Start, grow, and scale your business

Impact Hub Amsterdam supports you at the most crucial stages of your business. We help you start, grow, and scale your business and increase your impact in the Netherlands and beyond.

We offer in-house programs, such as the Business Model Challenge and the Investment Ready Program, but we also collaborate with corporate, governmental, and other organisations to co-design customised accelerators across multiple sectors and impact areas. Read up below for more information about the programs that are open for application, are currently running, and/or information on our past programs.

open

15/11/23 - 04/06/24

Built by Nature Prize

This is your chance to be part of a global change story and a growing movement to advance a range of positive impacts for our planet and people. Seize the opportunity for recognition, collaboration, learning and inspiration by joining an international community committed to creating a built environment that works in unison with nature.

Online

The Impact Entrepreneurs Masterclass

As an up-and-coming impact entrepreneur, would you like to learn more about finding capital, building a brand, or perhaps master the intricacies of negotiating? Or do you want to learn everything about growth marketing, building a commercial strategy, or to take a closer look at your own business model? Find more about The Impact Entrepreneurs…

31/12/2023

React!

React! calls on all youth workers to get inspired and share knowledge on the circular economy, impact entrepreneurship and personal development.

running

19/09/23 - 29/11/23

TEDx Impact Program

The program is an 8-week bootcamp style environment where pioneers will get the opportunity to be mentored and learn from expert trainers in four areas: storytelling, leadership, customer experience, and impact.

SEPT 2023 - FEB 2025

SoTecIn Factory Open Call for Higher-R Textile Solutions

SoTecIn Factory is a new project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme. This year Impact Hub Amsterdam leads the North-West region of the project. Together with a consortium from the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, France and Luxembourg, we will specifically focus on solving circular textile challenges.

30/06/2023

Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards 2023/2024

Since 2006, Cartier has been aiming to drive change by empowering women impact entrepreneurs. The mission of the Cartier Women’s Initiative is to shine a light on these women and provide them with the necessary financial, social and human capital support to grow their business and build their leadership skills.

07/05/2023

IKEA Glue Programme | 2023

Calling out all innovators and entrepreneurs who are working in the field of biobased glues! We partnered with IKEA to track down sustainable glue options that will be kind to future generations.

18/04/2023

Impact Nation | Craze | Sustainability Challenge | 2023

Craze’s sustainability challenge focuses on finding startups, creative entrepreneurs and SME’s that can help in finding innovative ways to replace the majority of their current plastic materials with sustainable bio-based materials.

31 JAN 2023

WDCD Make it Circular Challenge

What Design Can Do (WDCD) launched the Make it Circular Challenge, in partnership with IKEA Foundation. The make it Circular Challenge calls on designers, creative entrepreneurs and startups from around the world to envision and build a circular society. Winners receive a prize fund and a 6-month accelerator programme co-created with Impact Hub Amsterdam!

8 JAN 2023

Circular Textile Accelerator – by CIC

After extensive research the Circular Innovation Collective has identified the most urgent innovation gaps to create a circular textile chain. As a result we are scouting Startups and SME – B2B as well as B2C – national or international that are working on high value innovative circular solutions in Refuse, Rethink, Reduce, Reuse and Repair.

11 NOV 2022

Impact Nation for Startups | 2022 | Textaafoam

We’ve teamed up with ABN AMRO and TNW to develop Impact Nation, a programme in which we match innovative impact scale-ups with SMEs & organisations to collaborate on implementing innovations at scale.

17 NOV 2022

Impact Nation for Startups | 2022 | Sollas

26 OCT 2022

Impact Nation for Startups | 2022 | PVG

14 OCT 2021

Renewi Pilot Program

Upcycling waste at the end of the dividing line. As part of our Circular Ecosystem work, Impact Hub The Netherlands has teamed up with Renewi to find innovators and solution providers in the field of waste processing.

23 OCT 2022

Groei met Google Marketing Bootcamp

Do you run a social startup or scaleup and do you identify as a woman? Join the Groei met Google Marketing Bootcamp! In this free of charge 3-month program we will share all the ins and outs on digital marketing to boost your enterprise so you can make more social impact.

SEP - MAR 2023

Food Pioneers Program Autumn 2022

The Village is the brand new working community for national and international food entrepreneurs, start-ups, students and other food professionals on the Floriade site in Almere. With a focus on stimulating entrepreneurship, it is the perfect place for young and aspiring entrepreneurs in Almere, the Netherlands and Europe. They will get the opportunity to start…

26 OCT 2022

Impact Nation for Startups | 2022 | De Zeeuwse Kust

30 June 2022

Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards 2022/2023

Since 2006, Cartier, in partnership with INSEAD Business School, has been aiming to drive change by empowering women impact entrepreneurs. The mission of the Cartier Women’s Initiative is to shine a light on these women and provide them with the necessary financial, social and human capital support to grow their business and build their leadership…

OCT 2022 - MAR 2023

Food Chain Accelerator 2022

Running a startup or scale-up that is working on a more sustainable food system? Apply for our Food Chain Accelerator! In 13 days of training and strategy sessions at Impact Hub, you will work on your strategy, marketing, organisation and investment needs in order to grow your company and impact. Scroll down for more info…

18 MAY

IKEA Marine Materials Innovation Program 2022

Are you revolutionising products by using marine materials? For IKEA of Sweden, we are scouting pioneers for the Marine Materials Innovation Program. Apply by 18 May and get a chance to work with IKEA on your sustainable marine material product or solution!

Mar 2022 - Q1 2023

Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge 2022/2023

We’re scouting for the Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge for the fourth year running! The global program aims to support entrepreneurial start-up and scale-up businesses who are developing solutions that promote inclusive and positive change in fashion.

26 OCT 2022

Impact Nation for Startups | 2022 | Nationale-Nederlanden

26 OCT 2022

Impact Nation for Startups | 2022 | YAYA

past

sep 2022-2023

AM

AM is on a mission to become climate positive by 2040. To reach this goal AM is on the look out for innovative solutions to grow crops on the land AM cannot (yet) build houses on and use these crops as input to produce sustainable building materials.

Feb - June 2022

Boost je Buurt 2022

Are you an Amsterdam-based impact entrepreneur working on solutions for social challenges in the neighbourhood? Or do you have a plan to do so? Then join the Boost je Buurt challenge! The entrepreneurs with the most potential will win an entrepreneurial programme worth €2.500 and a chance to win an additional development budget of €2.500,…

MAR - SEP 2022

Food Pioneers Program Spring ‘ 22

The Village Food Pioneers Program offers fifteen free workplaces for impactful food entrepreneurs starting March 2022. With the guidance of coaches and experts, you will develop both your professional self and your company and become part of a close-knit, international community, welcoming people with all kinds of backgrounds and promoting diverse perspectives. Take your company…

JAN 2021 - APRIL 2022

Innov’Keneya Health Innovation

Are you developing a health innovation and would you like to explore new growth opportunities and partnerships? In the Innov’Keneya programme, Roche and Impact Hub are building a healthcare innovation ecosystem to tackle the most pressing challenges surrounding the cancer patient journey in Ivory Coast. As part of this programme, we are looking to find…

2021

Impact Nation for Startups | 2021

SEP - DEC 2021

IKEA Packaging Innovation Program

Are you revolutionising packaging? For IKEA of Sweden, we are scouting pioneers for the Packaging Innovation Program. Apply and get a chance to work with IKEA on your sustainable packaging product or solution!

AUG 2021 - MAR 2022

Food Pioneers Program 2021

The Village Food Pioneers Program offers fifteen free workplaces for impactful food entrepreneurs starting September 2021. With the guidance of coaches and experts, you will develop both your professional self and your company and become part of a close-knit, international community. Take your company to the next level!

SEP - DEC 2021

Business Model Challenge

You have the green dreams – we hand you the business tools. Join the ranks of 350+ alumni and apply for our Business Model Challenge incubator! In three months, you will finetune your business plan, strengthen your entrepreneurial skills, and expand your impact business network in a blended, on & offline programme.

SEP - DEC 2021

Business Model Challenge | Circular Edition

OCT 2021 - MAR 2022

Food Chain Accelerator 2021

A successful accelerator designed for innovative startups or SMEs (MKB) working on a more sustainable food chain. Our Food Chain Accelerator helps food startups strengthen their revenue models, growth strategies, and impact over the course of 13 training days, with guidance from experts, mentors, financiers, and strategic partners!

MAY - JULY 2021

Inclusief Eten

As part of the Sustainable Food Ecosystem, Impact Hub The Netherlands is launching the 2-month Inclusief Eten programme in collaboration with Stichting Albron. In Inclusief Eten, we match young people in search for purposeful jobs to initiatives that promote social inclusion by means of growing, cooking, saving or sharing food. This programme is in Dutch.

APR - SEP 2021

Masterclass Societal Transitions

The Masterclass Societal Transitions, designed by Impact Hub The Netherlands and DRIFT Transition Academy, combines the latest scientific research on sustainability transitions, social innovation and entrepreneurship with pragmatic insights and experiences from transition management and entrepreneurial practice. Special attention is paid to issues of power relations and processes of empowerment, including the paradoxes and dilemmas underlying change.

Feb - June 2021

Boost je Buurt 2021

Vote for your favourite Amsterdam-based impact entrepreneur! In Boost je Buurt, 28 impact entrepreneurs have joined the challenge to win an incubator programme by Impact Hub Amsterdam and a development budget of € 2,500, € 5,000, or € 7,500! The prizes will be awarded during the final on 17 June. Which impactmaker gets your vote?

Mar 2021 - Q1 2022

Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge

We’re scouting for the Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge for the third year running! The global program aims to support entrepreneurial startup and scaleup-stage businesses run by BIPOC entrepreneurs who are developing solutions that promote inclusive and positive change in fashion.

MAR - JUNE 2021

Business Model Challenge | Inclusion

The themed edition of this spring’s Business Model Challenge (BMC) is for entrepreneurs who are making a positive impact on social themes like immigration, (refugee) integration, discrimination, LGBTQ+ rights, gender equality, disability, or poverty. Boost your business model in our BMC incubator and join the ranks of 350+ alumni!

Apr 2021 - Jan 2022

WDCD No Waste Challenge

What Design Can Do (WDCD) launched the No Waste Challenge, in partnership with IKEA Foundation. Designers and creatives from around the world are invited to submit their innovative solutions to reduce waste and rethink the current production and consumption cycle. Winners receive a prize fund and a 6-month accelerator programme co-created with Impact Hub Amsterdam!

2020

FABB | The Sustainable Fashion Accelerator

Fashion Accelerator for Better Business (FABB) gave sustainable startups the chance and skills needed to grow in the fashion industry. FABB offered expert guidance, one-on-one coaching, and peer-to-peer learning in a small group of like-minded entrepreneurs.

OCT 2020 - MAR 2021

Investment Ready Program

During this 5-month accelerator (now in its 7th year!) powered by the ING Nederland Foundation, we’ll help you review your business model, strategy, team as well as craft a funding plan to grow your sustainable business. At the programme’s concluding Demo Day, you’ll pitch your plan to our network of impact investors!

2020

Soft-landing Program | Fashion

During our Softlanding Program to Vienna, participants got the chance to present their sustainable fashion brand to various stakeholders in Amsterdam: retail, social enterprises, the municipality, startups, investors, and sustainability experts. The program is an initiative of Impact Hub Amsterdam and Amsterdam Impact.

2012-2020

Business Model Challenge

Our Business Model Challenge has been running twice a year since 2012, and just finished its 19th edition! Do you have an innovative and sustainable business (idea)? Keep an eye out for the next edition coming up! Alongside experts from acclaimed organisations such as Accenture, we will teach you the growth techniques used by the…

2021

Business Model Challenge | Fashion

During our Business Model Challenge, Fashion edition, we brought together entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas for the sustainable fashion industry. With experts from organisations such as Accenture, we shared the growth techniques we’ve used to finetune business models of the 350+ startups we’ve incubated to date in our Business Model Challenges!

2020

RE:SILIENCE MRA

This year, we developed the RE:SILIENCE program to support impact-driven companies and equip them with the tools to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis stronger than before. Now, we’ve launched an online-only version of the program specifically for impact entrepreneurs from the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (MRA), supported by our partner, Amsterdam Impact.

2020

RE:SILIENCE

Because of their approach, impact entrepreneurs are often resilient. But they are not immune to economic conditions. They, too, are now being challenged to rethink their model, product chain, channels, team, or partnerships to weather the crisis. Impact Hub Amsterdam, Goldschmeding Foundation and Amsterdam Impact developed the RE:SILIENCE program to help impact entrepreneurs.

2020

Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards

An international entrepreneurship program that drives change by empowering female impact entrepreneurs. Founded in 2006 by Cartier, the program is open to women-run and women-owned businesses from any country and sector that aim to have a strong and sustainable social and/or environmental impact.

2020

Business Model Challenge | Food & Packaging

In this edition of the Business Model Challenge (BMC), we helped entrepreneurs turn their innovative ideas into a successful impact startup in just three months! We collaborated with experts, mentors and an inspiring group of entrepreneurs working to make food and its packaging more sustainable.

2019 & 2020

Impact the Food Chain Accelerator 2019

A successful accelerator designed for innovative startups or SMEs (MKB) working on making the food chain more sustainable. Our Food Chain Accelerator helped startups strengthen their revenue models, growth strategies, and impact over the course of 13 training days, with guidance from experts, mentors, financiers, and strategic partners!

APR - JUN 2021

Postcode Lotteries Green Challenge

We’re scouting for Postcode Lotteries Green Challenge for the fourth year running! This challenge supports impact startups from the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, and Norway that contribute to a sustainable planet.

2020

Bright Minds for Covid

The impact program by Young Impactmakers designed specifically to help impactful corona initiatives forward together with a group of other young talents. Participants were matched with an initiative, taking their goals and experience into consideration, and received online training, coaching and hands-on working experience.

2020

Soft Landing Program | Food

During our softlanding trip to Berlin, we helped entrepreneurs break into a new market. We introduced entrepreneurs to all the relevant local actors from the local food and impact sector, including food industry players, regulation experts, and impact investors. The program is an initiative of Impact Hub Amsterdam and Amsterdam Impact.

2020

Fix Your Food Hackathon

A third of all food is wasted and eating meat negatively impacts the climate. Meanwhile, food is flown all over the world and we wrap it in plastic that ends up in the oceans. Time for change! Participants turned their business ideas into a concrete business plan with an interdisciplinary team.

2019-2020

The Student Hotel Changemakers Challenge

The Student Hotel’s Changemakers Challenge is a competition in which students work on a real business case of a (social) enterprise that solves a societal problem. Together with a TSH Coach and the case owner, a team of students works on an innovative solution.

2019-2020

The Chivas Venture

Each year, the Chivas Venture competition rewards innovative startups that use business to tackle the world’s biggest social and environmental issues with a share of $1 million in no-strings-attached funding and expert coaching. In 2019, Chivas asked Impact Hub Amsterdam to help them find the best innovations from around the world.

2019

Dopper Changemaker Challenge

Students based in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, the UK or Nepal, took part in the Dopper Changemaker Challenge for a chance to win a €5,000 research grant, promo support and valuable contacts.

2019

Business Model Challenge | Food Edition

The Dutch food chain is in need of change. Though the agro-food sector is the largest economic sector in the Netherlands, it is facing considerable challenges. It is responsible for a large share of national CO2 emissions, and the landscape is suffering from a loss of biodiversity. In addition, the Netherlands is the second largest…

2019

Business Model Challenge | Plastics edition

In just 60 years, we’ve collectively created more than 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic waste. And almost 80% of this is estimated to have ended up in landfill or as litter, polluting our land and oceans. There’s no way around it: we need to create a circular economy, in which plastic never becomes waste.

2018

Plastic Free Ocean Accelerator

With plastic waste getting into the ocean at a rate of 1 dump truck per minute and a bleak prediction of more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, the time to act is now. WWF and Impact Hub Amsterdam joined forces to accelerate 10 startups that develop innovative solutions to reduce plastic pollution.

2017

Booking Booster

Booking.com partnered with our Impact Hub network to co-create an intensive three-week accelerator that aims to turn tourism into a force for good by improving the sustainability of destinations through cultural heritage, environment and inclusive business.

2017

Organic Food Against Climate Change

Multinational food company Wessanen wants to contribute to a green future by changing the way we produce our food and by encouraging consumers to make more sustainable choices. The organisation opened up its network and expertise to entrepreneurs that address key challenges of the global food system.

2017

New Material Award

In this incubator co-created with the DOEN Foundation, we helped 12 designers nominated for the prestigious New Material Award with developing business plans for their innovative products. And to ensure they can get their designs out there, we boosted their knowledge of strategy, finance, legal, production, branding, and impact measurement.

2016

De Uitdaging

DE UITDAGING (The Challenge) is organized by Impact Hub Amsterdam and the City of Amsterdam. It’s an intensive 3-month program in which you strengthen your business model, develop your entrepreneurial skills and learn how to collaborate efficiently with the Municipality of Amsterdam (in Dutch).

2018

Amsterdam City Fellowship

In this 8-month program, which ran until December 2017, impact entrepreneurs develop their innovative products / services and receive expert guidance and mentoring from the municipality and Impact Hub’s extensive networks.

Connect with a valuable network to solve global and local challenges

GORDANA GORIC | Senior Lecturer University Vernity