Deadline Date: June 5, 2026
The Social Impact Award incubation program supports young entrepreneurs in transforming early-stage ideas into meaningful social ventures by providing mentorship, resources, and a structured selection process to help them develop and scale their impact.
The focus areas of the program include mentoring and support for validating business and influence models, prototyping ideas, building first followers and clients, impact potential, degree of innovation, feasibility, team capacity, access to funding through the SIA award, recognition opportunities, participation in the annual SIA Summit, and connection to an international alumni community of social entrepreneurs.
The incubation program is designed to help young people transform their ideas into viable social ventures by offering structured guidance, expert evaluation, and access to essential entrepreneurial resources. It creates an environment where selected participants can refine their concepts and move closer to real-world implementation with the support of experienced mentors and a global network.
Applicants go through a selection process that begins with an eligibility check conducted by the local SIA team to ensure all applications meet the required criteria. This is followed by a jury selection phase, where experts from private, public, and plural sectors evaluate each application based on its impact potential, innovation level, feasibility, and team capacity. Finalists are then announced by the local team and invited to participate in the incubation program.
All applicants, including those not selected as finalists, receive feedback from the local team to help them improve their ideas and applications. This ensures that every participant benefits from the process, even if they do not advance to the incubation stage.
To be eligible, applicants must be between 16 and 30 years old, and all core team members must fall within this age range. The program accepts both unimplemented ideas and early-stage projects, provided that early-stage initiatives were established after January 1 of the previous year. However, projects that have already received significant external funding exceeding 6,000 euros are not eligible. Additionally, applicants cannot apply with an idea they have previously used in the SIA incubation program or if they have won an SIA award in earlier editions.
Successful applicants gain access to mentorship and guidance aimed at strengthening their business models, testing and refining prototypes, and developing early customer bases. They also have the opportunity to compete for the SIA award, which offers funding, recognition, and participation in the annual SIA Summit. In addition, participants become part of a global alumni network of more than 1,000 social entrepreneurs across over 25 countries.
For more information, visit Social Impact Award.
