Organisations gained space to share experience, present their innovative projects, and consult with experts
The Impact Lab Bootcamp concluded after three days.
Representatives from 15 organisations attended the event. Independent commissions evaluated the progress of all registered projects and made the final decisions.
During the first day, the Bootcamp participants got acquainted and gradually presented their innovative projects. They also had the opportunity to share experience and best practices in six areas: programme improvement, communication, fundraising, programme expansion, impact measurement, and collaboration (including cross-sectoral collaboration).
On the second day of the Bootcamp, we began with discussions. One group talked about how to promote the interests of their organisations (advocacy activities). The facilitation was overseen by our policy manager Romana Kanovská and two guests from the Czech Republic, advocacy experts Věnek Bonuš and Štěpán Drahokoupil from the OSF Foundation. Another group exchanged experience about the impact measurement of their activities. Our colleagues Norbert Maur and Dominika Hroššová led the discussion.
The main part of the programme consisted of consultations with 22 mentors – individuals from business, startups, and government institutions, covering seven areas: business model creation, internal processes, fundraising, communication, impact measurement, advocacy activities, and education. Organisations could choose their mentoring field and mentor according to their preferences. Each of them gained four consultations with four different mentors.
We have verified the model of project consultation by experts in the previous Generation 3.0 programme. A new feature was the inclusion of Slovak mentors from global startups abroad, which we secured thanks to collaboration with the Research and Innovation Authority of the Office of the Government (VAIA). The VAIA is responsible for the creation and coordination of research and innovation policies with the goal of transforming Slovakia into an ambitious and innovative country. The VAIA tests models of expert assistance cooperation with Slovaks working abroad and offered to connect these individuals with organisations in our Bootcamp programme. We plan to continue this cooperation in selecting individual mentors for organisations in the Impact Lab Accelerator.
The last, third day was devoted to group reflections.
Ten organisations will advance to the Accelerator’s Impact Lab
As part of their consultations, support and guidance of organisations, the experts were also tasked to assess the potential of the projects and the organisations themselves. It is the mentors who will decide on the ten organisations that will advance to the Accelerator, in which they will receive an individual mentor and researcher to monitor their impact, and later also financial support of up to 60,000 euros for the implementation of their project.
We will publish the names of those advancing on the 20th of June 20, 2023.
