Applications Invited for Frontier Tech Solutions

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About the Organization

UNICEF’s Innovation Fund invests in early stage, open-source, emerging technology digital public goods with the potential to impact children on a global scale. It also provides product and technology assistance, support with business growth, access to a network of experts and partners to allow for scale and growth. Our ambition is to build successful digital solutions into Global Digital Public Goods, to ensure fair, equitable, and open access to these unique and new tools for human development on a global scale.

The UNICEF Innovation Fund is the first financial vehicle of its kind in the United Nations and enables UNICEF to learn from and to shape markets of emerging technology that exist at the intersection of $100 billion business markets and 1 billion persons’ needs.

Founded in 2016, the core motivation of the Innovation Fund is to identify "clusters" or portfolios of initiatives around emerging technology - so that UNICEF can both shape markets and also learn about and guide these technologies to benefit children. We invest in digital public goods that can impact the lives of vulnerable populations.

We find these solutions clustered around $100 billion industries in frontier technology spaces, such as: blockchain, drones, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, extended reality and others.

About the Grant

The UNICEF Venture Fund is looking to make up to US$100K in equity-free investments to provide early-stage (seed) funding to for-profit technology start-ups developing software solutions using frontier technologies for climate action. If your startup leverages frontier technology for climate analytics and forecasts, greener economies, climate and disaster risk mitigation, carbon offsetting or emission reduction, or youth engagement around climate action, we are looking for you. If your product is registered in one of UNICEF’s programme countries, is a working prototype, has demonstrated results, and is (or could be) open-source licensed, we encourage you to apply.

Eligibility

Projects are assessed by UNICEF Innovation Fund team and recommended for funding to the internal board. Companies need to fulfill the following mandatory requirements to be considered for funding:                                          

• Registered as a private company
• Registered in a UNICEF programme country (see list here)
• Working on open source technology solutions (or willing to be open source) under the following licenses or their equivalent:
• for software, a BSD license,
• for hardware, a CERN license and
• a CC-BY license for design or content, a CC-BY license
• An existing prototype of the open source solution with promising results from initial pilots
• Solution has the potential to positively impact the lives of the most vulnerable children     
• Generating publicly exposed real-time data that is measurable

How to Apply

Step I: Check Eligibility

Interested companies are required to check the eligibility of the Innovation Fund

Step II: Submit Application

Interested companies are required to submit an online application through the Fund website. You should provide the information and supporting documents indicated in the form.

Applying to the Fund does not automatically ensure that the submitting company will be selected to participate in next stages of the application process.

Step III: Submit Request for Proposal

The Innovation Fund reviews all applications and notifies companies of the decision. Shortlisted applicants are invited to submit a detailed proposal, this is called the Request for Proposal (RFP) step.

Step IV: Demo Interview

After a careful review, companies shortlisted at the RFP step are invested for an online demo interview. This is usually a 30 min interview the with Innovation Fund team and experts from our tech teams.

Step V: Final Result

Based on a complete assessment of the application, RFP and interview, the Innovation Fund makes the final investment decision and notifies all selected companies.

Submission deadline: 9th January

Apply now

For more information please check the Link

Tags Entrepreneurship Environment and Sustainability Innovations and Technology Others