The Social Impact Award is a global social impact program that supports young, early-stage social entrepreneurs to develop and implement innovative business solutions that tackle societal challenges. Since 2009, SIA has impacted thousands of young change agents in more than 25 countries. As Impact Hub Istanbul, we are happy to organize SIA in Turkey since 2019.

Applications for the Social Impact Award Program ended on 10 June. If you are thinking of applying for the next round of the program, you can fill out the form below so that we can keep you informed.

Social Impact Award applicants must meet the following criteria:

• All team members of the initiatives applying to the programme must be under the age of 30.
• At least one team member of the enterprises applying to the program must have a residence in Turkey.
• Applicants must not have previously participated in the SIA incubation process with the same idea or won an SIA award.
• The project idea must not have received funding or generated revenue before 2 years.
• Ideas presented in previous years can be resubmitted in the SIA application.

Impact of the program

26 countries have hosted the Social Impact Award Program, which has been running since 2009. Within the scope of the program, more than 59,100 young people participated in workshops and events, while the total number of entrepreneurs selected for the incubation program and entitled to receive training and mentoring support reached 1163. Since 2019, SIA Turkey, which has been held under the roof of Impact Hub Istanbul, has received more than 400 applications so far and supported 37 entrepreneurs within the scope of the program.

SIA 2023 Winners

Palgae

Palgae, brings industrial waste into the circular economy by producing algae-based bioplastic raw material with carbon capture technology.

Craft Antakya

Craft Antakya, is a platform that will facilitate artisans in earthquake-affected Hatay to establish sustainable collaborations in order to ensure the continuity and visibility of their production.

EKA Community

EKA Community, is a platform that brings together young professionals who are eager to make an impact and facilitates their collaboration and participation in employment.

Innorare

Innorare, creates a community that collaborates to create innovations that will make the lives of individuals affected by rare diseases easier.

Netflix Adaptation Lab is a workshop and production program in collaboration with Netflix Turkey, Impact Hub istanbul and Tatino Films, aiming to develop the capacity of writers and producers to adapt different genres of works into series format and to create new adaptation projects.

With Netflix Adaptation Lab, we aim to increase the quality of series adaptations made in the world and in our country, and to facilitate producers and writers to produce at global standards in adaptation.

Netflix Adaptation Lab’s application process between 27 March – 12 April 2023 has ended. If you have any questions about the program or have a message for us, you can fill out the form below.

Ludovica Rampoldi (Italy)

Ludovica Rampoldi is a screenwriter who has written for many TV series and feature films. In the field of adaptation, she drew attention with her adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel Slam for the film directed by Andrea Molaioli. He was also part of the script team for the film adaptation of Roberto Saviano’s novel Gomorrah, which was sold in 190 countries. He co-produced the 1992 and 1993 series for Sky, writing the screenplays for all episodes.

Three episodes of the Israeli series In Treatment as part of the team that adapted the season for the Italian market. In 2022 he wrote 6 episodes of The Gymnasts, an adaptation of Ilaria Bernardini’s novel, for Paramount. His last work was the crime-comedy series The Bad Guy, which premiered on Amazon Prime in December 2022. Ludovica has worked with some of the greatest contemporary Italian filmmakers, including Bernardo Bertolucci and Marco Tullio Giordana. She recently collaborated twice with Marco Bellochio on the mini-series Exterior Night (Cannes 2022). He is a lecturer at the Rome Film School.

Lukasz M. Maciejewski (Poland)

Lukasz M. Maciejewski is the screenwriter of Marcin Koszalka’s first feature film, The Red Spider. His second feature film was The Getaway King, directed by Mateusz Rakowicz, which won the Best Screenplay Award at the Koszalin Film Festival. Broys, co-written with director Marcin Filipowicz, was his third feature film. He is the lead writer of the series based on Szczepan Twardoch’s acclaimed novel The King of Warsaw, directed by Jan P. Matuszynski and broadcast by Canal+.

Davide Serino (Italy)

Rome-based screenwriter Davide Serino began his professional career with the Sky original period dramas “1992” and “1993”. His latest projects include Marco Bellocchio’s first series project “Esterno Notte”, which premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, the feature film “Ti mangio il cuore”, which premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, and the Amazon original series “The Bad Guy”, which he co-created. He is currently preparing for the project “M. Son of the Century”, a series adaptation of the Premio Strega* award-winning novel about Mussolini. “M. Son of the Century” will be directed by Joe Wright. Davide is also developing series projects in France and Germany.

* The Strega Prize is the most prestigious Italian literary award.

Impact of the program

With Netflix Adaptation Lab, our impact focus is to ensure that the series developed in Turkey reach international standards in terms of technical skills and content, and to create a space for the creation and development of quality series in Turkey and abroad. Within the scope of the first programme, we received 200 applications from various parts of Turkey. We provided 10 selected writers with a 4-month training/mentorship process accompanied by international mentors.

KRE-AKT (Creative Activism) support program, which took place for the second time this year with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom Turkey Office and the execution of Impact Hub Istanbul, aims to contribute to existing or new projects that can be developed within the framework of the main theme of reducing polarization and discrimination, to build impact-oriented and sustainable models through creative methods.

The application period of the KRE-AKT Programme between 28 September – 15 October has ended. If you are interested in applying for the next round of the program, please fill out the form below so that we can keep you informed.

To 12 projects to be selected under the program,

– Trainings and workshops on developing creative impact models and advocacy activities
– 2-day physical bootcamp process where ideas will be projected and modeled
– Network development support: Opportunity to join the networks of Impact Hub Istanbul and Friedrich Naumann Foundation
– Visibility support (podcast channels etc.)
– Network support (bringing together people, organizations and experts who will increase the impact)
– Enterprise support for the implementation phase up to 50 thousand TL per project to 2 teams to be selected at the closing event.

The program is open to applications from all individuals or teams who are interested in making the problems of polarization and discrimination visible and what they can do to contribute to the solution of this problem.

The program is open to everyone however, it aims to reach,

✓ Employees of the media and communication sector,
✓ Workers in the creative field (independents, artists, etc.)
✓ To activists,
✓ Communities, initiatives,
✓ Civil society organizations.

Impact of the program

In its second term, KRE-AKT has received 180 applications and 22 projects have been supported so far. The 10 projects supported in the first phase of the program received training on developing advocacy and activism strategies in creative industries, communication and the use of digital communication tools within the framework of a social impact-oriented and participatory approach within a 3-week training process.

First Term Winners

UBIQ Collective, aims to contribute to the formation of the memory of the movement by conveying the history of struggle, culture and language of the LGBTI+ movement in the context of LGBTI+ rights and freedom of expression through a board game.

Kız Başına Art Gallery, utilizes the power of art to contribute to ending gender inequality in the art world and to draw attention to other areas of inequality.

İbrahim Bodur Social Entrepreneurship Program not only brings together social entrepreneurs who adopt social benefit as a principle and take action with determination and courage, but also is a large ecosystem where social entrepreneurs who feel responsible towards the world and the environment in the light of the principle of multiplying the positive impact created by social entrepreneurs, and where social benefit is at the forefront.

Applications for the İbrahim Bodur Social Entrepreneurship Program ended on 10 April. If you are interested in applying for the next round of the programme, please fill out the form below so that we can keep you informed.

The applications of all candidates who complete the application form on the website are evaluated by a pre-evaluation board consisting of Kale Group and Impact Hub Istanbul teams.

Candidates who successfully complete the pre-evaluation process are presented to the Selection Committee Members consisting of Turkey’s leading social entrepreneurs, civil society and business leaders. For the online or physical meeting, where participation is compulsory, certain documents may be requested from the candidates beforehand.

Winning nominees are announced at the award ceremony.

Impact of the program

The İbrahim Bodur Social Entrepreneurship Program, which started in 2017 and has been supported by Impact Hub Istanbul since 2022, has received 1775 applications to date. According to the 5th year Impact Report, the programme reached 4 million people and provided an economic added value of 24.5 million TL to the ecosystem. In addition, 25 social enterprises won the award, and an average of 328 employment opportunities were realized with 20 finalists. Since 2022, the total amount of support provided to social enterprises has reached 2,000,000 TL.

7th Year Winners

Mimbiosis

Mimbiosis transforms textile and industrial agricultural wastes with nature’s technology mycelium to produce carbon negative, 100% biodegradable, sustainable new generation biomaterials for use in packaging, construction and automotive sectors.

PoiLabs

PoiLabs offers an indoor navigation technology that increases accessibility for the blind and partially sighted to participate more equally in life.

SistersLab & Adesso Turkey

The Disaster Solidarity Mentorship Programme, carried out by SistersLab in cooperation with Adesso Turkey, aims to contribute to the entry into business and professional life of 150 university students interested in software and affected by the earthquakes that occurred on 6 February 2023 and after.

Milu

Milu is a social media application where individuals, companies, associations and municipalities together solve problems in the neighborhood.

Doz is Abdi İbrahim’s social innovation in health program that aims to support early and advanced stage impact-oriented entrepreneurs who develop innovative solutions in the health sector.

The application process for the early stage and the advanced stage of the Abdi İbrahim Social Innovation in Health Programme: Dose has ended. If you are interested in applying for the next phase of the programme, you can fill out the form below so that we can keep you informed.

Doz: Early Stage is a 4-month incubation process for teams at the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey, providing tailor-made coaching, customized training, business development workshops, mentoring support and a seed support award.

In which areas can initiatives apply?

• Public Health and Awareness Raising
• Research & Development in Health and Pharmaceuticals
• Inclusion of Disadvantaged Regions and Groups
• Sustainability Solutions

Doz: Advanced Stage is a collaboration development program for entrepreneurs with a market-validated product/service that overlaps with Abdi İbrahim’s investment priority areas and strategic innovation needs.

Focus areas

• Sustainable/Circular Packaging
• Water and Energy Efficiency
• Preventive Medicine

Impact of the program

We received more than 200 applications within the scope of the Abdi İbrahim Social Innovation in Health Program: Doz, the second phase of which was completed. In the program, the initiatives selected for the incubation process within the scope of the early stage were supported by Abdi İbrahim corporate professionals with mentoring, venture coaching, customized trainings and business development and partnership opportunities with Abdi İbrahim, while advanced stage initiatives had the opportunity to present their solutions to Abdi İbrahim and have business development meetings. A total of 9 startups were supported in the programme, with a grant of 220,000 TL.

2022 Doz: Early Stage Alumnis

Quop Health

Quop is a holistic healthcare solution that offers remote treatment management for families and physicians while motivating children with diabetes to treatment with its innovative design.

Mumurgan

Mumurgan is a new generation organic ointment for burn treatment.

Leoxygen

Leoxygen realizes micro/nanoencapsulation of probiotics with biomaterials, enabling release only in the target organ and aims to increase bioavailability.

Sens Infect

Sens Infect is a wearable diagnostic kit developed for the diagnosis of urinary tract infections.

My Hospital Friend IDA

My Hospital Friend Ida is a mobile application that aims to help children struggling with chronic diseases overcome their fear of hospitals and medical procedures and increase their psychological resilience.

PONS

PONS is a wearable ultrasound technology that can perform medical imaging for better, faster and more precise monitoring of critical diseases and women’s health problems remotely.

BIODIF

BIODIF is a biotechnology start-up that produces a low-chemical and vitamin-rich alternative to pharmaceutical capsules from pumpkin peel.

Borusan Sustainable Benefit Programme, organized for the second time by Borusan in cooperation with Impact Hub Istanbul, is a capacity building programme developed in parallel with Borusan Holding’s social benefit and sustainability priorities, supporting projects that are set out to influence and mobilize target audiences, use innovative methods and have high impact potential.

The application period for the Borusan Sustainable Benefit Programme between 17 July – 27 August has ended. If you are interested in applying for the next round of the program, you can fill out the form below so that we can keep you informed.

The period of the program focusing on the disaster zone is open to individual or team/group applications who want to work in the earthquake focus, who are affected by the earthquake, who continue to live in the earthquake zone or who have left the region and moved to different provinces.

✓ Civil actors and civil society organizations,
✓ Activists,
✓ Communities, initiatives and cooperatives,
✓ New initiatives emerging as a solution to problems in the region or social entrepreneurs with new earthquake-focused project ideas can apply to the program.

Impact of the program

Within the scope of the Borusan Sustainable Benefit Programme, which is in its second term, we have received 263 applications from 63 cities so far. In the first term of the program, we supported 3 selected projects with a total of 600,000 TL in addition to capacity building, mentor/expert, network development, visibility and community building support. In the new term of the program, grant support of up to 300,000 TL is waiting for the selected projects.

Experience of program alumni

“Borusan Sustainable Benefit Programme provided financial support for our short film, which enabled it to be made under the conditions it deserves. The programme also provided training and mentoring support in the areas we needed. ”

Nesra Gürbüz & Gülşah Özdemir Koryürek
Zaman Yolcusu Kreta

“The support of the Borusan Sustainable Benefit Programme enabled us to reach more deaf and hearing impaired women, as well as to better explain the project to the public. This is very valuable for the sustainability of the project.”

Ayşe Damla İşeri & Diclehan Sönmezoğlu
Sağır ve İşitme Engelli Kadın Hakları Eğitim Platformu

“Thanks to Borusan Sustainable Benefit Programme, Pina awareness was initiated. We received vital contributions that were not included in the project budget, such as documentary filming, creating a communication strategy and designing visual materials.”

Prof. Dr. Mustafa Sarı
Umut Pina Projesi