UNIDO Global Call for “Innovative Ideas and Technologies vs. COVID-19 and Beyond”

The COVID-19 pandemic will have far-reaching and long-term effects on populations and economies worldwide. Besides its immediate impact on health, the socioeconomic consequences of the pandemic are likely to be felt by economic actors over the world, and the populations of developing countries and economies in transition are expected to be among those most vulnerable to suffer from COVID-19-related challenges.

The Global Call is aimed at identifying “Innovative Ideas and Technologies vs. COVID-19 and beyond”, namely scalable solutions to cope with the direct and indirect impact of COVID-19 in developing countries and economies in transition, and their respective needs in the transition to post-crisis socioeconomic realities in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The Global Call offers an opportunity at international level to identify and promote innovative solutionscontributing to tackle COVID-19 effects in developing countries and make their economies more resilient, in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).

The initiative, inspired by ITPO Italy, is promoted by UNIDO – United Nations Industrial Development Organization – through its network of ITPOs, Investment and Technology Promotion Offices around the world.

Requirements

The proposal can be submitted by:

Micro, small, medium, and large companies;
Startups;
Research centers, incubators, technology transfer offices, university spin-offs, and academia;
Public-Private Partnerships;
Associations, business consortia and company networks, NGOs, private foundations.

The organizers encourage the participation of proposal at any level of development, from early stage ideas to scaled up projects, but also innovative technologies under testing and evidence collection.

Participation in the initiative is free of charge.

Benefits

Winners will be contacted in the days following the date of closure of the call for proposals and invited to take part to the Award Ceremony in live streaming scheduled on 14 July 2020 in compliance with the ongoing measures taken worldwide to prevent the spread of the virus.

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The winners will also be offered the following services:

Opportunity to participate as a keynote speaker and guest of honor at the final Award Ceremony to be virtually organized by UNIDO on 14 July 2020;
Realization of an ad hoc web page on the winner innovative idea and / or technology within the UNIDO’s institutional website and assistance in defining a promotional strategy;
Opportunity to make use of an exhibition pass and booth space at EuroScience Open Forum 2020 (ESOF2020) to be held in September 2020 in Trieste (Italy);
Showcase of winning proposals at Expo Dubai to be held in 2021;
Honest brokering services to access, through ad hoc promotional activities, to the worldwide UNIDO and ITPOs network with the aim to guarantee the maximum visibility to the winner proposal and foster the conclusion of international technical, financial and academic partnerships;
Advisory and mentorship services concerning the awarded project.

The Award Ceremonywill be held via a live stream on 14 July 2020 in compliance with the ongoing measures taken worldwide to prevent the spread of the virus.