Hopelab
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| Non-profit | |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Redwood City, California, United States |
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Area served
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Global |
| Products | Re-Mission and Re-Mission 2, Zamzee, Mood Meter, Greater Good in Action, Text to Connect |
| Website | www.hopelab.org |
HopeLab is a 501(c)(3) private operating foundation based in Redwood City, CA. HopeLab researches and develops technology-based products to improve human health and well-being. The foundation now focuses on resilience research as part of a strategy to design products that support the psychological and biological health of individuals and communities. The foundation was established in 2001 by Pam Omidyar and is part of the Omidyar Group of philanthropic enterprises founded and funded by Pam and her husband Pierre Omidyar, founder and chairman of eBay.
HopeLab is the recipient of the 2014 Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation for its pioneering work in creating products that help people respond to life’s adversity in healthy ways. HopeLab also has been named a Social Enterprise of the Year by Fast Company magazine and was recognized by President Obama and the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation for innovating new approaches to improving the health of young people. For her work with HopeLab, Pam Omidyar received the inaugural Peter Samuelson Award for Innovation at the Starlight Children's Foundation in 2007.
Although HopeLab has not yet unveiled a product that promotes resilience, the foundation is working to catalyze the development of mobile apps and other technologies to enhance resilience in people’s everyday lives. HopeLab defines resilience as “the ability to bounce back from adversity” and holds the point of view that resilience is an innate human trait. According to HopeLab, scientific research has helped identify three major modifiable sources of resilience that affect both psychological and biological health:
HopeLab is working to establish measurement tools for both biological and psychological resilience, using genomics technology and Big Data analytics. The foundation is also sourcing collaborative development opportunities to explore how technology can support resilience and, in a more targeted application, help address the problem of bullying, both online and offline.
As part of HopeLab’s development path, the foundation is presenting new psychological and social intervention concepts from research in psychology, medicine, and neuroscience to the product developer and design community. The foundation is also providing seed grants, prototyping and testing apps for early stage impact at behavioral and biological levels, and driving iterative refinements of any product or technology that shows empirical promise.
Zamzee is a game-based product prototyped and tested by HopeLab as a tool to motivate children, families and groups to be more physically active. The product combines an activity tracker that records physical activity and a motivational website where activity is rewarded with points and prizes. Data from a randomized, controlled study conducted by HopeLab, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, showed that middle-school children using Zamzee boosted their physical activity levels by 59% compared to a control group. The study also showed significant increases in physical activity for at-risk groups, including a 103% increase among girls and 27% increase among overweight participants. Other outcomes included positive impacts on LDL cholesterol and glycated hemoglobin, key biomarkers for heart disease and type 2 diabetes. These results were announced at the 2012 Obesity Society Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.
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