Closed · Awarded§ 01 — Completed initiative

The 2025 New Commons Challenge.

A $200,000 open call for data commons building public-interest AI — focused on humanitarian response and localized decision-making. Two $100,000 awards announced at the 80th UN General Assembly in New York.

Awardees on stage at the UN General Assembly, September 2025

Winners announced Sept 25, 2025.

C-25 / FRAME

§ The Challenge

Funding commons for the AI era.

The Challenge sought to support universities, libraries, civil society, and technologists to build data ecosystems that fuel public-interest AI. It focused on supporting new and existing data commons across two critical domains: localized decision-making and humanitarian response.

On September 25, 2025, the New Commons Challenge awarded two $100,000 prizes to foster data commons for responsible AI development. The first of these awards went to the Malawi Voice Data Commons Project—developed by the New York University Peace Research and Education Program and Ushahidi—for the development of a data commons. The second award went to the Amazon Rainforest Evolution Index, developed by CERTI Amazonia, for the enhancement of an existing data commons.

The event took place as part of the broader 80th UN General Assembly events and was an affiliate session of the Digital@UNGA program. We thank our partners DirectRelief and the Harvard Institutional Data Initiative, as well as our observer UNESCO, for their support.

Information on each grantee and special distinction can be found below. For each grantee, we provide a brief description of their projects taken from their proposals and information about how they can be contacted, should you be interested in learning more about their work or offering support.

ATrackHumanitarian Interventions Data commons that strengthen disaster response capabilities using AI.
BTrackImprove Localized Decision-making Data commons that help local leaders make better policy or improve their reasoning capabilities through improved access to or insights from data.

§ Awardees

Awardees

Selected from a global open call, each awardee receives $100,000 plus technical and convening support from the Challenge partners to advance a working commons.

AwardeeWINNER: Enhancement of a Data CommonsBrazil

§ Project · Amazon Rainforest Evolution Index

Amazon Rainforest Evolution Index

Certi Amazonia Brazil

Understanding statistical data collected from government-funded agencies about the "Legal Amazon" (legally delimited areas of the Amazon forest and adjacent cities comprises nine states and 772 municipalities) currently requires deep expertise in fields such as agriculture, statistics, and biology to translate information into missing actionable insights for local communities and decision-makers.

§ Brazil

AwardeeWINNER: Development of a Data CommonsMalawi

§ Project · Malawi Voice Data Commons

Malawi Voice Data Commons

The Malawi Voice Data Commons Malawi

The Malawi Voice Data Commons (MVDC) bridges this gap by integrating voice-based reporting with existing crisis management infrastructure. We're not starting from scratch—we're building on established systems from partners like Ushahidi (17+ years of crisis mapping data), UNDP (comprehensive emergency response networks), and Mozilla Common Voice (multilingual speech technology).

§ Malawi

§ Honorary distinctions

Four further projects recognized.

Beyond the two grants, the Challenge committee recognized four additional projects that advance the field of public-interest commons — selected for their clarity of governance, community accountability, and maturity of practice.

§ R-0101

Advancing Climate Justice: the Climate Mobility Case Database

Global Strategic Litigation Council

This live, open-access platform empowers frontline lawyers, advocates, and community leaders with critical legal knowledge to protect the rights of displaced people. The database curates legal cases addressing both internal and cross-border climate displacement. Each case is accompanied by an AI-assisted, expert-reviewed summary, highlighting legal arguments, decisions, and key takeaways to inform future litigation and advocacy.

§ RegionInternational

§ R-0202

Know Your City Academy

Slum Dwellers International

The platform would function as a locally controlled inference service running on fully community-owned infrastructure. A mother in Nairobi can ask through a messaging app. "How did other settlements solve blocked drainage in hilly terrain?" and receive tailored solutions from peer experiences across the SDI network, translated into her language and contextualised for her specific conditions.

§ RegionInternational

§ R-0303

PLACE Hub in Nigeria

ThisisPLACE Foundation

PLACE is a global non-profit technology organization, originally formed from the Property Rights initiative at Omidyar Network in 2020. Our mission is to make high-resolution aerial and street imagery more open, reliable, and accessible to help governments improve lives, create economic opportunities, strengthen public services, and better care for the environment.

§ RegionNigeria

§ R-0404

Querido Diário

Open Knowledge Brasil

The data commons to be developed in this proposal derives from ‘Querido Diário’ (in English, Dear Diary), the only platform that makes the full text of municipal official gazettes (or diaries) in Brazil centrally available to the public in an accessible, open, and free format.

§ RegionBrazil

§ 04 — Convening partners

Designed and judged jointly.

The Open Data Policy Lab convened the 2025 Challenge with partners across philanthropy, humanitarian response, and research, alongside UNESCO as international observer. Each shaped the call, the jury, and the UNGA 80 convening.

§ Partners

Microsoft

DIRECT/RELIEF · CrisisReady

Institutional Data Initiativeat Harvard Law School Library

§ International observer

§ New Commons Showcase · New York

New Commons Showcase.

On September 25th, 2025, the Open Data Policy Lab hosted the New Commons Showcase to honor the awardees.

The event convened global leaders, policymakers, technologists, and community practitioners to explore how data sharing can unlock new opportunities for AI in the public interest.

§ Date25 Sept 2025

§ LocationNew York

§ FormatPublic convening