UpLink 2026年度影响力报告

Contents About UpLink2Foreword3Executive summary41Early-stage innovation signals and market implications52Enabling Innovation Ecosystems93Accelerating venture growth194Demonstrating impact28Looking ahead32Appendices33A1Theory of change33A2Impact measurement and management framework34Contributors35Endnotes36 About UpLink UpLink is the World Economic Forum’s early-stage innovation engine, launched in 2020 to help turn bold,purpose-driven solutions into real-world impact. Working in collaboration with founding collaboratorsDeloitte and Salesforce, and a global network of public and private leaders, UpLink builds ecosystemsthat connect entrepreneurs with the capital, partners, expertise and market access they need to scalesolutions that rewire industries and strengthen economies. By bridging early-stage innovation withmarket adoption and scale, UpLink accelerates progress towards a resilient, sustainable andprosperous futurewhere purpose and profit go hand in hand. UpLink’s strategic objectives Enable InnovationEcosystems Demonstrateimpact Accelerateventure growth By convening entrepreneurs,investors and corporates aroundshared challenges, UpLink co-creates cross-sector ecosystemsthat transform early-stage solutionsinto scalable market opportunities. By surrounding high-potentialventures with the right resources,partnerships, credibility andexposure, UpLink helps them movefrom potential to performance. By measuring outcomes and craftingcompelling stories, UpLink buildsthe narratives that inspire adoption,mobilize capital and influencedecision-makers to championearly-stage innovation at scale. UpLink in numbers 574UpLink Ventures(since 2020)2 11Innovation Ecosystems1 Funding stage Headquarters in75countries UpLink Investor Community773Funding partners74Ecosystem partners2525 Foreword John DuttonHead, UpLink,World Economic Forum In a world facing accelerating and interconnected globalchallenges, from decarbonization and water resilienceto sustainable urban development and healthy living,early-stage innovation is essential to delivering thebreakthrough solutions we urgently need. climate and nature, health, water, cities and emergingtechnologies, UpLink advances the Forum’s missionto align innovation with long-term competitiveness andinclusive growth. Forum corporate partners are increasingly engagingwith early-stage ventures through UpLink to send cleardemand signals to the market. This enables them to testfrontier technologies, access new talent and solutions,reduce research and development (R&D) costs andexplore emerging opportunities with lower risk beforedeploying significant capital. The challenge today is not invention, however, but scale.Innovation alone falls short. Increasingly, evidence showsthat early demand signals from large buyers, includingprocurement commitments, purchasing agreements andadvance market commitments, are among the mostpowerful levers for scaling impact.6,7When governments,cities and corporations commit earlyto low-carbonand sustainable solutions, they do morethan supportinnovation. They shape markets, reduce risk,unlockprivate investment and accelerate adoption far moreeffectively than supply-side measures alone. The integration of data, artificial intelligence (AI) andanalytics across UpLink is central to our approach,strengthening how innovation is sourced, supported andmeasured. From venture sourcing and selection to investorengagement and impact measurement, these capabilitiesenable more evidence-based decision-making and helpquantify the value created through UpLink. Importantly,AI is not only an enabler of the platform but a definingfeature of the solutions emerging from the ecosystem.Today, more than 139 UpLink Ventures actively apply AIacross domains, including biodiversity monitoring, waterand agricultural optimization, access to financial andhealth services, and predictive tools to support vulnerablecommunities. These applications illustrate how AI canaccelerate data-driven, scalable and system-level impact. Despite this, many early-stage entrepreneurs continueto operate on the margins. Only around 2% of globalimpact investment assets are allocated to seed andstart-up ventures,8even as investors cite difficultyidentifying differentiated business models and scalablesolutions.9This disconnect between capital availabilityand market readiness slows the transition of promisinginnovations from pilot to market and leaves significantpotential unrealized. UpLink was built to bridge these gaps. Workingalongside World Economic Forum centres and initiatives,UpLink creates shared pathways where ventures gainthe partnerships, credibility and market access neededto scale. Meanwhile, investors and corporate leadersgain access to high-quality early-stage solutions alignedwith their strategic priorities. By sourcing and scalingpurpose-driven ventures across critical systems, including Looking ahead, UpLink will continue to support venturesas they scale their innova