Impact Pioneers ’25: Enabling Climate Tech entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs are vital to the growth and prosperity of communities. But what role can entrepreneurs play in tackling climate change? And how can we imagine and build ecosystems that inspires and supports entrepreneurs to rise to this challenge?

Impact Pioneers ’25 is a leadership programme that sets out to convene leaders and enablers working in organisations and networks seeking to promote the nurture and growth of local entrepreneurship and innovation. The programme takes a starting point in the idea that entrepreneurship is a key driver of both economic and social development, as well as a force that can help accelerate the global green transition. The thematic focus of 2025 is ‘Enabling Climate Tech Entrepreneurship’, with ‘Climate Tech’ referring to technologies developed and used with the explicit purpose to help people, governments and others both address the sources and impacts of climate change.

Photo: Björn Olin/imagebank.sweden.se

Who can apply?

The application is open to entrepreneurship ecosystem leaders and practitioners who work in organizations and networks that want to develop their support for entrepreneurs with businesses related to sustainablility and green transition. More specifially, we imagine applicants to work as:

• Startup hub/accelerator/incubation founders and managers
• Tech and innovation hub founders and managers
  
• University accelerator/incubator managers
• Public sector employees involved in work that supports Climate Tech entrepreneurship

In 2025, the application is open to 26 programme countries (applicants must be a citizen and resident of one of them):

AFRICA: Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia
ASIA: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam
EUROPE: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine*, Turkey
MENA: Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia

*Ukrainian applicants who reside outside of Ukraine are also eligible to apply.

Applicants must meet the following requirements:

• Be a citizen and resident of one of the 26 programme countries
• Work in an organisation or business systematically working to nurture and grow entrepreneurs.
• Have the mandate to develop new international partnerships for your organisation/business.
• Have a good working knowledge of both written and spoken English.
• Be willing to actively participate, provide support and share their experience and knowledge with other participants.
• Have identified opportunities and challenges that could be worked on during the programme to help their organisation improve its contribution to the local Climate Tech entrepreneurship ecosystem

An applicant’s home organisation/business must also meet the following requirements:

• Be locally owned and based in one of the programme countries.
• Be somehow hosting/coaching (or be in the process of starting up hosting/coaching of) entrepreneurs with business ideas that are related to sustainability and green transition.
• Run the organization/business with focus on contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Programme structure and format

Commitment and expectations
Impact Pioneers ’25 is scheduled to run across 8 weeks during fall 2025. A final schedule and timeline will be provided upon acceptance to the programme.

• Participants should be prepared to spend around two hours per week in online activities such as participating in sharing sessions and working a personal Impact Journey project.
• As a participant, you should also be able to join the one week summit onsite in Stockholm in October, exact dates TBD.

Participation in Impact Pioneers 25 is free of charge**.
The Swedish institute arranges and covers costs related to:

• Learning programme
• Flights to and from Sweden for the Sweden week onsite visit
• Accommodation, meals, transportation and insurance while in Sweden

**With the exception of Saudi participants who carry their own costs for flights and accommodation. 

Programme components:

1. Online networking, sharing and masterclass sessions 
   Networking, sharing and masterclass sessions will be conducted online in both large and small group formats (organised by region and mixed). Other than the social element, they will include case sharing and high-quality masterclasses, highlighting latest developments within the field of Climate Tech entrepreneurship and innovation, sustainable development and green transition. These sessions aim to offer participants new network, perspectives, cases, tools and frameworks.
2. Sweden week, onsite October 2025 (dates TBD)
   During this week, programme participants will gather in Stockholm, Sweden. The week will be an interactive and immersive onsite experience, offering a unique opportunity to network with peers and engage with Swedish Climate Tech entrepreneurship leaders and experts. The week will feature workshops, field visits to leading innovation hubs and impact entrepreneurship environments in Stockholm. This experience aims to strengthen participants’ Climate Tech entrepreneurship network, and create new connections with the Swedish entrepreneurship ecosystem. Participation in Sweden week is exclusive to participants who have successfully completed the programme’s previous components.
3. Way forward. In the final component of Impact Pioneers ’25, participants make a plan on how to put their new skills and network into action. They share new perspectives, cases, tools and frameworks with colleagues and stakeholders in their local ecosystems, develop ideas for future partnerships across the international peer group and establish further relationships with the Swedish embassy and related network in their home country.

Programme objectives

The shortterm programme objective of the programme is to strengthen capacity among leaders and enablers working in organisations and networks seeking to promote the nurture and growth of local Climate Tech entrepreneurship. By enabling the exchange and sharing of perspectives, cases, tools and frameworks the aspiration is to grow collective efforts and impact. A central component of the programme is also networking across an international cohort of peers and with the Swedish ecosystem. This component is key, as is the programme hopes to plant seeds for future partnerships, to the benefit of Climate Tech startups and scaleups as they seek to expand their growth, reach and overall impact.

The longterm programme objective is connected the SDG 8, target 8.3, which includes promotion of activities and policies that support entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation to encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and mediumsized enterprises, ultimately contributing to job creation and sustainable economic, social and environmental development.