 THE NEED ›To achieve breakthroughs in global health, we must encourage risk- taking on creative, unorthodox ideas  THE INITIATIVE ›US$100 million fast-track grants initiative of the Gates Foundation ›Will support hundreds of early-stage research projects on creative concepts for new global health solutions ›Initial grants of $100,000; opportunities for future funding

 KEY GOAL – PROMOTE GREATER DIVERSITY IN GLOBAL HEALTH RESEARCH The initiative aims to: ›Support paradigm-changing ideas that have never before been tested, and that might not stand up to traditional peer review ›Involve scientists around the world, including those who don’t typically work in global health ›This includes innovators in the developing world, from complementary disciplines, and in the private sector, as well as young investigators

 FAST-TRACK GRANTS New fast-track grantmaking to make it easy for scientists to apply: ›Relatively short funding proposals ›Preliminary data not necessarily required ›Fast proposal review (approximately three months) ›Multiple calls for proposals on rolling basis ›Each funding round will address a few specific topics or themes

 GETTING INVOLVED ›Sign up at for updates about Explorations funding opportunities ›First call for grant proposals to be posted in early 2008 ›Spread the word to colleagues, and encourage them to sign up on the website