What can we learn from startups competitions?

Innovation methods

Data sources

SDG(s)

Sustainable Development Goal(s)

8Decent work and economic growth

11Sustainable cities and communities

13Climate action

Disclaimer:

Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.

Title

Please provide a name for your action learning plan.

Startup competitions for policy and programming

Challenge statement

Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge. Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.

EXPLORATORY

Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)

Our challenge is the disconnected support to startups and entrepreneurs specially in the field of climatechnology as it is cross cutting multiple sectors and often challenged for its commercial viability.

Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?

There are numerous examples of startups making significant contributions to climate action. However, startups also face challenges, including access to capital, market uncertainty, and regulatory barriers. Supporting policies, such as public funding for research and development, tax credits for clean technology investments, and clear regulatory frameworks, are necessary to foster the growth of climate technology startups. this is specially important for startups in developing world who are contributing to developing the balance between adaptation and mitigation solutions. Data and intelligence is very needed to develop relevant policy and programming for supporting those startups, which is currently lacking. Numerous startups challenges and competitions are undertaken around the world but little attention is being paid to the amount of data collected in those contexts that we can learn from.

Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.

https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/esg/state-of-climate-tech-2023-investment.html https://unfccc.int/ttclear/misc_/StaticFiles/gnwoerk_static/incubators_index/ee343309e8854ab783e0dcae3ec2cfa6/c172d2f388234bdbbe3dd9ae60e4d7e9.pdf

Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.

According to UNEP, Wealthy nations are falling tens of billions of dollars short of their pledge to help climate-vulnerable regions adapt to a warming planet, widening an already vast gap in funding and leaving millions at risk. Climatechnology startups in developing countries are found to be more leaning into solving adaptation challenges that they face within their community, a promise from the role of startups in supporting climate action agenda. However, they are still falling behind when it comes to access to finance, advanced and conducive supporting environment, as well as technology support.

Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?

The acclab is bringing tools and philosophies of finding and tapping into uncommon sources of data to learn and act. This is an example of applying collective intelligence for collective action. It complement the work of other UNDP teams who are supporting startups ecosystem by building a parallel pathway of learning to improve and iterate on implementation as well as supporting government and partners in future similar engagements.

Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?

Startups competitions offer funds and visibility for startups, but they can also have a significant role in policy and programming through real-life insights and learnings on gaps and opportunities startups face. This how we can continuously strengthen relationships and support.

Challenge classification

Partners

Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.

Please state the name of the partner:

The ministry of international cooperation.

What sector does our partner belong to?

Government (&related)

Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.

the one launched the startups competition in COP27 and we are supporting them on learning and tapping into collective intelligence as well as continuation for COP28

Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?

Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.

Please state the name of the partner:

The american university in cairo

What sector does our partner belong to?

Academia

Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.

Collaborating in data analysis and developing the knowledge piece

Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?

Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.

Please state the name of the partner:

Microsoft

What sector does our partner belong to?

Private Sector

Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.

. technology partner

Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?

Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.

Please state the name of the partner:

world bank

What sector does our partner belong to?

Civil Society

Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.

potential scaling partner

Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?

Learning questions

Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?

what can we learn from startups competition and database of 400+ startups in the climate technology entrepreneurship scene for policy and programme support?

To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?

Sense, Explore

Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?

We are taking a system thinking perspective into startups competition and what they offer to the climate technology advancement, specially in developing countries. By collaborating with the ministry and the american university we are co-creating specialized knowledge using uncommon sources of data. Data visualization is helping to capture and present learning from more that 10,000 observation in a concise and clear manner. mapping and learning from those climatech solutions we can expand those learning into policy and programming to support other wider base of entrepreneurs.

Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?

specific data on local startups, their gaps and opportunities. (special emphasis on Africa startups)

Closing

Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?

Possible grow is to 1) expand this to other startups competition to repeat data analysis and visualization on larger scale and validate learnings. 2) work with the ministry to activate learnings for policy and programming 3) mobilize more informed resources for startups of the next climatechrun round.

END OF ACTION LEARNING PLAN: Thank you! The form saves automatically and your submission has been recorded. You may now exit this window.

Innovation methods

Data sources

SDG(s)

Sustainable Development Goal(s)

8Decent work and economic growth

11Sustainable cities and communities

13Climate action

Comments

Action plan