UNIDO GLOBAL CALL 2025 - Creative orange economy: innovating the future
August 20, 2025
Application deadline: 1 September 2025
Award ceremony: 23-24 November 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Global Call, which began in 2020 and marks its sixth year this year, is UNIDO’s flagship annual event where companies with innovative solutions to global challenges are recognized and awarded.
Through this event, UNIDO identifies technologies that can be leveraged for sustainable industrial development in developing countries, while companies showcase their technical expertise and innovation on the international stage, simultaneously contributing to SDGs and engaging in partnerships to address various societal and environmental challenges.
Each year, UNIDO ITPOs worldwide sequentially organize the Global Call event, selecting themes that align with the local and global contexts and inviting companies with innovative technologies to participate.
This year, UNIDO ITPO Bahrain will host the Global Call 2025 under the theme “Creative Orange Economy: Innovating the Future”.
CATEGORIES:
- Eco-friendly production
This category focuses on the development and implementation of sustainable practices in the production of creative works. It includes: - Sustainable Materials: Use of eco-friendly, recycled, or upcycled materials in the creation of art, fashion, design, and other creative products.
- Green Production Processes: Implementation of environmentally friendly production methods that reduce waste, conserve energy, and minimize carbon footprints.
- Eco-conscious Design: Designing products with sustainability in mind, ensuring they are durable, reusable, or biodegradable.
- Digital innovation
This category focuses on the innovative use of technology to create new forms of digital content and experiences. It includes: - Digital Media: This encompasses a wide range of content created and distributed through digital platforms, such as digital art, animation, video production, and multimedia storytelling.
- Gaming: This involves the design and development of video games, which can range from simple mobile games to complex, immersive experiences on consoles and PCs.
- Virtual Reality (VR): VR technology creates fully immersive environments that users can interact with using special headsets and controllers.
- Augmented Reality (AR): AR overlays digital content onto the real world through devices like smartphones, tablets, and AR glasses.
- Cultural heritage and trade
This category is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage through creative and innovative means. It includes: - Crafts: This involves traditional and contemporary handmade items, such as textiles, pottery, jewelry, and woodworking. Crafts often reflect the cultural identity and heritage of a community, preserving techniques and designs passed down through generations.
- Cultural Tourism: This focuses on promoting and enhancing tourism experiences that are rooted in cultural heritage. It includes the development of heritage sites, cultural tours, and experiences that allow visitors to engage with and learn about the cultural history and traditions of a place.
- Scholl and universities students
This category is designed to nurture the next generation of creative thinkers and innovators by providing young students at both the school and university levels with the tools and opportunities to explore their talents and ideas. By engaging students in creative activites, we aim to inspire a lifelong love for the arts and innovation, fostering creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, and offering a platorm for self-expression and development.
School and university students are encouraged to select one of the three main categories (Eco-friendly Production, Digital Innovation, and Cultural Heritage) and submit their applications.
BENEFITS AND AWARDS
- An award certificate from UNIDO ITPO Bahrain
- Online incubation at UNIDO ITPO Bahrain for 3-6months with startup and growth business counseling/mentoring services to further develop idea into a bankable project
More information on the official page of the Global Call 2025:
https://itpo-manama.unido.org/global-call-2025
Apply for the Global Call:
https://docs.google.com/