We use the power of collective intelligence to support social ventures from concept to adoption |

#Open Collective Intelligence Lab is an initiative powered by the Edgeryders community.

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OCI Lab, a peer to peer incubator for social ventures

"Open Collective Intelligence Lab" is the first P2P virtual incubator to support aspiring young social entrepreneurs in the MENA region through online mentoring and networking.


Who is it for? How does it work? Get started

The Vision

Slide 1

How do we scale the number, scope and effectiveness of social enterprises in MENA...

...by an order of magnitude?

Swipe to find out more
Slide 2

The Vision

OCI Lab strongly believes in the power of collective intelligence to stimulate social innovation, and to help the social entrepreneurs navigate the complexity of arising development challenges.

Our aim is to build dense networks and innovation nodes to meet the challenges of entrepreneurship in destabilized regions.

Inspired by the evolution of the ancient silk roads, we look at how networks arise and create conditions for resilient entrepreneurship.

Slide 3

Key Values

  • Autonomy
  • Transparency
  • Oversight
  • Participatory
  • Data driven

Autonomy

Participants themselves decide which projects make sense. We especially encourage people and projects working on Ecological degradation and climate change, Health and Social care as well as Next Generation Internet infrastructure and innovations.

Transparent co-creation

Projects are planned on an open online platform and through open online events. Guided processes with questions to consider. Openness allows for co-creation in the planning stage.

Peer-guided allocation of resources

Project budgeting proposals are peer-reviewed by members of other projects before decisions are made about what work and expenses are paid for.

Collective processes

Employ participant built processes and technologies for human organising.

Unique primary data

Generated in near real time, in situ data analysis tools.

Slide 4

What we offer

No geographical boundaries.

A simple and flexible process.

A personalized program.

International exposure.

No limit on imagination.

Open Source Technologies and Knowledge.

Slide 5

An inclusive, patient and scalable system

... to support social innovators & entrepreneurs while they prototype, fail, learn and start again...

until they succeed.

How do I know it is good?

The community behind it

Open collective intelligence lab is powered by Edgeryders, a community of more than 6000 people from different backgrounds in more than 80 countries.

The organisation

Edgeryders OÜ is a company living in symbiosis with an online community of thousands of hackers, activists, radical thinkers and doers, and just normal people that want to make a difference. The company started in 2013 as a spin-off of a Council of Europe project. It both serves the community and uses its collective smarts to power its own activities.

Who is it for?

  • Leaders
  • Contributors
  • Mentors

Aspiring young social entrepreneurs who..

  • Are aged between 18 and 35 years old
  • Are based in one of the following countries of the MENA region (Tunisia, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt or Jordan)
  • Have brilliant ideas to bring a positive social/environmental change into their community. Though all ideas are welcome and eligible for consideration, we particularly encourage ideas that address climate change through innovation and technology.
  • Are looking to start social enterprises
  • Are looking for connections with international mentors and experts
  • Are looking for skilled people, collaborators, to join their ventures
Apply Now

The Process

The process ends with a festival that brings together the global community and acts as a shopfront to showcase the projects and skills of community members.

Stage 1 Submit your application via video or text

Tell us about yourself. A Community manager will help you to produce an engaging description of what you want to do and what help you need from peers and mentors to make it happen.. The easiest way is to follow the instructions here. If you have questions or need more support you can contact us via Facebook or email.

If you already have a project for which you want support, our community managers will engage the Edgeryders community to contribute input in comments. This includes thoughtful feedback to help you develop your ideas, information about relevant opportunities, connect you with their contacts, and share their own experiences and personal advice with you.

Leaders
Mentors
Aug-Sept. 2019

Stage 2Community & expert feedback

Peers Community managers engage the MENA YP community to contribute input with thoughtful feedback to help you develop your ideas, information about relevant opportunities, connect you with their contacts and share their own experiences and personal advice with you. You are encouraged to do the same for your peers.

Support team A team of mentors with relevant hands on experience are recruited from the Edgeryders community to assess your application. They provide constructive feedback on your project and team, what you need to focus on to move your project forward and what skills you should invest in developing.

Partner organisations offer reputable programs for supporting entrepreneurs at different levels of maturity, reach out and direct you to appropriate opportunites to support your next steps.

Mentoring
Oct. 19 - Jan. 20

Stage 3 Video calls with mentors & contributors

20 projects/applicants will be shortlisted by the Edgeryders staff and the mentors recruited from the community.

The project leaders and contributors for the selected projects will be invited to a series of 3 Video calls with mentors. Each call has a specific goal, output template and set of follow up tasks with well defined deliverables - as well as a budget proposal for each deliverable (there is an upper limit available to each selected project).

Matchmaking
P2P Mentoring
Sept-Dec. 2019

Stage 4 Upload completed follow up tasks

You will upload your completed deliverables/tasks onto the community platform. If they are condidered completed, a budget of up to 7000 Usd will be made available for the team’s work on the task as agreed with the edgeryders team.

Teams which have completed all the deliverables as approved and validated through an open evaluation process on the community platform, unlock the budget earmarked for each deliverable (contributors are compensated for their part of the work as defined in the pre-approved budget).

If your activity is not selected for the financing, it is because we feel that you need to develop either the project or your skills further. Our partner organisations that offer reputable programs for supporting entrepreneurs at different levels of maturity will reach out to you and direct you to appropriate opportunites to support your next steps.

Open Source
P2P Mentoring
Oct. 19 - Jan. 20

Stage 5 Evaluation and Resources

Teams which have completed all the deliverables as approved and validated through an open evaluation process on the community platform, unlock resources earmarked for each deliverable (contributors are compensated for their part of the work as defined in the pre-approved budget).

The Edgeryders community will continue providing support through the platform and community calls.

May 20

Everyone who participates in the following process will get a ticket to the festival and free access to our online webinars produced by social entrepreneurs for social entrepreneurs.

Get started

Do you already have a project?

Apply now

Are you looking for a project to contribute to?

Apply here

Would you like to become a mentor to a young social entrepreneur?

Welcome!

Stay in touch

Still curious?

Sign up to the edgeryders platform and post your question here.

Who are we?

OCI Lab is part of the OpenVillage project, which is a co-created and a peer-to-peer ecosystem coordinated by Edgeryders; a community of around 5000 changemakers, including entrepreneurs, activists, geeks, thinkers, professors, experts and many others in more than 50 countries. Our mission is to co-create self-sustaining projects for the common good.

For more information about Edgeryders visit our platform or write to us.

TERMS OF PARTICIPATION & PRIVACY POLICY

The OCI Lab is hosted on an open community platform where free exchange of views, ideas and information occurs between individuals. Participants represent only themselves and not the views or claims of Edgeryders, any partner organisations or funders.

The Edgeryders online platform and activities are intended for people to cooperate within and across projects trying to build a better world. The word "better" has here a fairly broad range of meaning. These Community Guidelines are here to help you understand what it means to be a member of Edgeryders. Don’t forget that your use of Edgeryders is subject to these Community Guidelines and our Terms of Service.

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