Supported Innovations

Innovations supported by the Slovak Challenge Fund should reflect the real needs of the partners or partner countries and be directly related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

SCF supports all types of innovation, including products, services, programming approaches, operational changes, and financial, market or technological innovations that cannot be achieved through traditional solicitation processes. SCF supports both programmatic and operational ideas.

Solutions supported by the SCF have to be free to use and/or to provide open-data solutions. The presented innovations may be in different stages of their development:

•     Proof of Concept - an opportunity to test whether solutions can become reality or be adapted to local conditions. Proof of concept is to determine its feasibility or to verify that an idea will work as intended and/or to conduct a field test
•     Transition to Scale - scope for scaling successful innovations to ensure they are scaled up and used as widely as possible to maximize the impact, are broadly accepted and widely accessible to all targeted beneficiaries and/or potential users; available for sharing; replicable in other environments.

The submitted projects should be financially sustainable and scalable and should include the following elements in addition to context-specific criteria: viable in the long-term and financially sustainable, broadly accepted and widely accessible to all targeted beneficiaries and/or potential users; available for sharing; replicable in other environments, building on technologies or methodologies that are adaptable to various contexts. In case of proposals that relate to digital/technology solutions, applicants should adhere to the requirements of the digital public good alliance (see:https://digitalpublicgoods.net/standard/). All projects must contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, and not just benefit the participating entity.

Please note that SCF does not support solutions that are already available on the market and can be achieved through traditional solicitation processes.

Eligible Applicants

The eligible applicants are only Slovak private sector entities, however, the applicants are required to involve local partner(s). The local partners do not have to be only a business entity, but also public institutions, SCOs, academia, science and technology parks, local development agencies, private sector companies, public and private utilities, and others. The partnership should ensure viability in local conditions and promote the sustainability and scalability of the solution. The partnership needs to be documented officially e.g. Letter of Intent, Bilateral Contract, or Memorandum of Understanding.

Eligible applicants: Slovak private sector entities with the involvement of local partners (any kind of entities, including public sector, civil society, private, etc.) from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia

Countries for project implementation: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia 

Expected date of contract start: December 2023

Expected length of contract: up to 12 months

Estimated value of the contract: Ranging between USD 20,000 and USD 40,000, the applicants are expected to provide additional co-funding of at least 20% of the total costs of the project.

Type of contract: Agreement between UNDP and Innovator under the Slovak Challenge Fund

Agency: UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub (UNDP IRH)

Implementing unit: UNDP IRH Partnership Team 

Webinar dates: 

On the dates below, there are online webinars organised that will provide clarifications and answers to your questions regarding the Slovak Challenge Fund.

• 26 July 2023 at 10:00
• 9 August 2023 at 10:00

For more information about how to register for the webinars, the specified Development Challenges (Natural Resources and Nature-Based Solutions; Energy Transition; Agriculture; Good Governance; Resilient Society), the Sustainable Development Goals as well as details regarding the background of the call, criteria for selection, and evaluation can be found in the Terms of Reference (Annex 4) and SCF Guidelines (Annex 5) available from the source page of this announcement: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_negotiation.cfm?nego_id=8452