QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge 2027QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge 2027
Energy & EnvironmentSocial & GovernanceAI & DataInfrastructure & Smart CitiesPre-seedSeedPre-Series ASeries A

QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge 2027

Tech-enabled solutions strengthening community resilience to climate and disaster risks.

Organizer: Humanitech (Australian Red Cross)
Deadline: November 1, 2026 (in 4 days)
Categories: Funding , Accelerator, Competition/Challenge
Global
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The QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge 2027 is a global innovation and acceleration program seeking technology-enabled solutions that strengthen community resilience to climate change and disaster risks. Delivered through a partnership between Leading Cities, Australian Red Cross, the Global Disaster Preparedness Center, and QBE Foundation, the challenge provides innovators with expert mentorship, startup acceleration, and opportunities to test their solutions with humanitarian partners. Two funded pilot opportunities, each valued at up to AUD $100,000, are available for solutions addressing specific resilience challenges in Australia and New Caledonia or Colombia. Applications are open worldwide and close on 31 October 2026.

Program Overview

  • Challenge focus: Technology-enabled innovations that improve community preparedness, climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and resilience.
  • Funding opportunity: Two potential funded pilots, each valued at up to AUD $100,000, depending on pilot scope, feasibility, and partner requirements.
  • Program structure: A competitive innovation challenge combining startup acceleration, mentorship, expert-led training, and real-world pilot opportunities.
  • Pilot locations: Australia and New Caledonia (Pilot Opportunity 1) and Colombia (Pilot Opportunity 2).
  • Program benefits: Access to the AcceliCITY curriculum, humanitarian expertise, community partnerships, mentoring, co-design opportunities, and international networks.
  • Participation cost: Free, with no application fee or equity requirement.
  • Multiple applications: Applicants may submit separate applications for both pilot opportunities if their solutions address each challenge.
  • Application deadline: 31 October 2026.
  • Application link: Apply here.

Eligibility and Participation

  • Global eligibility: Open to applicants from all countries, including startups, social enterprises, nonprofits, individuals, and mission-driven teams.
  • Startup stage: Early- to mid-stage innovators with working products, services, or prototypes ready for testing, adaptation, or scaling. Ideas without a developed solution are not eligible.
  • Sector scope: Open to technology-enabled solutions across multiple sectors and disciplines that address climate and disaster resilience.
  • Focus areas: Community preparedness, behaviour change, climate intelligence, early warning systems, communications, data platforms, decision support, community engagement, learning, and impact measurement.
  • Technology requirement: Solutions must use technology to address a defined humanitarian or resilience challenge and demonstrate potential for meaningful community impact.
  • Solution readiness: Applicants should demonstrate a working prototype, product, or service with a credible plan for real-world implementation.
  • Geographic requirements: Applicants are not required to be based in Australia, New Caledonia, or Colombia but must demonstrate their capacity to implement and support a pilot in their selected location.
  • Previous experience: Prior deployment or operational experience in the pilot countries is not required.
  • Community engagement: Solutions should incorporate community needs, local knowledge, ethical considerations, accessibility, and inclusive design.
  • Scalability: Applicants should demonstrate potential for sustainable adoption and impact beyond the initial pilot.
  • Participation commitment: Selected teams must be available for training, mentoring, evaluations, and program deliverables, including some sessions during Australian business hours.
  • Application language: Applications must be submitted in English.

Pilot Opportunity 1: Australia and New Caledonia

  • Challenge title: Turning Preparedness Knowledge into Lasting Community Resilience.
  • Challenge summary: Disaster preparedness initiatives can improve awareness and knowledge, but this understanding does not always translate into sustained action. Preparedness behaviours may diminish over time, remain limited to individuals, or fail to spread across households and communities.
  • Objective: Identify technology-enabled solutions that help communities retain preparedness knowledge, share it with others, and translate it into practical behaviours that strengthen long-term resilience.
  • Suitable testing context: Solutions should be appropriate for implementation and evaluation within youth preparedness initiatives.
  • Dimension 1 – Sustain: Support the long-term retention of preparedness knowledge and behaviours.
  • Dimension 2 – Spread: Encourage the sharing of preparedness information and practices among individuals, households, and communities.
  • Dimension 3 – Act: Help individuals and communities translate preparedness knowledge into meaningful preventive actions.
  • Delivery partners: Australian Red Cross and the French Red Cross New Caledonia Delegation.
  • Pilot locations: Australia and New Caledonia, providing opportunities to test solutions across different cultural, geographic, and operational settings.
  • Pilot value: Up to AUD $100,000, subject to pilot planning and approval.

Pilot Opportunity 2: Colombia

  • Challenge title: Helping Communities Generate, Access, Share, and Use Climate and Risk Intelligence.
  • Challenge summary: Communities increasingly need reliable, locally relevant, and actionable information about climate and disaster risks. However, existing information may be difficult to access or interpret, while valuable community knowledge and observations often remain underutilised.
  • Objective: Identify technology-enabled solutions that empower communities to generate, access, exchange, and apply climate and disaster risk information to improve preparedness, adaptation, and resilience.
  • Suitable testing context: Solutions should be appropriate for community-based climate resilience initiatives, early warning systems, anticipatory action, or disaster risk reduction programs.
  • Dimension 1 – Generate: Enable communities to collect and contribute local observations, experiences, and information about climate and disaster risks.
  • Dimension 2 – Access: Improve access to trusted, relevant, and understandable climate and risk intelligence.
  • Dimension 3 – Share: Facilitate the exchange of climate and risk information among households, community networks, institutions, and humanitarian responders.
  • Dimension 4 – Use: Support communities in applying climate and risk intelligence to preparedness, adaptation, emergency response, and resilience decisions.
  • Delivery partners: Colombian Red Cross and the Global Disaster Preparedness Center.
  • Pilot location: Colombia, within real-world community resilience, early warning, and anticipatory action initiatives.

The QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge 2027 offers startups, social enterprises, and mission-driven innovators a pathway to develop, validate, and scale technology-enabled solutions addressing climate and disaster resilience. Through structured acceleration, expert mentorship, and collaboration with Red Cross partners, participants can strengthen their solutions and explore real-world implementation opportunities. Two selected innovators may progress toward funded pilots worth up to AUD $100,000 each, subject to feasibility, due diligence, and partner approval. The program provides an opportunity to turn promising technologies into practical, community-centred solutions with the potential for lasting humanitarian impact.

QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge 2027 Funding