Lacuna Fund 2020 for Data Scientists, Researchers and Social Entrepreneurs

Application Deadline: 3 September 2020

Lacuna Fund provides data scientists, researchers, and social entrepreneurs with the resources they need to either produce new labeled datasets to address an underserved population or problem, augment existing datasets to be more representative, or update old datasets to be more sustainable. All datasets produced will be locally developed and owned, and they will be openly accessible to the international community while adhering to best practices regarding ethics and privacy.

Requirements

The Lacuna Fund aims to make its funding accessible to as many organizations as possible in the AI for social good space and cultivate capacity and emerging organizations in the field.  

To be eligible for funding, organizations must: 

• Be either a non-profit entity, research institution, for-profit social enterprise, or a team of such organizations. Individuals must apply through an institutional sponsor. Partnerships are welcome but only the lead applicant will receive funds.
• Have a mission supporting societal good, broadly defined.  
• Have all necessary national or other approvals to conduct proposed research. The approval process may be conducted in parallel with grant application, if necessary. Approval costs, if any, are the responsibility of the applicant. 
• Have the technical capacity to conduct dataset labeling, creation, expansion, and/or maintenance. 
• Be sufficiently stable to ensure the sustainability of the dataset or have arrangements with an organization of sufficient stability. 

Labeled Datasets for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

This request for proposals will fund labeled agricultural datasets for machine learning in sub-Saharan Africa, whether referenced to earth observation (EO) data or related to other aspects of the crop and animal agricultural system.

A full copy of the RFP, including more details on potential areas of funding, eligibility, and selection criteria, is here.

See a budget template for reference here.

Applications are accepted through the application portal here.

Timeline:

• RFP Posted Publicly on Lacuna Fund Website: 13 July 2020
• Question and Answer Deadline: 27 July 2020
• Answers Posted: 3 August 2020
• Applications Due: 3 September 2020

Question and Answer Period:

• All questions related to the RFP should be submitted to [email protected] with “Agriculture RFP 2020 Question” in the subject line.
• Questions submitted by 27 July will be de-identified and answered publicly by 3 August on the Lacuna Fund website in a document posted here.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Lacuna Fund 2020