Boston Joins World Economic Forum's Yes/Cities Initiative, Launching Innovation Challenge on Food, Health, and Resilience

World Economic Forum, Amazon Web Services, Citi, Deloitte and More Than Two Dozen Local Organizations Collaborate to Launch Yes/Boston

BOSTON, Feb. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Yes/Boston officially launched as part of the World Economic Forum's global Yes/Cities initiative, becoming the third flagship city alongside San Francisco, USA and Bengaluru, India. Under the leadership of the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services, Citi, and Deloitte* – and anchored locally by MassChallenge in collaboration with the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts – Yes/Boston brings a place-based approach to innovation, aligning public and private sector investments and strategies in healthcare, food systems, and wellbeing.

As the core activation of this broader effort, Yes/Boston will convene public, private, nonprofit, and community leaders around an innovation challenge focused on food, health, and resilience, areas where Boston combines global research leadership with real-world deployment capacity. The initiative will serve as a platform to attract startups, pilot solutions locally, and scale models that can improve health outcomes, strengthen food systems, and drive economic growth across communities. The challenge will be hosted on the World Economic Forum's UpLink platform, an early-stage innovation engine designed to accelerate solutions that can help transform markets and communities.

"For centuries, Boston has been the center of American innovation and progress. As we continue our efforts to deliver on that legacy for our residents and families, Yes/Boston is a critical opportunity to convene public, private, nonprofit and community leaders to address public health, expand economic opportunity and strengthen local food systems across our communities. The City looks forward to working with MassChallenge and all those that are a part of driving this important work forward and ensuring Boston continues to be a home for current residents, families and future generations," affirmed City of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

"Yes/Boston leverages new and ongoing efforts as a step towards transforming promising concepts that can help bolster our food system and enhance health outcomes," said Rebecca Chasen, the New England Managing Partner at Deloitte LLP. "Deloitte recognizes significant potential at the intersection of food and health, and we are proud to be a part of this convening of great problem-solvers."

Boston's innovation ecosystem is defined by world-class universities, leading healthcare institutions, and a deep tradition of research-driven entrepreneurship. The region is known for taking on complex, high-impact challenges, advancing breakthroughs in life sciences, digital health, applied AI, robotics, cleantech, and food systems, and translating them into commercially viable solutions with real-world impact. Anchored by one of the most concentrated startup funding and support communities in the world, Massachusetts consistently ranks among the top U.S. states for venture capital (#3 behind California & New York in 2025, according to Pitchbook). Boston offers a dense network of talent, capital, and innovation platforms.

"Yes/Boston is more than an innovation challenge, it's a model for how cities can unlock economic growth that works better for people and the planet," said Jeff Merritt, Head of Urban Transformation at the World Economic Forum. "By aligning investment, public policy, and entrepreneurship, cities like Boston can ensure innovation delivers real shared value — enabling businesses to grow, governments to deliver, and communities to see measurable improvements in health, access, and opportunity."

2026 Innovation Challenge: Food, Health, and Resilience

The Yes/Boston Innovation Challenge will focus on four priority areas critical to improving health outcomes, strengthening food systems, and building urban resilience:

• Biotech and resilient food production
• Food logistics and last-mile distribution
• Nutritious food and meals
• Food and health information access and navigation

Entrepreneurs are invited to submit solutions with the potential to deploy in Boston. Selected startups will have access to resources to help them accelerate deployment and commercialization with a program managed by MassChallenge. Selected startups will also receive access to various tailored local support that can include introductions to healthcare systems, community organizations, policymakers, corporate collaborators, and advisory support from the Food and Nutrition Innovation Institute at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and other Boston area research, nonprofit and policy institutions. They'll also benefit from the visibility, resources, and expertise of the World Economic Forum's UpLink global innovation ecosystem to help accelerate scale and impact.

Massachusetts brings a unique track record to this work, and the initiative is intentionally aligned with existing city and state policy frameworks.

The Commonwealth is a global pioneer in the intersection of food and health, with early integration of nutrition into healthcare delivery, policy, and research. Boston Medical Center launched one of the world's first hospital-based therapeutic food programs in 2001, while community organization Community Servings helped define and scale medically tailored meals starting in 1990, and Massachusetts released the nation's first statewide Food-is-Medicine plan in 2019. Together with Mass General Brigham's globally influential nutrition research and Tufts University's leadership in nutrition and innovation, the city serves as a leading global point for the field.

"At MassChallenge, we work with founders every day who are building solutions at the intersection of food, health, and resilience," said MassChallenge CEO Cait Brumme. "We know how powerful this region can be when new ideas are matched with real deployment pathways. Yes/Boston brings together public sector stakeholders, institutional collaborators, community leadership, and startup talent to move faster from innovation to impact. It reflects why we care so deeply about this work: helping bold entrepreneurs turn breakthrough ideas into solutions that strengthen communities and improve health outcomes at scale."

Yes/Boston is a collaborative effort supported by more than two dozen organizations spanning healthcare, food systems, startups, capital, design, and community services. The full list can be found on the challenge website here.

Over the next three years, the goal of Yes/Boston is to continue to build a collaboration of cross-sector leaders, support deployment pathways, and contribute to thought leadership through the World Economic Forum's Yes/Cities initiative.

The global call for startups launches today and applications are due March 23, 2026, with a cohort announcement planned for June 2026.

About MassChallenge

MassChallenge is a global network for innovators that backs bold founders solving the world's hardest challenges. Founded in Massachusetts, MassChallenge is a nonprofit that accelerates startups through access to partners, capital, and market-driven support. Since 2009, MassChallenge has supported more than 5,000 startups across healthcare & life sciences, security and resiliency, sustainable food systems, climate, and global financial systems, helping them raise over $16 billion in funding and create more than 90,000 jobs. Learn more at masschallenge.org.

About Yes/Cities

Yes/Cities is a global initiative led by the World Economic Forum, Deloitte and others that brings together governments, innovators, investors, and leading companies to unlock economic opportunity and improve quality of life. It provides a pathway for world-leading companies to invest in innovation ecosystems across the globe - driving local growth, improving quality of life, forging new cross-sector partnerships, and seeding solutions to pressing global challenges. For further information, click here.

*Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of their legal structure.

SOURCE MassChallenge