World famous charity association, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund(aka UNICEF) has decided to invest in blockchain related projects through its Innovation Fund.
Reportedly, each project will receive an amount of $100,000 to come up with working prototype by next year. The targeted ventures majorly involves healthcare delivery, finance management etc.,
Earlier the UNICEF Office of Innovation has invested in technologies like data science, machine learning, drones and now it funds in the trending tech – Blockchain.
Essentially the organization is focusing on developing economies like Argentina, Mexico, India, Tunisia and Bangladesh.
The six projects – Atix Labs from Argentina, Onesmart and Prescrypto from Mexico, Statwig from India, Utopixar from Tunisia, and W3 Engineers from Bangladesh—were selected from more than 100 applications.
Importantly, all these startups aims to Solve Major Global Challenges such as improving healthcare access system, making mobile phone connectivity more affordable, and improving access to funding for local social impact projects.
The principal adviser of UNICEF Innovation team Chris Fabian, mentioned that,
Blockchain technology is still at an early stage – and there is a great deal of experimentation, failure, and learning ahead of us as we see how, and where, we can use this technology to create a better world
The good news is that the partnership with these startups is not limited to funding but also provide assistance with products and technology and also required access to UN’s
However, this is not the first instance where UNICEF embarks on blockchain tech. Back in 2016, the organization had shown interest in South African Startup which was working on blockchain based product.
What do you think of this investment by UNICEF? Will it turn out to be a huge success in solving global challenges? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
