We are excited to announce the successful launch of the SDG-driven Tech Innovation Ecosystems consortium project and its mapping study at the GSG Global Impact Summit 2023, where over 1000 impact leaders from 60+ countries gathered together in Malaga, Spain on October 2-3, 2023. 

During the Summit, we organized a total of 2 panel sessions and 1 workshop dedicated to the consortium project looking at the different facets of SDG-driven tech innovation ecosystems:

• SDG-Driven Tech Innovation Ecosystems to Accelerate Progress Toward the SDGs, where the consortium partners presented the mapping study and facilitated the panel discussion.
• Tech-Innovation: Perspectives from Diverse Ecosystems and Geographies, where distinguished guest speakers provided insights into SDG tech innovation ecosystems from various regions (see IFIE’s newsletter section for more information.)
• Workshop: Collaborating to strengthen impact-tech ecosystems in service of the SDGs, where consortium partners led roundtable discussions with Summit participants on specific topics (see MAZE’s newsletter section for more information.)

The launched mapping study delves into the policies, initiatives, actors, and resources shaping the local ecosystem in France, Israel, Italy, Portugal, and 3 CEE countries (Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland). Its goal is to identify the key strengths and barriers in their respective ecosystems, with a view to sharing and building best practices.

The study introduces the SDG-driven Tech Innovation Ecosystems Building Blocks Framework, outlining the essential features that can accelerate the SDGs implementation. Key findings reveal that approximately 19,000 startups and digital innovation solutions across seven countries, but the SDGs are not clearly articulated in public-facing language by national governments despite being referenced in EU documents.

The launch session commenced with a presentation by Vanessa Kacherginsky from IFIE, highlighting the ‘technology-impact-capital’ triangular mechanism supported by the network facilitation and the significance of our consortium project in developing a roadmap for the creation of next-generation innovation ecosystems catalyzed by technology.

The session featured a panel discussion with ecosystem representatives featured in the mapping study from Israel, Portugal, France, Italy and Lithuania. Moderated by Omri Boral from IMagine IMpact, the panel addressed the opportunities and challenges in scaling impact through technology and strategies to accelerate funding and alignment with SDG-related challenges and solutions, particularly in the context of limited impact investment in technology.

Highlights from the panel included:

• Vanessa Kacherginsky from IFIE (Israel) stressed the need for government and investors to collaboratively identify and address needs and challenges while tailoring solutions for maximum impact.
• Greta Monstavice from Katalista Ventures (Lithuania) observed that environment-focused tech solutions notably exhibit more growth, given that countries, especially in the Global North, face similar environmental challenges, from her acceleration experience of impact startups.
• Margarida Anselmo from MAZE (Portugal) underlined the increasing presence of SDGs and technology in top universities in Portugal.
• Martina Mettgenberg from FAIR (France) noted that the French ecosystem benefits significantly from government initiatives and regulations, exemplified by the 90/10 funds that require a 10 percent investment into social organisations and enterprises.
• Filippo Montesi from SIA (Italy) urged to rethink how technology is developed, stressing that a mere focus on increasing investment is insufficient and could result in the deterioration of societal equality through technology development.

The session closed with a remark by Sir Ronald Cohen, President of GSG Impact, emphasizing the pivotal role of government incentives in shaping the transformative potential of businesses that incorporate social impact into their business models. As one of the pioneers of both the venture capital and impact investing industries, having Cohen speak at the official launch event presented a distinctive opportunity to bridge the realms of commercial tech investing and the imperative for venture capitalists to increase their commitments to impact investments.

More details of each ecosystem’s landscapes are available in the Executive Summary.

IFIE (Israel NAB)

In preparation for the GSG Global Impact Summit 2023, IFIE organised and facilitated a panel discussion looking at the SDG tech ecosystem in diverse regions. During the summit, the panel session, Tech-Innovation: Insights from Varied Ecosystems and Geographies, explored the role of innovative technology in advancing sustainable impact across Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Israel, and the EU countries with the respective speakers.

As a moderator, Stav-Bar Shanny, Director at ATBN/AfriConEU, moderated a conversation about how governments and NGOs support the SDG tech ecosystem and what is the role of impact investors in promoting innovation.

Jonathan Menuhin, CEO of Israel Innovation Institute, represented the Israel ecosystem and shared his insights into operating six innovation communities specialising in specific technologies, collaborating with the Israeli government to bridge the gap between the demand for innovation and the current supply chain. The Israel Innovation Institute is one of the best practices case studies featured in our SDG Mapping Study, as a good example of a Market Facilitator in SDG-driven tech innovation ecosystems.

MAZE (Portugal NAB)

Activity Update

The focus of MAZE’s work over the last few months has been on collaborating with the project partners to structure, organize, and deliver the project launch session and workshop at the GSG Global Impact Summit 2023 in Malaga.

Maze has collaborated with Omri Boral from IMagine IMpact in structuring and facilitating a 1-hour workshop on the theme of Collaborating to strengthen impact-tech ecosystems in service of the SDGs. The workshop gathered more than 30 participants and enabled roundtable discussions covering best practices, challenges and needs focused on specific topics on the different ways in which technology and innovation can be used to strengthen and advance impact economies. The discussion topics included:

• Impact-tech: startups generating profits & impact through tech innovation
• Digital solutions to scale efficiency of NGOs & public organizations
• Tech training & employment as a tool to drive social and economic mobility
• Investment models driving tech for impact
• Catalytic capital in the mission to implement Impact tech

In particular, the SDG-driven Tech Innovation Ecosystem Building Blocks Framework, presented in Malaga will be at the very centre of the SIA coming months’ agenda. In this regard, our national agenda of workshops is currently under construction to present the Framework to a variety of communities and local ecosystems in Italy.