Gates Foundation (Grand Challenges) is launching this call to support transformative, high-risk/high-reward R&D that can radically reduce the cost of diagnosis and screening in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The call targets "cost-disruptive" solutions, including: (i) devices/platforms that amortize capital to achieve near-zero incremental cost per test, and (ii) "US$1-class" consumable tests that reset the cost curve while still being feasible for real-world deployment (rapid, easy-to-use, robust, low infrastructure, minimal consumables, etc.). Cross-sector approaches (e.g., imaging, acoustics, breath/environmental analyzers, contactless monitoring) and AI-enabled or software-only approaches are explicitly encouraged when they materially improve performance, cost, or deployability.

In-scope use cases span multiple priority areas (Table 2), including TB, HIV, malaria, STIs, maternal & newborn health, and anemia/women's health, among others. The funder is not seeking implementation/procurement/roll-out projects without substantive R&D, nor discovery-only biomarker work without a credible path to a deployable prototype.

Objective: To translate cost-disruptive concepts into scalable diagnostic and screening solutions that can meet population-scale economics in LMIC settings

• Open to research institutes, nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies, international organizations, government agencies, and academic institutions.

• Applicants must comply with the Gates Foundation global access requirements.

• Applications are encouraged from projects led by or collaborating with women and/or LMIC-based researchers/institutions (encouragement, not a hard requirement).

• Individuals (and organizations classified as individuals for U.S. tax purposes) are not eligible to receive an award.

• Awards are made to the organization where the individual holds their primary appointment (not directly to individuals).

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