Introduction 

Are you a digital innovator with a current or candidate global good? In response to community feedback, Digital Square at PATH is refreshing its global good list, including the digital tools that will be featured in its Global Goods Guidebook (version 4 to be published in 2023). We are looking for innovative companies interested in working with us to increase the availability, adaptability, and maturity of high-quality digital health tools to address country-driven health needs. Successful applicants to this call will join the global goods community, receive funding to attend the 2023 Global Good Innovators Meeting, and a fixed award of up to $25,000 to support the publication of data on the impact and/or scale of the candidate global good. 

This call seeks to support the discoverability, accessibility, and promotion of global goods, which are crucial for saving lives and improving health around the world. At Digital Square, global goods are digital health tools that are free, open source, impactful, scalable, and adaptable to different countries and contexts. These free and open source digital health tools look to reduce fragmentation and duplication to accelerate scale and health impact. 

NOTE/ATTENTION: We encourage all existing global goods, as well as new tools, to apply to these notices to ensure that tools are re-evaluated for representation in the upcoming Global Goods Guidebook. 

Digital Square global goods 

Digital Square global goods are health-focused tools that are impactful, scalable, and adaptable to different countries and contexts. In addition, they have an active focus on becoming more interoperable, deployable, and better serving of low-middle-income country (LMIC) strategies. The following are the attributes of global goods: 

• Software available under an open source license, services with no barrier to access, and content readily available under an open content license. 

• Are aligned to the Digital Public Goods (DPG) Standard and are either nominated or registered as DPGs (only relevant to software and content global goods). 

• Supported by an anchor organization and/or strong community. 

• Having clear governance structures. 

• Demonstrated effectiveness of the tool. 

• Deployed at scale and used across multiple countries. 

• Designed to be interoperable—to connect and communicate with other digital health systems. 

• Demonstrated sustainability continuum for the tool. 

Notice G0: Software Global Goods 

This call focuses on the identification of software global goods for health which are currently in use on a global scale. 

Software 

A mature digital health software global good is software that is free and open source, is supported by a strong community, has a clear governance structure, is funded by multiple sources, has been deployed at a significant scale, is used across multiple countries, has demonstrated effectiveness, is designed to be interoperable, and is an emergent standard application. 

Summary definition of a software global good: 

• Licensed as free and open source software. 

• Aligned to the DPG Standard and are nominated/registered DPGs. 

• Supported by a strong community and has a clear governance structure. 

• Funded by multiple sources. 

• Deployed at significant scale. 

• Used across multiple countries with demonstrated effectiveness. 

• Designed to be interoperable. 

Examples of types of tools may include, but are not limited to: 

• Client-oriented technologies, such as those that provide compliance reminders for appointments and treatment, transmit health-event alerts, and/or transmit payments or vouchers, etc. 

• Provider-oriented technologies, such as those that support the identification and registration of clients, clients’ health records, communications and decision-making for healthcare providers, referrals, planning and scheduling, training, and the management of laboratory tests and results, diagnostics, and imaging, and “virtual health,” including remote monitoring and telemedicine. 

• Manager-oriented technologies, such as those that support the management of human resources, supply-chains, notifications of public health events, civil registries and vital statistics, public- and private-sector health funds, and facilities. 

• Data-services-oriented technologies, such as those that enable the collection, management, analytics, coding, exchange, interoperability, and use of data; and location-mapping. 

For additional examples, please review the current Global Goods Guidebook. 

Who can apply? 

Digital Square accepts submissions from various applicators, independently or in partnership with others, including research institutes and institutions of higher education, non-governmental organizations, and private, for-profit companies. Digital Square also accepts applications for funding from innovators, digital entrepreneurs, and researchers of all nationalities based in all geographies. 

Benefits of applying 

Successful candidates and awards: Digital Square will evaluate all applicants in terms of their inclusion as a global good. Currently, Digital Square has obtained funding to support at least 20 global goods innovators to attend the Digital Square Global Good Innovators Meeting (projected for March 2023), which will be hosted in Africa. In addition, select awardees will receive up to US$25,000 in funding to support the development of impact and scale documentation to showcase the value and reach of their global good. 

Recognition as a global good: Successful applications will be recognized as a Digital Square approved global good and will gain an approved status, which can be used to garner donor support. They will also form part of the broader Digital Square global goods community and have access to Digital Square's basket of services, plus further benefits associated with being an approved global good. 

The global goods community: All successful global goods will be invited to attend the 2023 Global Good Innovators Meeting, hosted on the African continent, which serves as an opportunity to connect, learn, and gain insights from the broader global community. Select successful applicants will receive sponsorship to attend the event. This event offers unique opportunities of engaging directly with a range of donors and endorsers of the global goods guidebook and concept at large, as well as key ministries leveraging global goods, and countries interested in global goods. 

Global visibility: All successfully classified global goods will be featured in the next version of the Global Goods Guidebook. This key reference catalogue forms part of the recommended guidance in selecting digital health solutions for country adoption by donors. It is endorsed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL), Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA), German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), US Agency for International Development (USAID), and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). 

Cloud computing credits: All approved awardees will be eligible for one year of cloud hosting credits from Amazon Web Services (AWS) as part of the AWS Health Equity Initiative.  AWS’s support is part of a $40 million global program, launched in late 2021, to enhance health and reduce inequities in healthcare. Approved applicants will work directly with AWS to facilitate execution of the credits. 

Eligibility criteria 

Proposals are required to meet a set of minimum eligibility criteria to be considered for evaluation. The eligibility criteria are as follows: 

• The proposed software will need to meet the definition of a global good and be licensed under an open source license. 

• The proposed software must be a nominated or registered DPG with the DPGA. 

• Proposed software solutions should focus on Sustainable Development Goal 3: Health and well-being. Global goods are mapped to their primary function within the health space and the focus areas of intervention they seek to address. To provide the mappings, Digital Square global goods leverage the categories and system classifications of the World Health Organization’s “Classification of digital health interventions v1.0”. 

• The solution will need to provide evidence of scale and of the tool being open source (meeting the definition of a software global good). 

• Must be a mature solution that is demonstrably established in the market and is aiming at the expansion to new markets.