Frontier Futures for Children

Femtech is one of health innovation's most promising frontiers. The Boston Consulting Group sees a major market opportunity in meeting the health needs of women and girls, yet those needs receive only 6% of global investment, according to the World Economic Forum. In this episode, the founders behind CareNX, which brings pregnancy monitoring to remote communities, and Oky, a period tracker co-created with girls, join an investor and an author to unpack what it takes to build, fund and scale femtech that reaches women and girls everywhere.GUESTSAditya Kulkarni – Founder and CEO, CareNXGerda Binder – Senior Advisor to UNICEF Office of Innovation and founder of OkyMarina Gerner – Author of The Vagina BusinessMalin Frithiofsson – CEO of Daya VenturesUNICEF-supported projects or partners featured are clearly highlighted.UNICEF does not endorse any company, brand, product or service.This episode was recorded in summer of 2026.

What does it take to move from a ten-person pilot to a scaled tech solution that improves the lives of thousands? In this debut episode of Frontier Futures for Children, we deconstruct the “scaling wall” for social impact innovations that help children and their communities. The focus is on frontier technologies—advanced solutions including AI and blockchain. Which startups are truly breaking boundaries, what are the biggest challenges for scale-ups, and which trends are shaping the work of innovators, investors, and public institutions? Guests from impact tech ecosystems in Europe, Africa and Asia discuss the hard truths and opportunities of building ventures that improve children’s lives at scale.GUESTSLina Ng'inja – Head of Partnerships, East Africa, NorrskenHelen Samuelsson – Innovation Advisor, The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)Divya Gupta – Former Chief Business Officer, Global Health, Qure.aiPaul Miller – Managing Partner and CEO, Bethnal Green VenturesMimi Billing – Europe Editor, SiftedUNICEF-supported projects or partners featured are clearly highlighted.UNICEF does not endorse any company, brand, product or service.This episode was recorded in summer of 2026.

Frontier Futures for Children is a UNICEF Office of Innovation podcast exploring how advanced technologies are being used to tackle challenges affecting children, young people and their communities. From AI to blockchain, the series focuses on the practical realities of deploying frontier technology solutions, especially in emerging and low-resource settings.Hosted by tech and business journalist Maddy Savage and UNICEF’s Yemi Lufadeju, the podcast is designed as a global public square for the tech and social impact ecosystems.Across the series, businesses, investors, non-profit organisations, journalists and academics share hard-won learnings, examining both the opportunities and the challenges of using frontier technologies to create real-world impact.UNICEF-supported projects or partners featured are clearly highlighted.UNICEF does not endorse any company, brand, product or service.This podcast was recorded in the summer of 2026.