About Organisation
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is a global agency dedicated to safeguarding the rights and wellbeing of children across 190 countries and territories. UNICEF works to provide life-saving support, improve access to education and healthcare, and respond to emergencies while addressing long-term developmental challenges. With a strong commitment to innovation, UNICEF collaborates with governments, civil society, and the private sector to scale sustainable solutions for children. Through its Venture Fund, UNICEF invests in frontier technologies such as AI, blockchain, and virtual reality, supporting early-stage innovators who create open-source solutions with potential to benefit children globally. UNICEF’s approach emphasizes equity, ensuring vulnerable and marginalized populations are reached first, and focuses on building resilience in health, education, and protection systems. By leveraging technology, research, and cross-sectoral collaboration, UNICEF fosters scalable solutions to safeguard children’s futures. Its partnerships, like the collaboration with India Health Fund and Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, further demonstrate its role in uniting global expertise to tackle urgent issues such as climate change, health risks, and digital inequality. As a global leader, UNICEF continues to strengthen resilience and equity, ensuring that children not only survive but thrive in a changing world.
About the Grant
The UNICEF Climate Innovation Challenge 2025 invites early and growth-stage frontier tech start-ups from emerging economies to develop scalable solutions that safeguard children’s health and strengthen resilience to climate change. Focus areas include protecting children from air pollution, lead exposure, climate-sensitive infectious diseases, and heat-related risks, as well as waste management and emission reduction. Start-ups are encouraged to use advanced technologies like AI, geospatial tools, and blockchain to predict, detect, and respond to climate risks, while also enhancing frontline health systems and community engagement platforms. Selected ventures will receive mentorship, technical support, and guidance toward investment readiness, including support with open-source development, business scaling, and inclusion practices. The challenge emphasizes low-resource adaptability, multilingual capacity, and strict adherence to data protection. By fostering innovations optimized for diverse environments, UNICEF aims to accelerate child-centered climate resilience. This initiative highlights the intersection of climate action and children’s rights, ensuring solutions contribute to sustainable systems that protect vulnerable populations. Successful applicants will also gain visibility through the UNICEF Venture Fund sourcing process, opening pathways to future funding and global impact opportunities.
Who can Apply?
Eligible applicants must be private, for-profit entities registered in a UNICEF programme country. Start-ups should be early- or growth-stage frontier tech companies with a working prototype or minimum viable product. All solutions must be open-source or demonstrate a commitment to becoming open-source. Applicants should provide innovations that positively impact children, especially those in vulnerable or underserved communities, while generating measurable and publicly available real-time data. Solutions should address climate-related health challenges, be adaptable to low-resource settings, function in multiple languages, and maintain strong privacy and safeguarding standards. Ventures must show potential for scalability, investment readiness, and alignment with UNICEF’s mission to protect children’s rights. Priority is given to projects that reduce inequalities, strengthen resilience, and deliver tangible outcomes for children and their communities. By combining technical feasibility with social impact, applicants should demonstrate their capacity to create systems that endure climate shocks while advancing health, education, and equity. Start-ups ready to drive innovation and sustainability in partnership with global experts are strongly encouraged to apply.
How to Apply?
The final date for submission of applications is 21 October 2025 at 11:59 PM (local applicant time). Late submissions will not be accepted.
Application Deadline
Applications close on 21 October 2025. Ensure timely submission to be considered for the challenge.
Last Date To Apply
For more information, please visit the grant website here.
