QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge returns for 2025

Applications are open for the 2025 QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge, a global search for technology solutions that strengthen community resilience to climate disasters. Winners will gain pilot funding and real-world testing with Red Cross partners and communities, valued up to AUD $100,000.

The QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge is a partnership between Australian Red Cross, global insurer QBE and international civic innovation network Leading Cities. Together, the partnership finds, tests and backs early- to mid-stage technology solutions that are ethical, scalable and grounded in community needs.

Unlike many accelerator programs, the QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge connects innovators directly with frontline communities – not just as end users, but as co-designers. Participants refine their solutions with input from the people most affected by climate risk, ensuring what is built is relevant, trusted and ready for those who need them.

Julia Goodall, Head of Humanitech at Australian Red Cross, said, “Traditional emergency response systems are essential, but they cannot do it all. We need new tools that help people prepare before a disaster, act quickly during an emergency and recover with dignity afterwards. The QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge provides a pathway to find and test those tools.”

Selected Humanitarian Challenge participants will receive:

• Humanitech innovation curriculum
• Mentoring from global experts
• Access to global networks.

QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge winners will receive pilot funding and real-world testing with Red Cross partners and communities, valued up to AUD $100,000.

Participation is free and open to early- to mid-stage startups, social enterprises, nonprofits and mission-driven teams from anywhere in the world.

In 2024, the winning team, WEO, partnered with the small Victorian town of Dargo – a community repeatedly hit by bushfires and floods. Working alongside residents and Australian Red Cross, they developed a digital platform that maps local risks, safe routes and resources.

Julia Goodall adds, “The platform reflects what matters most to the community – from roads that flood first to where visitors gather in an emergency. It is now being explored for use in other high-risk locations, showing how a locally piloted tool can be scaled. This year’s Challenge offers the same opportunity for innovators worldwide to turn bold ideas into real-world impact.”

For more information, please visit Humanitarian Challenge.