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Innovation journey: Ideas to impact
UNHCR Innovation turns ideas into real-world solutions, supporting innovators through incubation, acceleration, and learning to improve protection and inclusion for people forced to flee.
Discover our journey
Innovation at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a journey from ideas to lasting change. We nurture promising concepts through incubation, acceleration, learning, and capacity building, working closely with partners and communities to scale impact. Together, we create the conditions for humanitarian innovation to thrive.
Our journey starts by supporting early-stage ideas so they can take root and be tested
Incubator
Once ideas are validated, we help teams strengthen and grow their solutions
Accelerator
Building a culture of innovation
Innovation is not a single step. It’s a journey of iteration, learning, and growth. As promising solutions emerge from the Incubator, teams engage in cycles of testing, reflection, and improvement, supported by mentorship, peer learning, and evidence generation.
Through continuous learning and validation, ideas mature into tested models that can be replicated, integrated, or scaled within UNHCR and beyond.
Innovation grows when people are empowered. UNHCR Innovation invests in strengthening the skills, confidence, and networks of colleagues and partners through learning pathways, mentoring, and community building.
From hands-on workshops to global learning programmes, we’re cultivating a culture of innovation across humanitarian operations.
Our flagship learning journey empowers UNHCR and partner staff to design, test, and implement innovative solutions within their contexts. Fellows receive mentorship, seed funding, and tools to transform ideas into impact.
A global network of former Fellows and innovation champions who continue to collaborate, share lessons, and support one another. The Network keeps innovation momentum alive across regions and operations.
UNHCR Innovation provides direct learning and technical support to project teams funded through our four thematic Innovation Funds — helping them apply design, experimentation, and learning methodologies effectively.
Together, these three programmes create the conditions for innovation to scale
Our scaled initiatives
A multilingual digital platform providing reliable, country specific information to asylum seekers and refugees, now active in over 130 countries, enabling people to access critical services and guidance wherever they are.
Innovative two-way communication app making vital information more accessible to refugees. Now scaled and feeding into UNHCR's Digital Gateway initiative.
Partnerships enable this scale – amplifying impact and expanding reach
Our partnerships for impact
