UNICEF Innovation Fund

Mandatory Requirements

Stage	Stage 3: Proof of Concept
Implemented In:
Region	N/A
Country	Mongolia, Guyana, Dominican Republic, Dominica, Cape Verde, Comoros, Brazil, Belize, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Afghanistan, Guatemala, Ghana, Georgia, Gambia, The, Gabon, Fiji, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, El Salvador, Ecuador, Djibouti, Cuba, Croatia, Costa Rica, Congo, Republic of the, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Colombia, China, Chile, Chad, Cameroon, Cambodia, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Bulgaria, Botswana, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bolivia, Benin, Belarus, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Argentina, Angola, Algeria, Albania, Grenada, Haiti, Sao Tome and Principe, Samoa, Saint Lucia, Serbia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Nauru, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Maldives, Malawi, Lebanon, Kiribati, Senegal, Rwanda, Romania, Qatar, Philippines, Peru, Panama, Palestinian Territories, Oman, Nigeria, Niger, Nepal, Namibia, Mozambique, Morocco, Moldova, Mexico, Mali, Macedonia, Libya, Liberia, Lesotho, Laos, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Kenya, Jordan, Jamaica, Iraq, Montenegro, Kosovo, India, Honduras, Guinea-Bissau, Egypt, Cote d'Ivoire, Central African Republic, Bhutan, Armenia, Tuvalu, Turkmenistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Togo, Timor-Leste, Tajikistan, Suriname, Solomon Islands, Seychelles, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Uzbekistan, Uruguay, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Uganda, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Vietnam, Venezuela, Vanuatu, Turkey, Tunisia, Thailand, Tanzania, Syria, Sudan, Sri Lanka, South Sudan, South Africa, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Saudi Arabia, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Madagascar, Kazakhstan, Iran, Myanmar, Tonga and Pakistan
Focus Areas	All Sectors and Crowdsourcing and Open Source Blockchain Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) AR/VR AI

The Fund has raised $14.4 million.

– You must be registered as a private company in a UNICEF programme country

– You are working on open source technology solutions or willing to be open-source under the following licenses or their equivalent: BSD (software), CERN (hardware), or CC-BY (content)

– You have an existing prototype of the solution with promising results from initial pilots

We invest in solutions that can impact the lives of the most vulnerable children. We find these solutions clustered around $100billion industries in frontier technology spaces, such as: blockchain, UAVs, virtual and augmented reality, 3D printing, machine learning, quantum computing, genetic engineering, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, nano-satellites and human dynamics.

Other Requirements

Target Beneficiaries	Your solution has the potential to positively impact the lives of children.	REQUIRED
Planned Usage of Funds	A need for a small amount of money to get it to the stage where the company has proof that the solution works for other people. Maybe another developer or two are needed, design help to communicate what the project can do or some server space. Refactoring something into a new language because the initial one won’t scale. Testing it in a new area. Getting some data points. These are not huge financial investments, but they are what the Innovation Fund can help with, as UNICEF Innovation supports the acceleration of the company’s work.
Potential for Scale	You have anexisting prototype of the open source solutionwith promising results from initial pilots.	REQUIRED
Financial Statements	You must be registered as aprivate company.Your company/institution must be registered in aUNICEF programme country	REQUIRED
Impact Evaluation/M&E Plan	Your project generates publicly-exposedreal-time data that can be/is measured.	REQUIRED
Other	You’re working on open source technology solutions or willing to be open source under the followinglicensesor their equivalent: (i) for software, a BSD license, (ii) for hardware, a CERN license and (iii) for design or content, a CC-BY license, The Innovation Fund does not take equity, instead UNICEF requires that all code, content or hardwaredeveloped and tested be open source and be publicly available. The Innovation Fund provides money,technical support and a network to help such companies grow. Funded projects will be connected toother similar early-stage projects in other countries, which should enable projects to develop faster andbetter.	REQUIRED