Impact Funding Resources
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.
Through the Climate Innovation Challenge, the UNICEF Venture Fund will identify, recognize and support innovators developing scalable solutions to protect children’s health and build long-term resilience of the systems they depend on for their well being.
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.
Through the Climate Innovation Challenge, the UNICEF Venture Fund will identify, recognize and support innovators developing scalable solutions to protect children’s health and build long-term resilience of the systems they depend on for their well being.
End Date21 Oct 2025 Funding AmountN/A Funding Resource TypeInnovation Challenge
Funding ProviderUNICEF
Innovation Challenge
UNICEF
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.
Through the Climate Innovation Challenge, the UNICEF Venture Fund will identify, recognize and support innovators developing scalable solutions to protect children’s health and build long-term resilience of the systems they depend on for their well being.
Applicant company must be registered in the UNICEF programme country
https://www.unicefventurefund.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/unicef-programme-country%20%281%29.pdf
Approach to child-centric climate innovation:
Recognizing the urgent and multidimensional threats climate change poses to children, the UNICEF Venture Fund will catalyze innovation in two key areas:
Area 1: Climate and health
Solutions that protect children from climate-related health risks, such as:
• tools for air quality monitoring to protect children from respiratory illness
• solutions to detect, prevent, and reduce children’s exposure to lead pollution in air, water, soil, and food;
• digital platforms to support community engagement and reporting of climate-related health issues; emission reductions; and waste management
• integrated platforms that combine climate (environmental, meteorological, demographic) and health data, leveraging AI and geospatial technologies to predict and manage health risks
• platforms for frontline health workers and community leaders to understand, interpret, and respond to climate-health data
• innovations focused on climate-sensitive infectious diseases, including heat-related impacts, priority disease areas may include water-borne (cholera), vector-borne (malaria), food-borne and soil-borne infections, as well as antimicrobial resistance linked to climate change, widely impacting children
• smart heat and humidity monitoring and adaptation solutions for child-critical environments, such as homes, schools and health facilities
• low-cost cooling technologies, including for schools, homes and health facilities.
Area 2: Climate adaptation, resilience and disaster risk management
AI and data-driven systems and delivery models that predict, detect, and mitigate climate risks, such as:
• community-level early warning systems for early risk mitigation, and predictive platforms for emergency response
• frontier tech enabled analysis and scenario modelling for climate-related risks
• blockchain-based verification and validation of real-world climate events and service delivery
• tools for anticipatory action for climate-sensitive resource allocation and resilient infrastructure planning that integrate climate hazards with social and health datasets
• parametric insurance platforms and innovative financing mechanisms that provide rapid protection for children and communities against climate disasters
• blockchain-based solutions to increase energy resilience, including financing for renewable energy or clean energy alternatives;
• community energy networks to power clean water systems and food storage facilities, such as peer-to-peer energy trading networks.
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
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
