AI for SDGs — Global Youth AI Future Innovation Competition 2025 – Opportunities For Africans

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Application Deadline: September 15, 2025

Applications at the moment are open for the 2025 AI for SDGs — Global Youth AI Future Innovation Competition. The UNU Global AI Network is happy to launch the AI for SDGs — Global Youth AI Future Innovation Competition, a world science and know-how innovation competitors with the targets of empowering social innovation1, advancing youth growth, and addressing sustainable growth challenges via synthetic intelligence (AI).

Each 12 months, the competitors will give attention to a serious theme, with tracks devoted to particular areas. The inaugural theme for 2025 is AI for the Environment: Ecological Environment and Green Transition Challenges, with tracks on: 

1. Climate Change Adaptation
2. Environmental Protection and Conservation
3. Clean Energy
4. AI for Less Developed Countries

The competitors will function modern options with excessive know-how readiness ranges (TRL), prepared for commercialization in China.

A complete growth-support package deal, together with monetary help, trade and funding matchmaking, and worldwide promotion, might be supplied to the profitable groups. In addition to a financial award, the winners can have the chance to pilot their options in China, fostering real-world functions of their know-how.

A particular Macau Prize will acknowledge distinctive entries from Macau, reinforcing the area’s position in fostering social innovation and youth engagement in sustainable growth.

Competition Tracks

2025 Theme: Ecological Environment and Green Transition Challenges

1. Climate Change Adaptation

• Focus: utilizing AI to foretell local weather change impacts and improve resilience of societies and ecosystems.

2. Environmental Protection and Conservation

• Focus: utilizing AI to boost monitoring, useful resource administration, safety, conservation, and mitigation methods for the atmosphere.

3. Clean Energy

• Focus: utilizing AI to boost renewable power effectivity and speed up the low-carbon transition of power programs.

4. AI for Less Developed Countries

• Focus: utilizing AI to develop inexpensive and accessible know-how to help local weather adaptation and inexperienced transition in much less developed international locations.

Requirements

1. Companies, organizations, teams and people from all all over the world might register. There aren’t any restrictions based mostly on background or nationality.
2. The know-how maturity of the collaborating initiatives have to be above Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 2, which means they’ve accomplished the laboratory stage, meet the situations for on-the-ground validation in real-world situations, have the know-how readiness degree that’s near commercialization, and have a sure diploma of innovation and market potential.
3. For initiatives from a longtime enterprise, the corporate ought to have been based lower than 10 years.
4. Applications and accompanying supplies have to be submitted in English, and the analysis will even be performed in English.
5. There aren’t any registration, coaching, or another charges for participation within the competitors.

Timeline

The Global Youth AI Future Innovation Competition 2025 might be held in three levels: the preliminary spherical, the semi-final spherical, and the ultimate spherical. The preliminary schedule is as follows:

1. Official Launch Ceremony: July 27, 2025 at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, click to apply.
2. Initial Round: August 15, 2025 – September 15, 2025 (Online)
3. Semi-Final Round: September 15, 2025 – September 30, 2025 (Online)
4. Final Round and Award Ceremony: October 23-25, 2025, the ultimate competitors will happen, adopted by the award ceremony in Macau.
5. Cash award to every category-winning workforce: 1000 USD per workforce (earlier than tax).
6. The profitable groups can have the chance to pilot their undertaking in China from November 2025 to October 2026.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the AI for SDGs — Global Youth AI Future Innovation Competition