UN-ETH Incubator

The UN-ETH Incubator facilitates the formation of new project-based collaborations between UN teams and ETH Zurich research groups that address global challenges and create positive societal impact. The Call for Proposals is now open and closes 31 May. UN teams from the entire UN system are welcome to submit their proposals.

The Programme

The UN-ETH Incubator is a comprehensive programme led by ETH Zurich based on co-design principles and built around use cases to facilitate new project-based collaborations between UN teams and ETH Zurich research groups. The Incubator aims to support UN teams by identifying relevant partners at ETH Zurich, aligns both partner’s needs, interests, and aims around a specific use case, and provides opportunities to jumpstart the new project at the UN-ETH Forum hosted in Zurich on 20-21 October 2025.

You can find more information about the UN-ETH Incubator here.

The Incubator learning journey consists of four phases:

Call for proposals that identifies use cases for potential collaborations (opens 8 May, ends 31 May).
Guided matchmaking process that pairs the ‘owner’ of the use case with their relevant partner(s) and helps them to familiarise themselves with their potential partner’s expertise, roles, and responsibilities.
Structured use case development process between potential partners to align their needs, interests, and aims, refine the use case using the co-design approach, and frame the basic parameters of the project.
Operationalization opportunities to jumpstart the project at the UN-ETH Forum held in Zurich on 20-21 October 2025.

Call for Proposals

The Call for Proposals for the UN-ETH Incubator 2025 is now open and closes 31 May. All UN teams are welcome to submit their proposals by filling out this online externe Seite form.

Frequently Asked Questions

UN teams from the entire UN system are invited to submit proposals.

Submitted proposals will be evaluated and selected by the Incubator Selection Committee from ETH Zurich. The selected proposals will be notified no later than 30 June 2025. The following evaluation criteria will be considered:

Quality: The proposal describes a specific use case that is both policy relevant and scientifically compelling.
Feasibility: The proposal has a reasonable chance of a successful matchmaking process between a UN team and an ETH research group.
Applicability: The outcome of the envisioned project is useful to the UN team and the ETH research group.

Participants (UN teams and ETH research groups) of the UN-ETH Incubator agree to the following:

To participate in the matchmaking process with an ETH research group and familiarise themselves with their potential partner’s expertise, roles, and responsibilities. If both parties believe the matchmaking process is successful and that the use case is promising, then both parties must commit to continue discussions and participate in the UN-ETH Forum.
To hold in-depth discussions with their partner to align their needs, interests, and aims and refine the use case with a co-design approach. If both parties believes the use case development process is successful, then they must explore what type of project to initiate and frame the basic parameters of the project together.
To participate in-person at the UN-ETH Forum by presenting their use case and project to an audience of practitioners, researchers, and potential donors.

The Incubator does not provide funding. According to the MoU signed by the UN and ETH Zurich, each organisation is responsible for their own costs and overhead.

The UN-ETH Incubator was created by ETH Zurich with support from UN Global Pulse and was intentionally developed to be compatible with the externe Seite UN Global Pulse Scale Accelerator. The Scale Accelerator aims to scale mature innovations within the UN systems. Projects between UN teams and ETH research groups that develop such mature innovations could proceed to the next stage of scaling their innovation with the Scale Accelerator.