The UNDP Accelerator Labs represent a global social innovation capability embedded within the United Nations, operating as a network of 91 social innovation labs across 115 countries. Established in 2019, this initiative represents the world's largest learning network dedicated to tackling sustainable development challenges through innovation and systems thinking. The Labs celebrate and amplify grassroots innovation by working directly with local communities to identify existing solutions and grassroots innovators who are actively addressing social and environmental challenges.
Rather than imposing external solutions, the UNDP Accelerator Labs focus on collective intelligence approaches that enable communities to work together to mobilize a wider range of information, ideas, and insights. This methodology emphasizes that local solutions are more likely to replicate and scale within their own societies. The network employs ethnography, innovation challenges, citizen science, and machine learning to advance progress toward the global Sustainable Development Goals.
The Labs serve as knowledge hubs where practitioners share learnings across borders and contexts, creating a global movement toward more participatory, systems-focused development approaches that center the voices and innovations of those closest to the challenges being addressed.