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Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed.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.
Learnings on your challenge
What are the top key insights you generated about your learning challenge during this Action Learning Plan? (Please list a maximum of 5 key insights)
Key insights and recommendations for ensuring the future growth of the Innovation Challenge Calls Program in Serbia:
Further tailor the support and mentoring of the project teams during the acceleration phase by grouping them according to their specific needs. Three different types of support should be provided to: a) traditional SMEs and LSGs, b) innovative SMEs and research organizations and c) large private sector companies.
Track the projects well beyond one-year contracting period, as the real impact of early-stage innovations may be expected after the completion of the projects. This would allow for further support and establishing connections to other projects.
Ensure that the learnings from the acceleration and implementation of projects continue to influence the policy and decision-making processes. An example of this is how insights from the Circular Economy Challenge Calls led to legislative changes in Serbia's waste management regulation, which included end-of-waste regulation, a rulebook on by-products, or the use of waste for R&D purposes.
Help the innovators gain access to more external funding, especially green credit lines that IFIs provide through commercial banks. This would also contribute to scale up of successful green investments, thus maximizing related positive impacts on the environment and local economy.
Make clear why the support provided through the Challenge Calls programme is needed for particular solutions compared to other available commercial borrowing schemes or funding mechanisms and further strengthen the innovativeness of the supported solutions to complement elements of additionality.
Create a sustainable green financing mechanism in Serbia that builds on the successes and lessons learned from the Challenge Calls Program. In the long run, this can help Serbian companies to remain competitive in European and global markets, ultimately accelerating the green transformation of the whole national economy.
https://www.undp.org/serbia/blog/catalysing-serbias-green-transformation
A comprehensive 30-page report was shared internally within UNDP.
All datasets used for the analyses were shared internally.
Considering the outcomes of this learning challenge, which of the following best describe the handover process? (Please select all that apply)
Our work has led to significant changes in our UNDP Country Office programming
Can you provide more detail on your handover process?
UNDP CO Resilient development team will continue to run the Green Innovation Challenge Program that includes the accelerator and further implement the recommendations from our research.
Please paste any link(s) to blog(s) or publication(s) that articulate the learnings on your frontier challenge.
Data and Methods
Relating to your types of data, why did you chose these? What gaps in available data were these addressing?
Data about green investments in Serbia for 2022 was harvested from various online databases (World Bank, IFC, EIB, KfW etc) and analysed.
The new dataset includes a landscape of green/sustainable/innovative financing programmes for Serbia.
Why was it necessary to apply the above innovation method on your frontier challenge? How did these help you to unpack the system?
*Cost analysis, Ecosystem benchmarking, Leverage analysis, Selectivity, project quality analysis, Quantitative data analysis, Qualitative data analysis, case study, benchmarking, interviews, cost analysis, sensitivity analysis, landscape mapping, stakeholder mapping, literature review on social impact accelerators, market research.
Partners
Please indicate what partners you have actually worked with for this learning challenge.
Please state the name of the partner:
Commercial Banks
What sector does your partner belong to?
Private Sector
Please provide a brief description of the partnership.
Commercial Banks: For the growth phase, credit lines provided through commercial banks should be targeted. A viable option is targeting the credit lines that IFIs extend to commercial banks in Serbia. Given that commercial banks are keen to secure lower-rate credit lines from IFIs, particularly in today’s high interest rate environment, the UNDP should assist by directing eligible projects into their pipelines. The banks are especially eager to build their portfolio of green SME projects, even before they secure an agreement with IFIs. Commercial banks and IFIs have told us that banks would be especially eager for a pipeline of green projects that fit the increasing quotas on green set by IFIs, as these are expensive and risky to source without the required know-how.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Please indicate what partners you have actually worked with for this learning challenge.
Please state the name of the partner:
Donor (there is not appropriate sector for this partner, so we selected UN)
What sector does your partner belong to?
United Nations
Please provide a brief description of the partnership.
Donor: We've received feedback from a major donor indicating their satisfaction with the program’s transparent processes. They appreciate the competitive element, believing it ensures the most deserving projects receive funding. Additionally, they value the program's emphasis on early-stage innovations, which emphasizes projects’ needs for grants vs. other types of financing. Furthermore, the Challenge Call program spends considerable effort in precise and tailored impact measurement and estimation for projects, even if they are in early-stage (e.g., GHG emissions reductions that will materialize). We have heard that donors like such impact estimations as it helps them meet their internal targets and report on impact of their donations to other stakeholders (e.g., Switzerland reports GHG emissions reductions of their funded projects, and utilizes UNDP estimates for this reporting).
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Please indicate what partners you have actually worked with for this learning challenge.
Please state the name of the partner:
IFIs (there is not appropriate sector for this partner, so we selected UN)
What sector does your partner belong to?
United Nations
Please provide a brief description of the partnership.
IFIs: Securing direct loans by IFIs is unlikely. It is important to note that the prospect of direct investments from International Financial Institutions (IFIs) is slim. This is due to their high minimum investment sizes. These are beyond the typical budget range of projects facilitated through the UNDP accelerator program. As it stands, such high thresholds also disqualify projects undertaken by large corporations.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
End
Bonus question: How did the interplay of innovation methods, new forms of data and unusual partners enable you to learn & generate insights, that otherwise you would have not been able to achieve?
The combination of various methods helped us get insights about the scope and size of green transition in Serbia, UNDP’s share in total green investments in Serbia, and the leverage of innovation challenge calls,
Please upload any further supporting evidence / documents / data you have produced on your frontier challenge that showcase your learnings.
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7Affordable and clean energy
9Industry, innovation and infrastructure
11Sustainable cities and communities
12Responsible consumption and production
13Climate action
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