Mountain Innovation Fair 2023

The aims of the Mountain Innovation Fair are

• to connect mountain stakeholders and innovators from mountain regions worldwide, focusing on the South Caucasus, the Carpathians, Southeast Europe, the Alps, East Africa, and Southern Africa
• exchange on and learn from practical experiences with promising innovative approaches for climate change adaptation and sustainable mountain development
• offer a creative space where interregional dialogue will be inspired by collaborating on a common innovative approach in a workshop setting
• facilitate development of new innovative ideas contributing to achieving the 2030 Agenda in mountain areas and
• award one mountain innovation with seed funding to be adapted and applied in other mountain regions.

Participants from countries eligible for Official Development Assistance can apply for funded participation. For more details see “Costs and Funding” below.

The Mountain Innovation Fair welcomes a limited number of selected participants upon registration. The organisers are looking for professionals and experts working on and with innovations in mountain areas, especially with the following backgrounds:

The target groups include:

• Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) working in mountain areas
• Community-based and non-governmental organizations
• Development practitioners
• Investors, donours, and impact funders
• Policy stakeholders and representatives from competent authorities
• Researchers and scientists with a focus on innovation in mountain areas

The organisers aim for a gender-balanced representation.

The Mountain Innovation Fair gathers experts mainly from the following mountain regions:

• South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia)
• East Africa (Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda)
• Southern Africa (Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique South Africa)
• European Alps (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Slovenia, Switzerland)
• Carpathians (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Ukraine)
• South-Eastern Europe (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo (ref. UNSC Res. 1244), Montenegro, North Macedonia)

Please submit your application (registration below) and share your innovation. It should be related to sustainable development and climate change adaptation efforts in mountain regions. The thematic emphasis of the fair is on:

• Water,
• Natural hazards and climate risk reduction,
• Agriculture,
• Energy
• Mountain tourism

The selection of innovations to be presented at the Mountain Innovation Fair will be based on transparent eligibility criteria, including environmental, social and human rights considerations, by an independent Selection Committee.

A Mountain Innovation Award (seed funding) will be presented to the most innovative and scalable approach of the Fair.

The criteria taken into account by the Selection Committee are:

• Regional coverage: Implemented in mountain areas in one or more of the target regions

• Thematic coverage: Applied to one or more of the Fair’s themes: water, natural hazards and climate risk reduction, agriculture, energy and mountain tourism

• Purpose/Relevance: Sustainable mountain development challenge(s) addressed by different measures (e.g. technical, nature-based, educational, etc.)

• Impact: Proven positive change(s) achieved by applying the novel approach

• Direct benefits and co-benefits Promoting ecological, economic and/or social benefits and showing synergy with and offering co-benefits with a range of sustainable mountain development topics

• Value: Amount of beneficiaries for whom the novel approach creates value

• Inclusiveness: Providing equal access to opportunities and benefits of the innovation

• Stakeholder involvement: Engagement with stakeholders who are affected by implementation or help influence positive change

• Feasibility: Implemented on relevant timescales, realistic in terms of resources available (human and financial) and tailored to the actors and their capacities needed

• Scalability: Potential for adjustment, replication or upscaling in other geographic, social or sectorial contexts (even though as such customized and tailored to specific regional/local circumstances)

• Sustainability: Mechanisms introduced to ensure long-term sustainability for implementation in terms of human capacities and financial resources

• Adherence to human rights labour standards, and environmental standards, in alignment with the UNEP Environmental and Social Sustainability Framework

• The Selection Committee will also take into consideration the motivation and expected benefits of the applicants.

At the fair, the UNEP Mountain Innovation Award was presented to the most innovative, scaleable and beneficial innovation presented. The Selection Committee of the fair had created a shortlist of 8 innovative approaches, that the participants voted on after the marketplace. The First Mountain Innovation Award was presented to Ms Mantopi M. Lebofa from Lesotho and her innovation

“Removing barriers from Upscaling Beekeeping and wool and Mohair production”

The Mountain Innovation Award is a unique opportunity to facilitate replication of an innovative development approach in, and its adaptation to, a different mountain location. UNEP grants the winner USD 2,000 towards scaling up or scaling out their innovative approach, and supports with technical expertise as required.

For information about the Fair, please write an e-mail to the organizing committee at: mtinnovationfair@eurac.edu

Organizing team:

Eurac Research and UNU-EH GLOMOS programme

Stefan Schneiderbauer, Head of UNU-EHS GLOMOS, Bolzano office

Eleonora Musco, Policy Expert, Eurac Vienna Representing Office

Paola Fontanella Pisa, Programme Associate at UNU-EHS GLOMOS, Bolzano office

UNEP

Matthias Jurek, Programme Management Officer

Sabine McCallum, Associate Programme Management Officer

Ansgar Fellendorf, Climate change and mountain governance expert

Supporting Regional Institutions:

• Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention
• Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention
• Albertine Rift Conservation Society
• East African Community
• Afromontane Research Unit
• Caucasus Network for Sustainable Development of Mountain Regions (Sustainable Caucasus)