Funding Friday...
14 new funding opportunities for innovation and technology!
Global
🌱 Moonshots4Dev: AI for Climate Resilience in Rural Areas
📝 The "AI for Climate Resilience in Rural Areas" Innovation Challenge is a Moonshots for Development initiative that aims to harness the power of AI to build climate resilience in rural communities. The challenge is powered by multiple organizations including the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), CGIAR Accelerate for Impact Platform, Asian Development Bank (ADB), IDB Lab, World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator, and World Bank Technology & Innovation Lab. The challenge seeks AI-driven solutions that focus on climate adaptation, resource management, and disaster readiness. Three selected companies will receive up to $50,000 in equity-free seed funding for pilot testing their solutions.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Ethical AI in Climate Resilience: How can AI-driven solutions be designed ethically to empower rural communities in vulnerable regions?
AI in Agriculture: What role can AI play in optimizing resource use and crop monitoring for better yield prediction?
Disaster Preparedness: How can AI applications strengthen disaster risk reduction strategies and early warning systems?
🔗 Moonshots4Dev Challenge 2023
🌄USAID Development Innovation Ventures
📝 The Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) is an open innovation program by USAID that aims to fund breakthrough solutions to tackle global development challenges. The program operates on a tiered-evidence approach, offering different stages of grants to maximize impact and cost-effectiveness. DIV is open to innovators and researchers worldwide and offers grants ranging from $200,000 for pilot projects to up to $15,000,000 for transitioning to scale.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Tiered-Evidence Approach: How does DIV's tiered-evidence approach ensure that funding is allocated to the most impactful and cost-effective innovations?
Global Reach: DIV supports innovators from around the world. How does this global focus contribute to the program's effectiveness and diversity of solutions?
Social Return on Investment: DIV claims a 17:1 return on social benefit for each dollar awarded. How is this calculated, and what does it mean for the program's overall impact?
🔗 USAID Development Innovation Ventures
🛠️ Codacy Pioneers Fellowship Program
📝 Codacy, a company founded by developers, has launched the Codacy Pioneers Fellowship Program aimed at supporting individuals involved in open-source projects. The program offers mentorship from top open-source developers, financial support, promotional resources, and free access to Codacy's tools. Each fellow will receive $500 per month for 12 months to support a project of their choice. The application deadline is September 29, 2023.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Open-Source Support: How does the Codacy Pioneers program contribute to the sustainability and growth of open-source projects?
Financial Backing: What impact can a monthly stipend of $500 have on an open-source project?
Mentorship Value: How can mentorship from top open-source developers accelerate the progress and impact of an open-source project?
🔗 Codacy Pioneers Fellowship Program
☀️ Halcyon Climate Fellowship
📝 The Halcyon Climate Fellowship is designed to empower entrepreneurs from around the world to tackle climate challenges. The program focuses on various sectors including Renewable Energy, Green Building, Climate Data, Agriculture, WaterTech, and the Blue Economy. The fellowship offers an 8-week in-person program in Washington, DC, along with expert training and resources to accelerate your venture. Fellows receive a $10,000 USD equity-free living stipend and $10,000 USD in Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing credits, among other benefits.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Climate Sectors: What sectors are most in need of innovative solutions to combat climate change, and how does the Halcyon Climate Fellowship address these?
Equity-Free Funding: What are the advantages and disadvantages of receiving an equity-free living stipend for entrepreneurs?
Global Reach: How does the program's international scope contribute to solving climate challenges on a global scale?
🩺 Halcyon Health Fellowship
📝 The Halcyon Health Fellowship is aimed at supporting entrepreneurs who are working on innovative solutions in the healthcare sector. The program offers an 8-week in-person residency in Washington, DC, where fellows receive mentorship, training, and resources to scale their ventures. Financial support includes a $10,000 USD equity-free living stipend and $10,000 USD in Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing credits.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Innovating for Health: What specific healthcare challenges could benefit most from the kind of innovation this fellowship aims to foster?
Stipend Impact: How could an equity-free stipend change the trajectory for startups in the healthcare sector?
Value of Residency: What advantages does an 8-week in-person residency offer to healthcare entrepreneurs, especially in a field that often requires hands-on experience?
🌾 AGCO Agriculture Foundation Grant for Agricultural Initiatives
📝 The AGCO Agriculture Foundation, initiated by AGCO Corporation in 2018, is offering grant funding for non-profit organizations and public universities/educational institutions. The focus of the grant is on quality education, research, and innovation in agriculture. The aim is to support farmers, farming communities, young people, and women by providing them with the tools, training, and support they need to improve their practices and contribute to a food-secure world. The application period is from September 11th, 8:00 am EST to October 13th, 2023, 5:00 pm EST.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Educational Focus in Agriculture: How can quality education in agriculture contribute to food security and sustainable development?
Community Involvement: What role do farming communities, especially women and youth, play in achieving agricultural transformation?
Grant Utilization: How can non-profits and educational institutions effectively use this grant to make a lasting impact on agricultural practices?
🔗 Call for Applications for Grant (CAG)
👩🏽💻Cesium Ecosystem Grants
📝 Cesium is offering Ecosystem Grants to fuel innovation and collaboration in the 3D geospatial ecosystem. These grants are aimed at early-stage startups, educators, innovators, and students who align with Cesium's core values of Collaboration, Innovation, Customer Focus, and Continuous Learning. The grants range from $5,000 to $50,000, with individuals not being eligible for more than $15,000. The grants are open to anyone, regardless of demographic, institution, or industry, with the goal to advance 3D geospatial technology.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Expanding the Ecosystem: How can these grants help in expanding the 3D geospatial ecosystem through new plugins, interoperable open standards, and integrations?
Social Impact: How can projects funded by Cesium Ecosystem Grants contribute to social good, such as climate change and impact reporting?
Academic Involvement: How can educators and students benefit from these grants in terms of academic curriculum development?
🌍 Phineo Startups - Empowering Impact Startups
📝 Phineo Startups is launching a new program in November 2023, aiming to support impact startups that focus on climate action, strengthening democracies, and developing solutions for displaced individuals. The organization recognizes the various crises the world is facing, such as the war in Ukraine, climate change, loss of biodiversity, and challenges to democracy. They believe in transforming our economic system from being the cause of these crises to the solution. Their mission is to empower startups to create solutions for these global challenges.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Impact Startups: How can startups play a pivotal role in addressing the world's most pressing issues?
Sustainable Business Models: How can businesses shift from short-term profit maximization to sustainable models that benefit society in the long run?
Addressing Crises: How can startups develop both long-term solutions for challenges like climate change and immediate responses to acute crises like wars or pandemics?
🌍 SoTecIn Factory: Open Call 1 for Social Innovators
📝 The EU-funded project SoTecIn Factory has launched its first round of Open Calls for Social Innovators. This initiative aims to support mission-driven social innovation ventures that lead the industry towards a low-carbon and circular economy transition. The focus is on sustainable solutions that utilize higher R circular strategies. Innovators from the civil society, whether individuals or organizations, operating in key industrial value chains of food, water & nutrients, textiles, and plastics & packaging are encouraged to apply. The project will award 25 European (Horizon countries are also eligible) social innovators with up to €15,000 for their ideas. From this group, 15 will receive additional funding support of up to €85,000 for pre-market technological demonstrations.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Circular Strategies: How can industries be transformed to adopt higher R circular strategies effectively?
Innovation in Value Chains: What potential do the key industrial value chains hold for achieving a circular economy?
Tech-Driven Solutions: How can technology be leveraged to drive social impact and systemic change in industries?
🔗 SoTecIn Factory: Open Call 1 for Social Innovators
Asia-Pacific
🌳 GCIP Cambodia: Accelerating Cleantech Innovation
📝 The Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP) in Cambodia is an initiative by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The program aims to bridge the gap in business and technology development for cleantech ventures. It focuses on supporting emerging SMEs with innovative cleantech solutions and strengthening the cleantech innovation ecosystem. The program is tailored to align with various Cambodian government policies and aims to increase green jobs, national capacity, and market development.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Cleantech in Cambodia: How can Cambodia leverage global programs like GCIP to foster cleantech innovation?
Ecosystem Connectivity: What role does ecosystem connectivity play in accelerating cleantech innovation and entrepreneurship?
Focus Sectors: How can startups and SMEs in sectors like agriculture, hospitality, and manufacturing contribute to climate change mitigation through cleantech solutions?
Africa
🌿 Mozilla Technology Fund: AI and Environmental Justice
📝 The Mozilla Technology Fund is focusing on the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and environmental justice for its 2024 Call for Proposals. The fund aims to support open-source projects that either mitigate the environmental impacts of AI or utilize AI to address environmental and climate issues. Mozilla is particularly interested in projects that involve communities most affected by climate change, such as people of color, indigenous and traditional peoples, and local communities.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
AI for Environmental Justice: How can AI technologies be leveraged to address environmental and climate justice, particularly for marginalized communities? AI's Environmental Footprint: What steps can be taken to mitigate the environmental impacts of AI technologies, such as carbon emissions and resource extraction? Combating Climate Disinformation: How can AI-based tools help in identifying and combating the spread of false and misleading content on climate and environmental issues?
🔗 Mozilla Technology Fund: AI and Environmental Justice
🌍 Global Health Supply Chain Research Challenge 2023
📝 The Global Health Supply Chain Summit (GHSCS) Group, in collaboration with Chemonics International, has announced the 2023 Global Health Supply Chain Research Challenge. The challenge aims to offer small seed research grants of up to $12,000 to the authors of top research submissions. The focus areas for the research include Data-Driven Supply Chains, Supply Chain Sustainability and Self-Reliance, Innovative Scalable Solutions, and Supply Chain Risk Management and Resiliency. The challenge is open to individuals or organizations with experience in health supply chains and pharmaceutical management, and the principal investigator team must include at least one person from a low- or middle-income country (LMIC).
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Data-Driven Decision Making: How can data analytics be effectively utilized in health supply chains, especially in low- and middle-income countries?
Sustainability and Self-Reliance: What innovative approaches can be employed to make health supply chains more sustainable and self-reliant?
Risk Management and Resiliency: How can health supply chains be made more resilient to various risks, including pandemics and natural disasters?
🔗 Global Health Supply Chain Research Challenge
📚 Addax & Oryx Foundation: Submit a Project
📝 The Addax and Oryx Foundation is a Swiss non-profit organization that aims to combat poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The Foundation focuses on funding high-impact projects in health, education, community development, and environmental stewardship. Preference is given to projects that cover more than one of these areas and are run by small organizations with limited access to large funders. The projects should aim for sustainable and measurable impacts.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Holistic Approach to Poverty Alleviation: How does the Foundation's multi-faceted focus on health, education, and community development contribute to sustainable poverty reduction?
Small Organizations, Big Impact: What are the advantages and challenges of prioritizing small organizations for funding?
Sustainability and Measurability: How can projects ensure long-term impact and how is this measured?
🇿🇲 Reducing Child Labor and Forced Labor in Critical Mineral Producing Communities in Zambia
📝 The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), U.S. Department of Labor, is offering a cooperative agreement to fund a technical assistance project in Zambia. The project aims to reduce child labor and forced labor in communities that produce critical minerals. The focus is on increasing the capacity of the government and enhancing the resiliency of vulnerable households in selected provinces.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Government Capacity: How can the Zambian government's capacity be effectively increased to tackle child labor and forced labor in mineral-producing communities?
Community Resilience: What strategies can be employed to make vulnerable households more resilient against child labor and forced labor?
Critical Mineral Provinces: Why focus on Northwestern, Copperbelt, Central, and/or Luapula provinces, and what unique challenges do they present?