FAQs

The QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge is a unique cross-sector collaboration between Australian Red Cross, QBE Foundation and Leading Cities, focused on scaling community-led solutions for climate resilience.

The Humanitarian Challenge is looking for tech-driven innovations that can help reduce disaster risk, build resilience and support inclusive climate adaptation — especially in high-risk or underserved communities. Startups and entrepreneurs worldwide are invited to pitch ethical, scalable solutions, that can be co-designed by those living through climate disasters, that help communities prepare for, respond to and recover from climate-driven disasters.

Unlike most accelerators, the QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge connects startups directly with communities on the frontline of climate risk — not just as users, but as co-designers.

Backed by Australian Red Cross, QBE Foundation and Leading Cities, it brings together humanitarian insight, commercial expertise and civic innovation networks.

Participants refine and test their solutions in real-world, high-risk settings with tailored support. It’s a chance to build trust, prove relevance and scale with purpose — not just pitch for funding.

This QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge brings together capabilities rarely found in the same room:

• Australian Red Cross provides deep humanitarian insight, trusted community relationships and real-world piloting environments
• QBE offers commercial acumen and a growing network of global risk experts
• Leading Cities educates and connects startups to a global pipeline and helps them navigate public systems to unlock scale.

This model helps accelerate innovation grounded in community needs. By combining grassroots insights with global, networks and mentoring from the outset, the partnership helps promising ideas to become practical tools that can be trusted, tested and used on the ground.

Climate disasters are becoming more frequent, intense and cascading — pushing people and systems beyond their limits.

The humanitarian sector can’t meet this challenge alone. Communities need tools they trust, use and shape — and solutions that are built to scale.

Technology can help us address some of the world’s biggest humanitarian challenges. And now, more than ever, we need new ideas and dynamic new global collaborations.

We’re looking for early- to mid-stage startups, social enterprises, nonprofits and mission-driven teams from anywhere in the world. You should have a tech-enabled solution that strengthens community resilience to disasters or climate risk.

Ideal applicants are:

• Working on ethical, scalable solutions with potential for real-world impact
• Open to co-designing with communities and humanitarian partners
• Interested in engaging with governments or public systems
• At a stage where tailored support, pilot opportunities and global networks can help accelerate your growth.

No — this is a global program, and applicants from anywhere in the world are welcome. You don’t need to be based in Australia to apply, but you should be ready to collaborate across geographies and adapt your solution to local needs. We encourage international submissions from startups and innovators working on solutions that can have global impact.

The program is primarily delivered online and travel is not a requirement to participate. However, compulsory sessions will take place throughout the Challenge during business hours in the AEST timezone (Sydney, Australia) from November 2025 – March 2026, on a weekly basis (1 hour). Applicants must be able to commit to sending a representative to attend to progress throughout the Challenge.

If selected as the Challenge winner, you must be open to piloting your solution with communities outside your home country and collaborating across borders, including with Red Cross and Red Crescent partners worldwide.

We’re looking for early- to mid-stage solutions that are beyond idea stage and ready to test, adapt or scale in a real-world setting. You should have a working prototype, product or service with demonstrated potential — even if it’s still evolving.

You don’t need to have raised funding or launched commercially, but you should be ready to engage with users, respond to feedback and work collaboratively with partners to deliver impact.

Leading Cities invites all startups and companies to join LaunchPad11: a metaverse-based Smart Cities ecosystem of vetted solution providers created to connect with other companies and engage with clients (cities) and investors. You can find out how to join here.

Yes — we’re looking for tech-enabled solutions that can help communities reduce disaster risk, adapt to climate impacts or strengthen resilience. This could include data tools, early warning systems, communication platforms, mapping technology or software that supports decision-making, coordination or access to services.

What matters most is that your solution is ethical, scalable and grounded in community needs — not just the sophistication of the tech itself.

We’re seeking early-stage tech solutions that can do at least one of the following: 

• Risk awareness: Make climate risk information accessible, actionable and locally relevant — especially for communities facing the greatest barriers to preparedness 
• Recovery access: Simplify and personalise access to disaster recovery support — creating a seamless, dignified experience that connects people to the right help, at the right time, without making them ask twice 
• Community-led response: Surface real-time community needs during disasters and connect local capacity — from neighbours to responders — to enable a faster, more coordinated and human-centred response. 

View the problem statements in full »

In addition to responding to one of the above problem statements, applicants must submit tech-enabled solutions that strengthen community resilience in the face of disaster and climate disruption. Your solution should be:

• Tech-enabled — using technology to deliver or enhance impact
• Community-led — shaped with the people it’s intended to support, reflecting local knowledge, lived experience and priorities
• Inclusive — accessible to people across different backgrounds, including those with disability, in remote areas or with limited digital or language literacy
• Ethical and scalable — able to adapt to different settings while respecting community agency and ensuring data responsibility.

Yes — we’re looking for solutions that are grounded in the realities of the people they aim to serve. You don’t need to have everything worked out, but you should show a clear intention to collaborate with communities, and a willingness to listen, adapt and co-design where possible.

We value teams that are open to learning and partnership — especially in complex or high-risk settings.

Applications open Monday 1 September 2025 at 09.00AM AEST.

Applications close on Tuesday 30 September at 11.59PM EST.

• Applications open: Monday 1 September 2025
• Applications close: Tuesday 30 September 2025
• Offers made to semi-finalists: Thursday 30 October 2025
• Semi-finalists onboarding: Monday 10 November 2025
• Humanitarian Challenge curriculum begins: Monday 17 November 2025
• Humanitarian Challenge curriculum finishes: Tuesday 10 February 2026
• Finalists selected: February 2026
• Bootcamp: March 2026
• Winner selection: March 2026
• Winner announcement: April 2026
• Pilot commences: June 2026

Applications are assessed by a diverse panel of experts from across the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement and the QBE AcceliCITY network. Each application is independently reviewed by three judges, all of whom declare any conflicts of interest before participating.

Initial judging focuses on:

• Impact — the seriousness of the problem and the potential of your solution to address it
• Innovation — the originality and effectiveness of your approach
• Relevance — how well your solution aligns with the Challenge focus and the needs of disaster-affected communities
• Scalability — potential to adapt or grow your solution in other locations or contexts.

Selected semi-finalists will then complete a second-stage application with more detailed information. This may include interviews or follow-ups with the Challenge hosts. Between 10–15 finalists will be chosen based on the strength of this second submission, as well as their engagement in the program to date.

Yes — applying for one Challenge does not affect your eligibility or chances in the other. Each stream is assessed independently, based on how well your solution aligns with the specific focus of that Challenge.

Selected participants will take part in a structured support program designed to help refine, test and scale your solution in collaboration with humanitarian and civic partners.

The program includes:

• Web-based Humanitarian Challenge curriculum (Nov 2025 – Feb 2026): One 60m sessions per week covering topics like community resilience, co-designing with communities, theories of change and navigating humanitarian systems and partnerships. Sessions are hosted by international leaders across humanitarian practice, innovation and academia.
• Virtual Bootcamp (March 2026): Finalists join co-design workshops, one-on-one mentoring and peer learning to sharpen their model and prepare for pilot implementation.
• Mentorship and collaboration: You’ll have access to tailored mentoring and opportunities to collaborate with community partners, Red Cross Red Crescent teams and industry experts.
• LaunchPad11 access: Participants will gain access to the virtual LaunchPad11 platform, a virtual platform allowing companies to interact with each other or with prospective customers or investors. Active engagement is encouraged but not mandatory.
• QBE AcceliCITY curriculum: The QBE AcceliCITY program, run by Leading Cities, offers a curriculum focused on building more resilient and sustainable urban environments.

Participation is free, but your commitment and engagement will shape what you get out of the experience.

The Boot Camp will run throughout March 2026. During this time, finalists will experience virtual hands-on workshops on co-design with frontline communities, alongside one-on-one mentoring and collaboration with other finalists.

No, neither applicants nor winners of QBE AcceliCITY are required to provide equity.

Semi-finalists will engage in our web-based Humanitarian Challenge curriculum from November 2025 to February 2026. Typically, the webinars are scheduled every Tuesday and Thursday during business hours AEST (Sydney, Australia). To accommodate the schedules of global experts and influencers, some webinars may be scheduled outside of that typical schedule. The curriculum is generally a one hour per week commitment with a small amount of ‘homework’ designed to produce a well-organised, well-developed data room for potential investors and others.

Semi-finallists will also have access to the QBE AcceliCITY program, run by Leading Cities, which offers a curriculum focused on building more resilient and sustainable urban environments.

The Humanitarian Challenge curriculum is tailored to help startups design ethical, scalable solutions for communities facing disaster and climate-related risks. Sessions are delivered weekly and feature experts from the humanitarian, civic, innovation and academic sectors.

Key topics include:

• Understanding climate resilience gaps and community needs
• Co-designing with people and communities
• Building ethical, inclusive and scalable tech
• Preparing for pilot delivery with Red Cross partners.

Startups will also hear firsthand from Red Cross teams, challenge alumni and community-facing practitioners to ensure learning stays grounded in real-world conditions.

LaunchPad 11 is supported by a virtual platform allowing companies to interact with each other or with prospective customers or investors. During the program, we request that participants start their day by logging into the platform to foster communication with other participants and other members of the ecosystem. We do not require active participation in the virtual space. It is possible to turn off notification after you are logged in, so this should not interfere with your regular working routine. The reason for this requirement is to make your company visible to others in the ecosystem, which can lead to new partnerships, new clients, new investors, new ideas, etc.

The winner of the QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge will be notified in late March 2026, and publicly announced in early April 2026.

The QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge is designed for impact beyond the program itself. Winners will have the opportunity to pilot their solution with Red Cross partners, working directly with communities to refine and strengthen their approach.

After the Challenge, you’ll continue to access:

• Support to scale — including pathways to expand your solution across different regions and contexts
• Global networks — connecting you with the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, civic leaders, investors and startup ecosystems
• LaunchPad11 access — a curated platform to connect with other solution providers, government clients and potential funders.

Whether or not you win, the goal is to help you build a sustainable, community-centred solution that can grow and adapt to meet real-world needs.

Selected startups will gain access to a tailored support program that includes expert mentoring, networking opportunities, visibility through the Red Cross Red Crescent and Leading Cities global networks, and the opportunity to pilot their solution in a real-world, high-risk setting. Finalists also benefit from training, exposure to potential funders and government partners, and long-term scaling support.

Support includes:

• Weekly webinars with global experts in business, government and social impact
• Virtual bootcamp sessions to support solution co-design and refinement
• Direct guidance and mentoring opportunities with humanitarian and civic partners
• Exposure to community-led approaches and real user needs
• Post-program connection to scaling pathways and investor networks.

Winners are eligible for a funded pilot, valued up to AUD $100,000. depending on pilot scope, location and delivery needs. The exact amount is determined through co-design with partners during the pilot planning stage.

We expect participants to:

• Attend weekly curriculum sessions
• Engage in peer learning and mentoring
• Collaborate openly with program partners and communities
• Complete key deliverables (e.g. pilot plan, progress check-ins)
• Demonstrate commitment to co-design, adaptation and impact.

Completion of core deliverables is compulsory and required to progress through the program. These checkpoints ensure your solution is on track for pilot readiness and aligned with the Challenge’s goals.

No. The QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge is generously supported by QBE and as such, there are no application fees.

Pilot sites are identified through Red Cross Red Crescent networks in regions experiencing high climate risk and strong community interest. Sites are selected based on alignment with your solution, local capacity and feasibility of piloting within the program timeframe.

Yes — co-design is central to the pilot process. Finalists will work closely with Red Cross staff and community stakeholders to adapt their solution, test assumptions and ensure the pilot meets local needs.

You’ll have regular touchpoints with Red Cross staff, tailored mentoring sessions and facilitated introductions to local community partners for co-design and pilot planning. The depth of engagement increases as your solution progresses through the program.

Any intellectual property you owned before and separate to the Challenge remains yours. Further information and discussions will be held with finalists, including around commercialisation opportunities for pilot winners.

If the winning application generates opportunities for commercialisation, you and Australian Red Cross will discuss and agree in good faith to arrangements before commercialising, which may include revenue sharing or other mutual benefits.

Applications open on 1 September 2025 via the QBE AcceliCITY application portal. The link will be shared on the Humanitech and Leading Cities websites. You’ll need to complete a short application outlining your solution, impact, and team, and submit before 30 September 2025.

No, all applications must be submitted in English.

Please contact the Australian Red Cross Humanitech team at humanitech@redcross.org.au. This inbox is monitored Monday-Friday, 09.00-17.00 AEST.