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Landscape of Impact Entrepreneurship + event tips for Slush week #5

Impact expands the scope of entrepreneurship

Happy Wednesday Wicked people! 🐇 

Today we are gonna map out impact entrepreneurship in an effort to connect the separate pieces of that puzzle.

Interested in Slush week side-events related to sustainability or health? Keep reading.

Impact entrepreneurship is a largely unexplored space that will be a major force for positive social, environmental, cultural and economic transformations in the following years.

Counterintuitively, it e x p a n d s the scope of entrepreneurship rather than narrowing it because the search for ways to improve the world creates completely new market opportunities that simply did not exist before – think DEI tools, circular economy solutions or animal-free food alternatives.

Impact Entrepreneurship Landscape by Wicked

Enterprise Design

Deep design shapes what organisations can be and do in the world. Impact-driven companies have a strong purpose – but these are just value statements unless their governance, ownership and finance are aligned with their mission.

Structures like steward-ownership are essentially mission-locks that enable a company to be regenerative and to bullishly pursue their impact while being financially sustainable and generating returns for investors.

Startups: Ecosia, Sharetribe, Signal

Science

Science and impact entrepreneurship is a dynamic and symbiotic relationship that harnesses breakthroughs to address pressing social and environmental challenges. We need solutions that will require commercialising science from scientific fields such as synthetic biology, green chemistry, materials science, neuroscience and more.

Scientific advancements serve as the bedrock for developing sustainable solutions and cutting-edge technologies that contribute to positive societal change.

Tech

Marc Andreessen says software is eating the world - well impact entrepreneurs in food and agriculture space are finding ways for software to feed the world, like leading vertical farming company iFarm or early-stage Finnish company ArcticFarming.

But it does not end there – use cases for enabling technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing and web3 to positively transform industries and society are plentiful.

Community

Community-powered innovation enables groups of like-minded to create collaborative efforts based on shared values to drive positive change. Whether focused on social or environmental causes, they serve as a fertile ground for impact entrepreneurship. Decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) are a novel way of organising communities that enables communities to fund, build and scale their own projects.

New Economy

It’s challenging to anticipate what a future economy will look like. Effects of digitalisation were nearly impossible to foresee but in hindsight we know that digitalisation has spreads horizontally and created a ‘new economy’. A focus on reducing inequalities and long-term sustainability will have a similar, permeating effect.

The relationship between new economic models and impact entrepreneurship is characterised by a shared focus on sustainability, social responsibility, and redefining the goals of economic activity. The traditional emphasis on perpetual economic growth is in question and there is an increased recognition of planetary limits and social inequalities. New models reflect shifting values, a focus on localism and community engagement, circular economy principles, innovation for social good and new business models inherent to impact entrepreneurship.

Why is this area most interesting for you? We would love to hear from you so shoot your response to us at [email protected] đŸ‡ .

Keep reading! But also make sure to subscribe for future issues ;)

Impact Side-Events during Slush week

Side-events outside of Slush (No Slush Ticket Required)

Side-events at Slush (Slush Ticket Required)

  • Y Science by University of Helsinki

  • The Future of Packaging Workshop – How to make packaging better, smarter and more sustainable? by HuhtamĂ€ki we/ Emerald Ventures

  • The Slush Climate Summit by Lightrock / Energy Impact Partners / Lightspeed / Transition VC

  • Reshaping the Built World by Pi Labs

  • Mind & Tech Community by Mind & Tech Comm c/o JoyHaptics

  • VTT Technology Showcase by VTT

  • Social Impact @German Pitching Stage by AHK Finnland

  • Health & Wellbeing @German Pitching Stage by AHK Finnland

  • Climate @German Pitching Stage by AHK Finnland

  • LGBTQ+ VC & Founder Brunch by Proud Ventures

What’s cooking?! 🧑‍🍳

Run For Impact

Wicked Community is organising Run for Impact on December 2 – a 10k Charity Run as a unique networking event for founders, future founders and ecosystem professionals with the goal of raising €10.000 for high-impact charities.

  • When: December 2, 2023 from 11:00am-2:00pm

  • Where: Lapinlahden LĂ€hde (beautiful see side views)

  • Who can participate: Everyone is welcome! Walking or just drinking Glög also allowed

  • Minimum donation to participate: €50 per runner
 students and low-income at €25 per runner.

  • Where is my money going?
    Charity Entrepreneurship: Incubated Charitied Fund
    Why?
     đŸ’„ Entrepreneurship is an effective way to solve global challenges but many issues, like animal welfare, alcoholism and more cannot be tackled by the private sector. Charity Entrepreneurship incubates dozens of high-impact charities for this purpose!

How many days out of the year can you make a positive impact with every Step you take? This December 2nd you can, by joining us to Run for Impact! đŸƒđŸ’„

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đŸ“© We would love to hear from you! Share your feedback and submit news, announcements, events & opportunities, or anything else for the newsletter at [email protected] !