Tag Archives: Business Challenge

ALLIANZ MOVENOW SOCIAL INNOVATION CHALLENGE

Application Deadline: December 18, 2026

LOCATION: USA

The MoveNow Social Innovation Challenge supports a global ecosystem of young impact founders, enabling youth-led solutions for and from underserved communities to take root and thrive.

ELIGIBILITY:

The MoveNow Social Innovation Challenge will support youth-led startups, ventures, and projects that align with any one of the following three award categories:

Financial Confidence in the Digital Economy Backing young innovators who strengthen local economies by enabling entrepreneurs and SMEs to start, grow, and sustain businesses with financial confidence—through the digital tools, skills, and financial knowledge needed to thrive in an evolving economy.

Closing the Health Gap: Equality in Health Ecosystems Supporting young innovators in creating health solutions that address systemic gaps, particularly the underrepresentation of women and marginalized groups in health research, health services, and diagnostics, using community-led and technology-enabled approaches.

Community-Led Climate Resilience: From Early Warning to Resilient LivelihoodsBacking young innovators who help vulnerable communities, rural and urban, prepare for and thrive despite the impacts of climate change, through locally-rooted solutions that combine technology with community knowledge to build lasting resilience.

Applicants are highly encouraged to leverage AI and emerging technologies while demonstrating responsible and ethical use of technology and personal data. All solutions should demonstrate inclusive design principles and consider digital accessibility for diverse users. Solutions both for and from underserved communities will be prioritized.

The Allianz MoveNow Social Innovation Challenge is designed to give young impact founders a platform; providing grant funding awards, unique leadership learning, and exclusive exposure through one of the worlds biggest brands.

To be eligible for this program your social startup must be:

YOUTH-LED – Founders leading the startup or project must be between 18 and 30 years old and have clear decision making authority.

IMPACT FOCUSED – Startups and projects must address a clearly defined social or environmental issue and have measurable social outputs and impact.

BENEFIT:

Grant Funding Awards: Multiple awards of $5,000 and $10,000 USD will be allocated, totaling $30,000 in each of our three main award categories (see above).

Free Founder & Startup Support: They’ll help founders to develop strong submissions and provide access to exclusive learning materials and an Allianz business mentor to support all finalist founders.

Global Opportunities Network: All eligible applicants gain exclusive access to all-year-round opportunities, grant funding awards, and paid work and training with Social Shifters!

APPLY

DIGITAL SCIENCE GRANT CATALYST, 2026

Applications Deadline: Monday, 5th October 2026, 17:00 BST

LOCATION: Multiple Regions

The Digital Science Catalyst Grant is an international initiative to support innovation in new software tools and technologies to advance research and create meaningful change. The program supports and invests in early-stage ideas in the novel use of technology with an award for the most promising ideas that aid science and further its impact on society.

ELIGIBILITY:

They want early-stage startups, research projects, and moonshot thinkers building agentic tools that:

Operate across multiple steps, planning, executing, and reviewing, rather than answering a single prompt.

Embed in the workflows researchers, institutions, and publishers already use

Carry audit trails, governance controls, and provenance so the people who rely on them can trust them.

Tackle a real problem across the research lifecycle: writing, discovery, evidence synthesis, peer review, funding decisions, or research integrity.

If you’re making AI safe to put in front of an institution, autonomous in service of researchers, with accountability built in, they want to hear from you.

Applying takes one short form and a few minutes.

Who can apply? Anyone with an early-stage idea: founders, research teams, students, and individuals. Your tool can be a prototype, a working product, or a well-formed concept. They fund early, so you do not need revenue or a finished build.

What to tell them? A clear description of the problem you are solving, your approach, why it fits an agentic, trustworthy workflow, and where you are today. If you have a demo or prototype, show them.

How they choose? Their judges score each application across seven areas: team, problem, solution, competitors, market, progress to date, and fit with Digital Science. Strong applicants are invited to a short interview with a live demo (where applicable) and a few questions.

BENEFIT:

The award. Up to £25,000, which can be split across more than one recipient.

APPLY