At the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-25) held in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2025, Member States adopted a new set of ITU Regional Initiatives for 2026–2029. Resolution 17 (Rev. Baku, 2025) and Resolution 92 (Baku, 2025) call on ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) to develop mechanisms that accelerate the support and development of projects based on these initiatives.
To deliver this mandate, BDT has launched the Regional Initiative Accelerator (RIA), a methodology designed to support the implementation of the Regional Initiatives through actionable and bankable projects co-designed with ITU membership.
In this context, BDT invites ITU Member States to submit project proposals aligned with the identified Regional Initiatives on innovation.
Call for project ideas for the Regional Initiative Accelerator
This first call focuses on innovation. ITU Member States are invited to submit project ideas aligned with the selected Regional Initiatives listed below:
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AFR4: Development of digital applications, micro, small and medium enterprises and digital innovation ecosystems
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AFR5: Sustainable funding mechanisms for Africa's digital transformation
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AMS3: Support for innovative digital ecosystems and the adoption and use of emerging technologies
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ARB4: Innovation ecosystems to support the adoption and growth of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence
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ASP4: Enabling an innovative and sustainable telecommunication/ information and communication technology sector
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CIS4: Enabling environment and telecommunication/information and communication technology regulation
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EUR5: Digital innovation ecosystems
Project ideas should be submitted to
BDT Innovation at bdtinnovation@itu.int, using the
application form by
15 November 2026. Submissions should clearly define a problem linked to an expected outcome of one of the Regional Initiatives on innovation, demonstrate an initial commitment to advancing the proposed idea, and identify the resources and stakeholders needed for successful implementation.
Evaluation criteria and selection
Project ideas will be selected by a team of BDT staff, including experts from ITU Headquarters and the field. Selected teams will be notified within one week of the submission deadline. Project ideas will be evaluated against the following criteria:
- Originality: The concept is original for its context and responds to the challenge.
- Relevance: The idea is relevant to, and distinctive within, the targeted Regional Initiative.
- Sustainability: The means, methods and resources needed to sustain key activities are clearly described.
- Viability: The proposed solutions are realistic and logically sound.
- Impact: The proposal addresses cross-cutting problems, solutions and impacts at national, regional and global levels.
- Stakeholder engagement: Relevant ecosystem stakeholders and their potential contributions to the project are clearly identified.
Selected project teams will receive full details of the workshop in due course.
Terms and conditions
Submissions are subject to the following terms and conditions:
- One member of each selected project team will be invited to an in-person co-design workshop described in this Annex.
- A maximum of two project ideas may be selected per Regional Initiative listed in Annex II, subject to meeting the selection criteria.
- To ensure equitable participation, only one project idea will be selected per country.
- Each co-design workshop will host up to 10 countries.
- Submissions must be in English, which will also be the working language of the co-design workshop.
- Sponsorship to attend the workshop depends on available funds, with priority for participants from LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS.
- Organizations that can self-fund their teams will be given special consideration for the in-person co-design workshop.
- Core teams of selected project ideas will be invited to take online training on the RIA methodology via the ITU Academy.
- The selection process will ensure a rigorous evaluation and allow the relevant ITU regional offices to keep supporting selected projects after the co-design workshop.
- Project ideas onboarded to the RIA are expected to deliver a project brief and the other outputs defined in the RIA mechanism.
- In 2027, core teams will receive additional in-kind support for resource mobilization and implementation planning to help turn their ideas into global projects.
