Designing Digital Play with Children's Well-Being in Mind
UNICEF Announces New Phase of Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC)
Nearly nine in ten children play online games. To ensure digital play is designed with their well-being at its core, UNICEF, in partnership with the LEGO Foundation and the LEGO Group, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Games for Change, announce the launch of a new three-year phase of the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) initiative.
Through this phase, RITEC will:
· Convene gaming industry leaders and decision-makers to align on shared standards and advance children’s well-being as a consistent, industry-wide approach to digital play.
· Translate research into action, providing practical tools, shared guidance, and training pathways that enable studios, designers, and companies to embed children’s well-being into everyday development processes in ways that are both responsible and commercially sustainable.
· Accelerate real-world application to support designers, developers, educators, and companies in applying child-centered principles across diverse digital play environments.
"The gaming industry reaches more children than almost any institution on earth. RITEC is how we work together to make sure that reach becomes an opportunity — designing children's well-being into every experience, where it belongs," said Thomas Davin, Global Director, UNICEF Office of Innovation.
Together, RITEC partners bring a shared commitment toward children’s well-being in digital play — bringing evidence, domain expertise, convening power, and practical guidance to move the industry beyond intention toward implementation. This supports scalable change that benefits children while strengthening trust, quality, and long-term value in digital play.
Anna Rafferty, Senior Vice President of Digital Consumer Engagement at the LEGO Group, said: “Digital games are an important part of many children’s lives. As leaders in play, we have a responsibility to help ensure these experiences are safe, creative and supportive of children’s well-being. We’re proud to continue working alongside UNICEF and our partners to help embed children’s well-being into digital design across the industry."
This renewed collaboration reflects a shared commitment to advancing children’s rights in digital spaces and contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by ensuring that digital play environments support children’s agency and well-being worldwide.
About RITEC
RITEC is a global initiative to advance children’s well-being in digital play through game design, led by UNICEF in partnership with the LEGO Foundation, the LEGO Group, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Games for Change.
RITEC began as a research effort to understand how digital play affects children’s well-being and which design choices matter most. This led to the creation of the RITEC-8 framework and the RITEC Design Toolbox, which provide the gaming industry with practical tools to incorporate children’s well-being into game design.
Now, RITEC is embarking on a new, exciting journey in collaboration with the gaming industry to embed these into real-world practice.
Media Contact
Philip Toscano, Partnership Communications Specialist, UNICEF Denmark