UNICEF Venture Fund - Climate and Health Solutions | WUIN

Application Deadline: May 17, 2026

Fund: Up to $100,000 in equity-free funding for early-stage and ready-to-deploy technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and blockchain. 

The UNICEF Venture Fund invests in open-source frontier technology solutions from emerging markets. They are seeking proposals from climate-focused startups developing open-source frontier technology solutions that have the potential to create radical change for children.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

• Companies must be registered in one of UNICEF’s programme countries 
• Have working prototypes and a commitment to open-source licensing and practices.

HOW TO APPLY

Please use this link

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Recognising the urgent and multidimensional threats climate change poses to children, the Venture Fund will catalyse innovation in four key areas: 

Area 1: Strategic planning

Solutions that strengthen global-to-local climate and environmental hazard mapping; generate health facility, school and community-level vulnerability scores; and identify pollution hotspots. Solutions could include:

• Social and behavioural change tools or platforms that translate large amounts of data on climate and health risks into clear, localised guidance for communities and public authorities. 
• Open, interoperable, AI-driven carbon accounting and greenhouse gas inventory tools for local actors to measure and report emissions. 
• Mapping of flood, heat, air quality and power outage risk layers against national health facility registries using local data and knowledge sources to develop AI-ready databases. This can support making linkages between health facilities and climate vulnerability measures. 
• Frontier tech models for enhancing efficiency and effectiveness in the access to – and delivery of – limited resources to support climate response, such as tools for optimising service delivery and forecasts with planning. 
• Digital tools that assess and reduce the carbon and resource footprint of healthcare value chains, including platforms linking air pollution and environmental exposure data to child health outcomes.

Area 2: Early warning, early action

Tools and platforms for hyper-local climate and environmental data for local governments, community leaders and schools, such as air pollution, UV, heat and humidity alerts. This could include early warning solutions for floods and storms, disease outbreak alerts, and triggers for disaster relief. Solutions could include:

• Early warning systems for climate-sensitive health risks, including vector-borne diseases, zoonoses and heat-related illness, using predictive analytics and real-time data. 
• AI- and blockchain-enabled parametric insurance or disaster financing mechanisms using anomaly detection, climate telemetry and automated triggers to support rapid response during climate-related health shocks.
• Decentralised physical infrastructure networks (DePINs), such as weather or air-quality stations deployed in schools and health facilities, that generate trusted local data to trigger anticipatory action mechanisms, including smart contract–based responses or community incentive models 

Area 3: Healthcare readiness

Novel technologies for predictive analysis and forecasting for national and regional preparedness, such as onset dates for malaria or dengue; heatwave morbidity surge forecasts; and smog, wildfire, dust storm and other seasonal air quality anomalies and respiratory surge forecasts. This could include solutions such as:

• Open-source, AI-driven ‘Forecast-in-a-Box' early warning or predictive analytics tools ready to deploy in low-resource or emergency settings. 
• AI-driven anomaly detection for pollution measurement tooling (e.g. air quality, lead pollution in soil, etc.).
• Low-cost, ready-to-deploy monitoring tools including Internet of Things (IoT) sensors linked to anticipatory action protocols for schools, health facilities and public spaces, combining air quality, temperature, humidity and UV data.
• Climate-sensitive forecasting models for infectious diseases (e.g. malaria, dengue, etc.) and heat-related illnesses, linked to public health decision-making and surge planning (such as DHIS2).
• Platforms to model trends and develop existing linkages between pollution and environmental damage with epidemiological modelling on disease spread and impact on health and food supply, as well as correlations with asthma development in toddlers and other lung diseases. 

Area 4: Point-of-care support

Data-driven solutions that help local authorities and communities access, interpret and share trusted climate and health data, and provide behavioural health nudges. These solutions could support healthcare facility preparedness, service continuity and adaptive service planning. This could include use cases such as:

• Locally trained or fine-tuned large language models (LLMs) that generate region-specific climate health insights for local governments operating in multiple languages, with the ability to function offline or in low-bandwidth environments. 
• Decentralised decision-making systems that enable communities to retain self-custody of health and climate-related data, including consent-based data sharing for research or AI development. 
• Interoperable, digital identity solutions to coordinate beneficiary data across multiple agencies in climate-related public health emergency settings. 
• Multilingual, AI-enabled triage systems to support community health workers with climate-sensitive case management. 

Additional resources: 

• Read more about the application process here
• Read more about the eligibility criteria and scoring here
• Find out what happens after you receive an investment here
• See previously funded projects here
• For any other questions regarding Climate Ventures, please contact us 

About UNICEF

UNICEF is committed to upholding the rights of every child, ensuring that no child is denied opportunities based on race, ethnicity, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status or any other status.

UNICEF fosters an inclusive environment where diversity is valued, and all individuals are treated with fairness, dignity and respect.  The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities defines living with a disability as having a long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment that – in interaction with the environment – hinders one’s participation in society on an equal basis with others.  

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