UNDP Youth Innovation Factory – Cyprus

UNDP believes that a large part of building a sustainable future starts from bolstering the skills, learning capability and ideas of young minds. Youth can transform mere ideas into impactful and innovative realities with the right environment, resources and support – this is what YIF aims to do!

Going beyond traditional incubators and accelerators, YIF takes on a more practical approach. The dynamic platform will build synergies between local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), private sector and Technical Committees with young, ambitious tech innovators. The vision of YIF is to create an ecosystem where passionate young minds come together to address real-world challenges faced by local communities and any other relevant stakeholder. By sourcing challenges from those working on the ground, YIF will empower youth to build innovative, tech-based solutions with elements of gamification, web/mobile, AR/VR, AI, and more.

Program Themes

The two themes of this cohort will be:

• Environment
  • Biodiversity (conservation/protection)
  • Water Management
  • Waste Management (circular economy)
  • Disaster Risk Reduction and Preparedness
  • Carbon Management
  • Green/ Alternative Energy
  • Climate Action
  • Marine Conservation
  • Air Quality
• Social Cohesion
  • Intangible/ tangible Cultural Heritage (Protection and preservation)
  • Peacebuilding (confidence-building measures, Peace-tech solutions)
  • Strengthening civil society
  • integration of refugees and migrants
  • Governance – cyber-security
  • Economy
  • Civic engagement

The innovators can make use of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while forming their tech-based solutions.

Selected participants will enter the Factory, validate their ideas, build their MVPs, craft impactful stories, and lay the foundation for sustainable change, all while developing their personal potential with hands-on training and mentorship. Throughout this 3-month programme, the teams will complete certain tasks and deliverables. At the end of the programme, the teams that have successfully completed the programme and all its deliverables will pitch their solutions to a high-level jury panel and have the chance to be awarded €25,000 as seed-funding!

Eligibility Criteria

• YIF is open to applicants all over the island aged 18-35.
• Applicants must be interested in and/or have a passion for developing and launching innovative tech-based solutions focused on tackling social and/or environmental issues.
• YIF is open to teams of at least 2 people (maximum 4).
• Inter-communal teams are strongly encouraged to apply.

For more information, visit United Nations Development Programme.