Snjallræði: Startup Social 2019

This marks the second year of the fledgling social accelerator in Iceland, building on the successes of last year. The objective of Snjallræði: Startup Social is to provide individuals, NGOs and companies with a platform to develop their ideas and find ways to make them sustainable. The ideas must have a clear and positive social impact and support one or more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs. They are open to all ideas in all stages, from fresh thoughts to developed projects and businesses.

8 ideas will be chosen for an 8 week accelerator program in October and November. Each team will receive ISK800.000 to participate in the program. They will receive an office space and assistance with idea development and implementation. This year the teams will undergo the  sprint concept in collaboration with MIT designX .

Would you like to work on your idea?

Your project idea will be evaluated based on three key criteria:

  • Innovation: Your innovation can be a product, a process, a technology, a market-based solution, or a service that is either entirely new, is being used in a novel and beneficial way, or is some new combination of existing ideas.. Innovation creates value and new opportunities for the community and offers benefits that are an improvement on previous efforts. In your application clearly state what other solutions have been tried and how your project differs from these.
  • Impact: Impact can be defined in several ways, either by how deeply a small group of people may be affected or how many people across a broad spectrum could benefit from your project. We are interested in projects that address an under served need—working on an issue or with a social group that has not received sufficient attention, support, or resources, for example. This could mean working on a project that is very specific, such as providing access to clean water in one specific geographic area or community, or it could mean something more broadly systemic, such as developing affordable means for evaluating environmental impact for small businesses. Finally, we are interested in ideas that find ways to generate mutual impact across different systems or sectors, such as education and healthcare, through linking the needs of one with the assets of another.
  • Feasibility: We want to see that your work can result in a tangible benefit for a particular group or community. To demonstrate the feasibility of your project, you should describe the status of your project, note whom you will or would like to be working with to implement the project, and show that you have the right combination of skills among your team to make the project possible.

 

Where and when to apply

You can apply direct online here. The applications deadline is 9 September 2019.

Text and image from www.snjallraedi.is