The 1st UN Citiverse Challenge is co-organized by International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations International Computing Centre (UNICC), the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITCILO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank Group, UN Tourism, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Digital Dubai, Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC), World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO), City of Tampere, City of Valencia, University of Birmingham, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, University of Central Lancashire, Cyprus (UCLan Cyprus), HFT Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences and University for IoT Convergence & Open Sharing.
The 1st UN Citiverse Challenge invites students and startups to reimagine and design innovative solutions that leverage the transformative potential of the citiverse and digital public infrastructure to address pressing global challenges. By focusing on three critical themes—access to public services, sustainability and resilience, and tourism and digital culture—participants will develop bold ideas and prototypes to shape the cities of tomorrow.
The UN Citiverse Challenge is directly aligned with the vision of the Pact for the Future and the principles of the Global Digital Compact (GDC), emphasizing inclusive, sustainable, and equitable approaches to digital transformation. Participants have the opportunity to lead the way in advancing the GDC’s goals by exploring how cutting-edge technologies can foster a more connected and resilient world.
This challenge champions a transformative approach to urban innovation, harnessing digital public infrastructure alongside technologies such as AI, metaverse, digital twins, and open-source solutions to reimagine cities as inclusive, resilient, and sustainable hubs of progress.
This challenge is a call to action for visionaries, innovators, and changemakers to collaborate in building an equitable and sustainable digital future. Join the 1st UN Citiverse Challenge and help redefine the digital public infrastructure of future cities in alignment with global priorities outlined in the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact.
Let’s shape the citiverse—a future where technology bridges divides and empowers all.
The list of shortlisted teams for the student category is available here. Please note that the registration for the startup category is still open.
Over 850 million people lack official identification, and 1.4 billion are unbanked, limiting access to essential services. By redesigning digital identity and financial systems, the citiverse and digital public infrastructure can empower these individuals through inclusive, interoperable solutions.
SDG 1: No Poverty
Sustainability and Resilience
Nearly half the world lacks reliable power, while climate-related disasters drive displacement and resource strain. To address these challenges, developing open, interoperable digital infrastructure in the citiverse can enhance energy access, optimize resources, and improve climate adaptation and disaster preparedness.
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 13: Climate Action
Tourism and Digital Culture
Cultural heritage faces risks of misrepresentation, limited access, and inequitable preservation. In response, the citiverse offers transformative solutions to preserve cultural assets, enhance accessibility, and foster immersive, inclusive cultural experiences.
SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
What’s at Stake?
Global Recognition: Present your ideas to global leaders in technology, urban planning, and policy-making.
Collaboration Opportunities: Partner with UN agencies and key stakeholders to refine and scale your ideas.
Impact the Future: Shape global digital public infrastructure to align with the Pact for the Future and the GDC’s call for inclusivity, sustainability, and digital trust.
Intellectual Property (IP) Workshopand Mentoring: Selected startups will have the opportunity to participate in a virtual one-day IP workshop connected with one-on-one mentoring sessions hosted by WIPO, gaining valuable insights into IP protection, commercialization strategies, and innovation management.
Join UN Tourism Innovation Network: the winners will be invited to be part of the UN Tourism Global Innovation Network.
Drive International Standards: The challenge offers participants the chance to contribute to pre-standardization efforts, exploring innovative solutions that can inform the development of international standards for digital public infrastructure. The outputs of this challenge will can help shape technical recommendations and frameworks under ITU-T Study Group 20 on Internet of Things (IoT), digital twins and smart sustainable cities and communities.
Who Can Participate?
Category 1: Students: Open to graduate-level students or recent graduates, individually or in teams, to propose innovative ideas or prototypes addressing real-world challenges in the citiverse.
Category 2: Startups: Open to startups. Startups are required to submit cutting-edge prototypes or scalable solutions leveraging AI, metaverse, gaussian splatting, digital twins, and open-source tools.
Participation is free of charge, making this a unique opportunity to collaborate and innovate without barriers.
Timeline
Students
Startups
Registration opens
13 February 2025 (World Governments Summit)
13 February 2025 (World Governments Summit)
Registration & Proposal deadline
31 March 2025
30 May 2025
Announcement of shortlisted teams
7 April 2025
20 June 2025
Information sessions for the shortlisted teams and mentors
9-10 April 2025
23-24 June 2025
Sessions with mentorsandWIPO workshops for startups
8-25 April 2025
23 June – 13 August 2025
Final submission
25 April 2025
13 August 2025
Announcement of the 5 pre-selected teams
5 May 2025
29 August 2025
Project presentation during a webinar
12 May 2025
4 September 2025
Winner announcement and award ceremony
11-12 June 2025 (2nd UN Virtual Worlds Day, Turin, Italy)
22-23 October 2025 (Valencia Digital Summit, Valencia, Spain)
Step 3: Create a team under the chosen problem statement (Citiverse: Designing Digital Public Infrastructure of Future Cities).
Step 4: After its creation, admin will review and approve the team, confirming your successful registration for the UN Citiverse Challenge.
Step 5: Team members can then request to join the team, and it is the team leader’s role to approve these requests to join the team.
Possible Output: Students
Research Papers
Research papers or reports that provide evidence-based insights, use cases, and recommendations for how digital public infrastructure can be implemented and scaled in the citiverse, addressing issues like equity, sustainability, and resilience.
Prototypes
Working prototypes demonstrating how digital public infrastructure can be integrated into the citiverse to solve global challenges listed in the problem statements.
Cultural Experience Designs
Designs for immersive cultural experiences in the citiverse, focusing on the digital preservation of cultural heritage, enhancing accessibility to cultural assets, and promoting inclusive tourism in the citiverse.
Community Engagement Initiatives
Propose initiatives or campaigns that encourage partnerships between governments, businesses, and communities to develop and scale digital public infrastructure solutions in the citiverse to mitigate the real world challenges.
Possible Output: Startups
Scalable Solutions
Scalable, innovative solutions that can be implemented at a city or national level, focusing on how startups can help transform digital public infrastructure using the citiverse.
Functional Prototypes
Functional prototypes using advanced technologies such as AI, metaverse platforms, gaussian splatting, digital twins, and open-source tools to address specific challenges in the citiverse listed in the problem statements.
Evaluation criteria
Evaluation criteria 1:
Innovation
1. Assess the creativity and originality of solutions presented, focusing on the design of virtual simulations, enhancing the brainstorming process beyond traditional methods.
2. Evaluate the extent to which participants push the boundaries within the metaverse to address challenges and propose solutions.
Evaluation criteria 2:
Relevance to the Sustainable Development Goals
3. Examine the alignment of proposed solutions with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, emphasizing the incorporation of the metaverse to tackle critical global challenges.
4. Consider how effectively the solutions leverage technology to promote sustainability and social impact within urban and rural communities.
Evaluation criteria 3:
Scalability and Sustainability
5. Analyze the scalability and sustainability of proposed projects, looking for a clear framework outlining how solutions will be expanded and maintained beyond the event.
6. Evaluate the feasibility of partnerships, funding models, policies, and integration strategies to ensure long-term impact and continuity.
Evaluation criteria 4:
Impact
7. Assess the potential impact of proposed solutions on communities, economies and the environment, considering both short-term and longer-term effects.
8. Look for evidence of tangible benefits and measurable outcomes that demonstrate the transformative power of the citiverse in addressing societal challenges.
Evaluation criteria 5:
Implementation Feasibility
9. Evaluate the technical execution of proposed solutions, focusing on the feasibility of implementing virtual environments within the metaverse. Evaluate the replicability, impact and relevance to real communities.
10. Consider factors such as accessibility, infrastructure and platform requirements, that will facilitate the implementation of the project.
Prizes
Exciting prizes await the most innovative and impactful solutions! The winning individual or team will receive recognition for their creativity and ingenuity and also receive a cash prize.
Students Category: CHF 5,000 for the winning team or individual.
Startups Category: CHF 5,000 for the most scalable and impactful solution.
Mentors, Jurors and Award panel
Prominent team mentors, jurors and award panel from academia, the diplomatic community and the UN family:
