The OIC Accelerated Blue Economy Edition call for proposals is calling all qualified innovators seeking technical and management mentoring, communications and promotions support, and connections to capital for future upscaling in the OIC Incubator. 

In addition to the hands-on support and mentoring from the OIC Incubator, selected innovators will receive up to US$40,000 as a deliverable based contract to pilot their innovation within a period of maximum six months. These innovations must be administered in and benefit a coastal least developing country (LDC) and/or small island developing state (SIDS).

The OIC is in search of standout proposals that will stimulate socio-economic growth while restoring and conserving the coastal and marine ecosystems. 

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet , and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. SDG 14, Life Below Water, focuses on restoring ocean health. UNDP’s fourth call for proposals will focus on SDG 14 Target 7: “by 2030, increase the economic benefits to SIDS and LDCs from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism.” 

Innovations must be technically feasible, truly innovative, replicable, scalable, poverty reducing, livelihood creating, gender mainstreaming, youth empowering and potentially transformational. 

This could include approaches that create new and additional blue economy opportunities, such as:

• Innovations to improve fisheries and aquaculture management and associated value chains; 
• Creative ecotourism opportunities and collaboration with tourism industry to restore and to conserve marine and coastal ecosystems and actively engage coastal communities;
• New digital financial technologies to support coastal communities use of marine resources;
• Inventive indigenous and sustainable uses of marine resources empowering local coastal communities to share common resources and encourage circular economic models (e.g. multi-tropic aquaculture).

The call is open to local, legally registered organizations in SIDS and coastal LDCs, specifically to small and medium-sized Enterprises (SME), start-up companies, local non-governmental organizations (NGO) or community-based organizations (CBO), and academic institutions piloting innovations. 

Upon completion of the contract, innovators will be equipped with new skills and experience and positioned to engage with bigger venture capital investors. The successfully implemented innovations will be part of the UNDP’s catalogue of proven ocean solutions with transformational socio-economic impacts that can be rapidly upscaled and replicated in other SIDS, coastal LDCs and beyond.