In 2015, the world began to realize a stark reality — the unprecedented wealth and prosperity ushered in by the digital age was not being shared equally across society. Research indicated that income inequality was rising, and the headlines reflected a growing public fear of unemployment driven by automation.

MIT Sloan School of Management‘s Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, co-directors of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE) and co-authors of “The Second Machine Age,” recognized this reality as a challenge that could be solved if the right resources were brought to bear.

IDE’s response was the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge (IIC), a global tournament for entrepreneurs harnessing technology to ensure a more equitable future. Since the IIC was launched at the first MIT Solve in 2015, IDE has identified 160 organizations from around the world, awarding a total of $5 million in prizes to accelerate their missions. In three years, those IIC winners have collectively generated over $170 million in revenue, raised over $1 billion in capital, created more than 7,000 jobs, and served 350 million people.