New perspectives on innovation

When Medea Janjgava joined Impact Pioneers 2025, she was looking for new perspectives on innovation, entrepreneurship, and impact. We met her during Sweden Week – an onsite part of the programme that brought 80 participants to Stockholm for a week of learning, sharing and connecting.
Woman standing against a wall.
Impact Pioneers 2025 participant Medea Janjgava, Managing Director at Future Laboratory, Georgia. Photo: Rickard Kilström

Meet Medea Janjgava, a Venture & Innovation Ecosystem Enabler in Georgia and the Managing Director at Future Laboratory, where she supports early‑stage startups through mentorship, accelerator programmes, and venture capital (VC) funding.

‘We offer our startup school online for free, and through our accelerator programme, FutureLab, we partner with Berkeley IBI. Our mentors include experts from UC Berkeley and Stanford StartX. We also run Future Laboratory, Georgia’s first registered venture capital fund, and we are connected to 30 other VCs in the region.’

New insights from the Swedish ecosystem

Medea shares that she joined Impact Pioneers because she was curious about the tendencies, trends, and entrepreneurial landscape of the European market.

‘What impressed me most wasn’t only Sweden’s innovation ecosystem, from Norrsken, Sting, Vinnova, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Epicenter Stockholm, but also how deeply collaboration and sustainability are woven into the country’s culture. In Sweden, government, academia, and industry don’t just cooperate; they co-create. The Triple Helix model isn’t simply a framework; it’s a living culture.’

A group of people sitting around a table talking.
Medea Janjgava and other participants of Impact Pioneer ‘2025. Photo: Melker Dahlstrand

People who create real impact 

Her goal was to see how others create impact, gain different perspectives, and understand how she can implement it in her environment. The Impact Pioneers’ experience led to many insights:

‘I’m impressed. I’ve met so many amazing people who work hard to create impact in different countries. This journey reminded me that innovation isn’t just about technology. It’s about people, culture, and a shared mindset of doing things better for the planet and for each other.’

 

Learn more about Impact Pioneers and SI’s leadership programmes here. 

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