Applications Invited for UNICEF Climate Innovation Challenge

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About the Organization

UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to protect the rights of every child. UNICEF has spent 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families. Defending children's rights throughout their lives requires a global presence, aiming to produce results and understand their effects. UNICEF believes all children have a right to survive, thrive and fulfil their potential – to the benefit of a better world though an innovative approach.

Innovation at UNICEF is about doing new things to solve problems and improve the lives of children around the world.  The UNICEF Office of Innovation, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, supports UNICEF’s Strategic Plan by creating ways for UNICEF’s mission to intersect with, and drive new digital technologies, data solutions, programming approaches, innovative financing and frugal ideas that bring positive change for children, and by scaling innovative solutions to millions.

The UNICEF Venture Fund has been specifically designed to finance early-stage, open-source technology that can benefit children. The core motivation of the UNICEF Venture Fund is to identify “clusters” or portfolios of initiatives around emerging technology so that UNICEF can both shape markets and learn about and guide these technologies for children. We invest in solutions clustered around $100 billion industries in frontier technology spaces such as blockchain, virtual and augmented reality, machine learning and AI. 

About the Grant

UNICEF Climate Innovation Challenge is a call to early and growth stage frontier tech start-ups in emerging economies.

UNICEF is launching a call for solutions from emerging markets in collaboration with India Health Fund (IHF), and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). To maximize impact, UNICEF will foster collaboration between early-stage frontier tech ventures and help scale proven climate adaptation solutions. This dual track approach seeks to drive impact and provide long-term sustainability.

We also invite value-aligned partners to support innovation challenges, design sprints and deliver strategic technical assistance to build greater equity and trust across technological solutions.

Through this challenge, we seek to: 

• conduct a market mapping of child-centric climate innovators operating across emerging markets
• create capacity by offering mentorship and technical assistance from UNICEF Venture Fund experts to selected start-ups, enhancing their investment readiness and potential for future funding. This will comprise:
• 10 hours of technical mentoring consisting of open source, business development, frontier technology, software development and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) mentorship
• additional support to understand and navigate the UNICEF Venture Fund sourcing and selection process
• highlight investable solutions that demonstrate public good and market opportunity

The UNICEF Venture Fund is particularly seeking solutions that:     

• address challenges to accelerate results for children
• are optimized for low-resource environments (e.g., low connectivity or limited mobile access)
• focus on reducing, rather than widening, inequalities, delivering results for diverse users and communities
• can deliver in multiple languages, including local and less used languages

At UNICEF, we prioritize solutions that leverage advanced technologies and uphold strict data protection measures and safeguarding principles to prioritize individuals’ privacy and wellbeing. Additionally, we value a comprehensive approach that strengthens systems and services, recognizing the importance of building resilient and sustainable infrastructure to effectively support health and mental health initiatives, and achieve lasting positive outcomes in the long run.

Eligibility

Companies need to fulfil the following mandatory selection criteria to be considered:

• be registered as a private for-profit company
• be registered in a UNICEF programme country (See the list of eligible countries here)
• have a working prototype or minimum viable product of the proposed solution, ideally, showing promising results
• be open source or willing to be open source
• have the potential to positively impact the lives of the most vulnerable children
• generate publicly exposed real-time data that is measurable

How to Apply

Deadline to apply is 21 October, 2025.

For more information please check the Link

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Tags Children and Childcare Environment and Sustainability Innovations and Technology Others