Royal Philips is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people’s lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2014 sales of EUR 21.4 billion and employs approximately 108,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries.

Philips Foundation

In 2014, Philips launched the Philips Foundation a registered charity that has been created to help enable lasting social change in disadvantaged communities through the provision and application of innovation, talent and resources. The Philips Foundation has three main program areas: disaster relief, community development and social entrepreneurship. The Philips Foundation’s work supports Royal Philips’ ambition to improve the lives of 3 billion people a year by 2025. The Philips Foundation supports projects in the countries where Royal Philips or one of its subsidiaries are present.

Focus Areas

Disaster and Humanitarian Relief

The Philips Foundation works to provide disaster relief to regions affected as quickly as possible. In partnership with The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the Philips Foundation provides medical and lighting equipment, devises on the ground solutions, as well as funds in the event of a large-scale natural disaster.

Community Development

A key aim of the Philips Foundation is to identify projects where Royal Philips’ expertise and innovations can be used to best effect change. They work with Royal Philips country organizations in over 17 geographical areas, as well as with partner NGOs, to craft locally relevant programs.

Past innovations include developing ultrasound machines for rural healthcare settings, clean cook stoves, mobile telehealth, solar lighting and pneumonia and malnutrition testing. And, of course, they supply Royal Philips experts and volunteers to help share and build knowledge.

Social Entrepreneurship

Sustainable development is not only about safeguarding the earth’s resources, it is about giving people the tools with which to build a better, healthier future. The Philips Foundation aims to give social entrepreneurs access to the resources and expertise they need to succeed.

They work to provide grants, training and products that drive social innovation and enable entrepreneurship. A recent example includes social innovation in Rwanda that created an innovative business model around woodstoves for cooking and sale-able pellets for fuel.