Amsterdam City Fellowship

With this accelerator we help facilitate collaboration between impact entrepreneurs and the City of Amsterdam. The aim of this close cooperation is to co-create and implement innovative solutions to health-related urban challenges.

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.

The selection criteria

Participating enterprises in the Amsterdam City Fellowship were selected based on the following criteria:

are registered at the Chamber of Commerce
focus on solutions to the urban challenges in the four health-related areas outlined below, namely e-health and care, clean air and mobility, healthy lifestyle 0-100, and urban green
are entrepreneurs who:
– have working prototypes that provide solutions to urban societal challenges relevant to the City of Amsterdam or
– are looking to develop new products/services for their existing ranges of products/services or
– are looking to adapt existing products/services for application to a new societal challenge
want to refine their products/services in collaboration with the City of Amsterdam
want to learn and grow together with fellow impact-driven entrepreneurs
are looking for new customers and are interested to sell their product/services to the City of Amsterdam and its partners
want to expand their product/service reach and social impact to the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area

IMPACT AREAS

E-health and care

To ensure that all of Amsterdam’s residents can live independently and fully participate in our society, the City of Amsterdam targets organisations that provide:

home care services for seniors that can help them maintain their independence, and remain in their own homes for as long as possible;
best practices in fall prevention;
solutions that tackle hidden (mental) issues among non-western cultures;
ways to mitigate negative consequences of dementia;
solutions to loneliness among elderly people, such as social networks, and mobility increase;
services/products that tackle financial and social issues – such as debt and lack of social skills, respectively – among mentally disabled people;
approaches that strengthen self-reliance and social participation of Amsterdam’s residents.

Healthy lifestyle 0-100

To ensure all of Amsterdam’s residents are fit and healthy, the City of Amsterdam is looking for products / services that:

stimulate food entrepreneurs to actively offer healthier products
prevent and/or tackle obesity

Urban green

To make Amsterdam greener, more attractive to live, and ultimately climate-proof, the City of Amsterdam is looking for smart solutions that:

tackle excessive rain water;
handle green waste streams;
increase and/or protect insect populations.

Clean air and mobility

To improve air quality, the City of Amsterdam is looking for organisations that:

have found a way for cleaner transportation through the city;
offer cleaner or circular fuel for wood burning stoves;
developed new solutions for limiting the amount of pollutants in the air.

Participants' benefits

individual meetings with policy and procurement officers, who will share their expertise on procurement processes and regulations, as well as pressing health-related urban challenges in need of solutions;
introductions to the City of Amsterdam’s partners, crucial insights for developing a better business model for their social enterprises;
training modules on topics such as business modelling, marketing and PR, pitching, public procurement, finance, and team development;
small-group mentoring and leadership coaching from seasoned entrepreneurs and business experts;
peer-to-peer learning and support sessions with like minded social entrepreneurs;
individual legal support sessions;
access to pitch events, where they can test their pitching skills and potentially secure additional support and investment;

An Impact Hub Amsterdam membership, which includes access to the Impact Hub’s vibrant local and global community, inspiring events and beautiful Impact Hub co-working space at the Royal Tropical Institute.

"The entrepreneur that stands out for me, is someone with just that little bit of extra feistiness and a hint of activism. With some healthy business sense! Someone who creates space for his/her innovation."

Ilse Kwaaitaal, the Programme Scout of the Amsterdam City Fellowship

selection criteria

innovation and vision, especially with regard to finding solutions to problems rather than fighting their symptoms;
potential impact of the product or service and efficiency of the team;
collaboration and implementation, meaning the feasibility of planning and business case, scalability and the extent to which the entrepreneur is open to collaboration with the City of Amsterdam.