From extracting water from the air to restoring people’s sight, Rolex has supported trailblazing researchers and inventors for almost a century.

Today, this network of pioneers is finding solutions to global problems such as health, pollution and waste. They are using cutting-edge research and ingenious technologies to tackle seemingly intractable challenges. Rolex is committed to supporting this invaluable work, not only for the sake of humanity’s future, but that of the whole planet.

It is with this spirit that the company has established key Moments throughout the year, each focused on Rolex partners in a different field. The Science, Health and Technology Moment is a chance to shine a light on its exceptional partners, Testimonees and Rolex Awards Laureates who are dedicated to protecting our planet and improving human wellbeing.

LIFE-CHANGING INNOVATION
Among the boldest projects supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative are those revolutionising modern medicine. From his .NeuroRestore Laboratory in Switzerland, 2019 Rolex Awards Laureate Grégoire Courtine is making great strides in his life-long mission to return movement to sufferers of spinal cord injuries. His latest breakthrough, the “digital bridge”, connects a paralysed patient’s brain to an Epidural Electrical Stimulation device implanted on their spine, allowing them to control the movement of their legs through thought alone.

On the other side of the world, in Australia, 2012 Laureate Mark Kendall has used his expertise in nanopatches that deliver vaccines through the skin to develop wearable sensors. These non-invasive sensors can offer vital readings to aid early diagnoses and allow healthcare professionals to provide more personalized treatment for each patient.

Over 9,000 kilometres away, in Pakistan, 2019 Laureate Sara Saeed is changing the way healthcare is delivered to people in remote locations. Where Courtine and Kendall are developing new technology, Saeed is making use of more familiar tools. Through video calls and digital screenings, Saeed’s healthcare service Sehat Kahani is empowering female doctors to deliver healthcare to impoverished and hard-to-reach communities.

PROGRESS FOR THE PLANET
When a Rolex watch continued to function after being taken to the crushing depths of the Mariana Trench, but also kept perfect time, it demonstrated what human ingenuity can achieve. Today, in the face of a changing climate, that inventive spirit is needed more than ever.

In 2019, humanity produced 460 million tonnes of plastic, and by 2060 that number could triple. However, only 9 per cent of that plastic gets recycled. The majority is sent to landfill, and 22 per cent is mismanaged – meaning it can end up polluting our soils, rivers and oceans.

Entrepreneur and Rolex Awards Laureate, Miranda Wang is working to change that. Inspired by a visit to a plastic processing plant when she was at school, Wang has developed recycling technology to turn dirty, unwanted plastic into useful chemicals. After initial experiments with plastic-eating bacteria proved unscalable, Wang pivoted to chemical recycling methods. “Humans have an incredible ability to innovate at times when it matters,” she says.

Wang and her best friend Jeanny Yao founded Novoloop to bring this technology to market, aided by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative. In January 2024, the company began constructing a pilot plant in India. Within three months, the plant was in continuous operation. Novoloop is also conducting a preliminary engineering study for a facility that could process 20,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste per year.

Other Rolex Awards Laureates are using new technologies to help those most affected by climate change. Kenyan social entrepreneur Beth Koigi’s company Majik Water installs atmospheric water generators (AWGs) in very arid regions. Her AWGs are able to draw between 20 and 500 litres of fresh water per day from the air, depending on conditions. This water can be life saving for communities facing increased drought year on year.

Elsewhere in Africa, Rolex Awards Laureate Felix Brooks-church is helping to solve the problem of malnutrition. Having started in Tanzania, he has now expanded his work across five countries throughout East and Southern Africa: Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique. Ethiopia is the next in line. His social enterprise, Sanku, installs dosifier machines in local mills to add crucial nutrients to the flour being produced, including vitamin B12, zinc, folic acid and iron. Brooks-church believes proper nutrition is a basic human right, “the same as shelter, safety or water”.

LIFE-SAVING DATA
Not all innovation comes in the form of new technology, however: using a data-driven approach, 2010 Rolex Awards Laureate Piyush Tewari is transforming India’s roads. Spurred on by the preventable death of a young cousin, Tewari launched the SaveLIFE Foundation (SLF) to tackle the staggering amount of preventable deaths caused by road accidents every year in India.

This has led to improvements on critical stretches of road, such as the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, where the foundation fixed over 3,500 engineering issues on the 100-kilometre stretch, which then saw a 52 per cent reduction in road accident mortality over the following four years. They call these transformed dangerous roads “Zero-Fatality Corridors” and, to date, their renovations have benefitted approximately 2,886 people directly, and 41.88 million people indirectly.

They have also provided first-aid training to tens of thousands of police officers and volunteers. Tewari calculates that 1.82 million people injured in roadside accidents have been rushed to hospitals by people who have received his training from SLF.

RESTORING EYESIGHT
One of the most successful projects supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative brings essential eye testing and treatment to people in rural areas. In 2011, ophthalmologist Andrew Bastawrous quit his National Health Service job in the UK and moved to Kenya, in the hope of delivering eye care to people who could not access it. A year later, he launched his company Peek Vision, and by 2016, he won a Rolex Award for his work. The award changed the scope of his project, allowing him to launch Peek Acuity, an app that lets trained people check eyesight on a mobile phone and then refer those screened to appropriate health facilities. 

Today, over 500,000 people per month receive the mobile-phone-based eye examination. Having recently celebrated screening 10 million people, Peek has expanded to multiple locations in Africa and Asia, covering a total of 12 countries so far. With support from Rolex, Bastawrous is on track to reach his next goal of rolling out Peek across the entirety of Nepal by the end of 2028. 

These initiatives are just some of the examples of Rolex’s long-term commitment to support individuals and organizations using science to devise solutions to today’s challenges. Driven by a spirit of discovery, and with the support of the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, these exceptional people are the explorers of what is possible.

ABOUT THE PERPETUAL PLANET INITIATIVE
For nearly a century, Rolex has supported pioneering explorers pushing back the boundaries of human endeavour. The company has moved from championing exploration for the sake of discovery to protecting the planet, committing for the long term to support individuals and organizations using science to understand and devise solutions to today’s environmental challenges.

This engagement was reinforced with the launch of the Perpetual Planet Initiative in 2019, which initially focused on individuals who contribute to a better world through the Rolex Awards, on safeguarding the oceans as part of an established association with Mission Blue, and on understanding climate change via its long-standing partnership with the National Geographic Society.

An expanding portfolio of other partnerships embraced by the Perpetual Planet Initiative now includes: Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen in their work as conservation photographers; Rewilding Argentina and Rewilding Chile, offspring organizations of Tompkins Conservation, which are protecting landscapes in South America; Coral Gardeners, transplanting resilient corals to reefs; Steve Boyes and the Great Spine of Africa series of expeditions, exploring the continent’s major river basins; the Under The Pole expeditions, pushing the boundaries of underwater exploration; the B.I.G. expeditions to the Arctic, gathering data on threats to the landscape; and the Monaco Blue Initiative, bringing together ocean conservation experts.

Rolex also supports organizations and initiatives fostering the next generations of explorers, scientists and conservationists through scholarships and grants such as The Rolex Explorers Club Grants.