development innovation database in the world, with 15,000+ innovations, 45,000+ registered users, and $1.5 billion+ of funding opportunities. Through GIE, the global development ecosystem can scale to meet SDG's with the evolving needs of the market. R4D and Ekohe brought this value to life.