Deadline Date: February 23, 2026
The Future Health Challenge is inviting applications to support innovative solutions that enable predictive, proactive, and technology-driven approaches to improve population health and strengthen health system resilience.
The challenge focuses on improving population risk forecasting using digital and data-driven approaches to capture early signals from communities, environments, and frontline health systems; strengthening technology-enabled disease surveillance and early warning systems to predict infectious disease outbreaks, non-communicable disease trends, and emerging health threats; developing low-tech, proxy, and community-based data solutions, including digitally supported methods that enable sensing and prediction in fragile or underserved settings; and enabling AI-powered decision support for public health and primary care by transforming fragmented and heterogeneous data into interpretable, forward-looking forecasts that support action.
The Future Health Challenge addresses the urgent need to close the gap between vast amounts of sensing data and actionable insights for decision-makers. Advances in AI and increasingly accessible sensing technologies embedded in communities and frontline services provide new opportunities to capture health data and predict health risks more effectively. By linking information to prediction, these solutions enable earlier and more effective interventions while ensuring that expanded sensing is implemented thoughtfully to mitigate surveillance risks and protect individual privacy.
USD 300,000 in prize funding is available for three winning solution teams, including one USD 200,000 grand prize and two runner-up prizes of USD 50,000 each. This funding is intended to support the scaling and impact of selected solutions.
Eligible solutions can be for-profit, non-profit, or hybrid models and must be enabled by technology. Technology is defined broadly and includes apps, SMS technology, software, AI, robots, drones, blockchain, virtual reality, as well as traditional, ancestral, and natural technologies and knowledge systems. Solutions must be at least at the prototype stage, including prototype, pilot, growth, or scale stages, and demonstrate the ability to function and deliver impact in real-world settings.
Applications must be written in English, and team leads must be 18 years or older. The Team Lead should be the CEO, Executive Director, Primary Investigator, or other key leader for the solution. Semifinalist teams will be expected to attend the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit from April 7–9, 2026, pitch their solution during a dedicated session, and represent their solution in the Future Health Summit’s Innovation Zone.
For more information, visit Future Health.
