AMSTERDAM, July 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Philips
Foundation announced today the publication of its 2015 Annual
Report which highlights the progress of its global projects with
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the
Netherlands Red Cross and the United Nations Children's Emergency
Fund (UNICEF) as well as over 30 community projects around the
world. In addition to the measureable achievements, the report
highlights the rapidly growing need for the private sector to bring
its innovation expertise in the form of shared-value partnerships
with humanitarian organizations, to expand access to quality care
for the most underserved populations globally.
The Philips Foundation was established in 2014 with the aim of
leveraging the deep innovation know-how, technology and people of
Philips to help improve the lives of vulnerable populations,
especially mothers and children - who are most affected in any
disaster or crisis situation. Projects to date have focused
on: providing disaster relief, establishing community engagement
projects and fostering social entrepreneurship.
Highlights from the first full-year of operations include:
- The launch of two global humanitarian innovation partnerships
with the ICRC and UNICEF
- 30 community engagement projects approved across the globe from
Peru to Vietnam to Turkey
- Three disaster relief appeals raising over EUR297K from Philips employees matched by The
Philips Foundation
The Philips Foundation also recently became a founding partner
of the Global Alliance for Humanitarian Innovation to help scale in
the sector.
"From the outset, we wanted The Philips Foundation to be
different from the traditional grant-making foundation. We
could see the potential that our innovations and design thinking at
Philips could have in improving the lives of those affected by the
many humanitarian crises today, but we needed to establish the
right partnerships," explained Katy
Hartley, Head of The Philips Foundation. "In our
relationships with the ICRC and UNICEF we've taken a continuous
learning approach, established trust, and focused on how best to
co-create solutions for those in need together."
The Philips Foundation's innovation partnership with UNICEF
focuses on the 'first 1000 days of a child's life' (from inception
to age two) and started with two key initiatives, the Maternal and
Neonatal Health Innovations or Maker Movement project in
Kenya, and the sponsorship of the
UNICEF Global Innovation Center. Furthermore, The Philips
Foundation's partnership with the ICRC focuses on strengthening
healthcare systems and alleviating suffering in underserved
communities, for example in the Ivory
Coast, where together with the Netherlands Red Cross it has
designed a multi-year plan to improve the primary healthcare system
and facilities.
"Improving people's health is at the core of what both we at the
ICRC and the Philips Foundation do. Together, we can make a real
difference when it comes to providing better access to quality
health care for people living in complex and fragile environments,
said Yves Daccord, director general
of the ICRC. We are sharing expertise and learning from each other,
in terms of processes, approaches and technologies. This is how we
manage to overcome challenges and provide innovative solutions to
increasingly complex humanitarian needs."
In addition, The Philips Foundation is honored to announce a
forthcoming collaboration with Ashoka, the world's largest
association of leading social entrepreneurs who have developed
system-changing solutions for the world's most urgent social,
economic and environmental problems. Together, Philips and
Ashoka will run a 6-month accelerator program: The Globalizer
on Health and Lighting, which will focus on helping 12
leading social entrepreneurs scale innovations to build resilient
and sustainable communities.
The program will work towards a three-day Summit from 18 to
20 October 2016 in Eindhoven, where
the entrepreneurs will showcase their impact strategies and will
receive mentoring from both Philips and non-Philips industry
experts.
"At a time where many humanitarian organizations are facing
unprecedented challenges, we believe that it is the responsibility
of the private sector to play a part in finding solutions to these
problems," said Ronald de Jong, Chief Market Leader at Philips and
Chairman of The Philips Foundation. "By focusing on the needs of
our partners and the wide range of innovation expertise, healthcare
and lighting technology we have as an extension of the Philips
business, we look forward to co-creating new solutions that will
help produce better outcomes and affect lasting change
globally."
For more information on The Philips Foundation Annual Report
2015, please visit the website.
For further information, please contact:
Kathy O'Reilly
Philips Group Communications
(o) 978-659-2638 (m) 978-221-8919
Kathy.oreilly@philips.com
Twitter: @kathyoreilly
About the Philips Foundation:
The Philips
Foundation is a registered charity and has been created to help
enable lasting social change in disadvantaged communities through
the provision and application of innovation, talent and resources.
Together with key partners the ICRC, Netherlands Red Cross and
UNICEF, The Philips Foundation seeks to identify the challenges
where a combination of Philips expertise and partner experience can
be used to create meaningful solutions that impact people's lives.
The Philips Foundation has three main program areas: disaster
relief, community development and social entrepreneurship. Programs
run throughout the world in Philips country locations will also be
supported and channelled through The Philips Foundation. The
Philips Foundation's work supports Royal
Philips' ambition to improve the lives of 3 billion people a
year by 2025. www.philips-foundation.com
About Royal
Philips
Royal Philips
(NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company
focused on improving people's health and enabling better
outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and
prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips
leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and
consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. The
company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided
therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as
well as in consumer health and home care.
Headquartered in the Netherlands,
Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2015 sales of
EUR 16.8 billion and employs
approximately 69,000 employees with sales and services in more than
100 countries. News about Philips can be found at
www.philips.com/newscenter.
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SOURCE Royal Philips