On October 3, 2025, Conservation X Labs (CXL), the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with support from Germany’s International Climate Initiative (IKI), officially launched the Nature Intelligence for Business Grand Challenge. This global competition calls on innovators to design tools and solutions that make nature intelligence — the ability to assess, understand, and act on nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities — accessible and actionable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) .
SMEs are the backbone of economies, accounting for over 90% of businesses worldwide. They are deeply embedded in supply chains, from farming and fisheries to transport, processing, and retail. Yet as ecosystems degrade, SMEs are among the most vulnerable: water scarcity, soil loss, and biodiversity decline translate directly into business risk.
At the same time, many SMEs lack the tools, resources, and data to understand and manage these risks. The Grand Challenge aims to close this gap by advancing solutions that are low-cost, intuitive, reliable, and aligned with the TNFD’s LEAP approach (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare). With practical, user-friendly innovations, SMEs can build resilience, reduce costs, strengthen supply chains, and access new markets that increasingly demand nature-positive business practices.
As TNFD CEO Tony Goldner put it during the launch event: “Every business needs to become nature intelligent.”
The Grand Challenge will select 8–10 finalists to receive funding, mentorship, and the opportunity to test their solutions directly with SMEs. Finalists will:
Winners (up to three) will be announced in April 2026, each awarded $20,000 to advance their tools and bring them to market.
Grand Challenges are designed to help solve tough problems by expanding the community of problem-solvers. As Alex Dehgan of Conservation X Labs explained, “Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not.” By opening the door to entrepreneurs, technologists, scientists, and those outside traditional conservation or finance circles, the Challenge creates new pathways for fresh thinking.
Open innovation has the power to spotlight ambitious goals, accelerate development of breakthrough solutions, and foster networks of collaboration that endure long after a prize purse is awarded. For many participants, the experience of meeting other innovators, exchanging ideas, and building partnerships can be as valuable as the prize itself. In this way, the Grand Challenge doesn’t just produce tools for SMEs – it catalyzes a global community committed to nature-positive business.
The launch webinar brought together leaders across conservation, business, and policy to highlight the urgency of this work.
The launch drew registrants from more than 40 countries, representing NGOs, corporates, multilateral institutions, academia, finance, data providers, and government agencies. This diversity reflects both the urgency of the challenge and the appetite for collaborative, cross-sectoral solutions.
The Nature Intelligence for Business Grand Challenge is open now:
📌 Learn more and apply: Nature Intelligence for Business Grand Challenge Website
📺 Watch the launch webinar recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eTAdar81Xw
This Grand Challenge is more than a competition—it is a coalition for change. By equipping SMEs with the tools to integrate nature into business decisions, we can build a future where resilience, sustainability, and prosperity go hand in hand.
