Providing timely and adequate humanitarian assistance to people affected by a humanitarian crisis is
an increasingly challenging task, due to the growing needs of people and the increasingly complex
nature of the crisis. Conflict and protracted crises leave 135.7 million people in need of international
humanitarian assistance (UNOCHA, 2018). The current scale of humanitarian need is placing the
humanitarian system under considerable strain. During the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS),
former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon urged the global community to commit
to the 'Agenda for Humanity' to address the challenges in the humanitarian sector with the aim of
preventing and helping to reduce human suffering during crises. The Agenda outlines 5 core
responsibilities and 24 transformations to better meet the immediate humanitarian needs of affected
populations, whilst reducing risk and vulnerability (UN, 2016a). UN Member States, international and
local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the private sector and other stakeholders in the
humanitarian domain have announced their commitment to the 'Agenda for Humanity' (UN, 2016b).
Technological innovations in humanitarian assistance are perceived as an enabler in realising these
joint ambitions and addressing the challenges. Actors are actively engaging in the innovation process
and assessing the requirements for, and impact of, technological innovation in humanitarian
assistance. Overall, technological innovation in humanitarian assistance is multi-faceted, as it is
approached, perceived and experienced differently by the various stakeholders