There are a few things that are very close to our heart, and also deeply embedded into our organisational DNA here at Unity Effect. Our four founders, for example, come from three different continents. We’ve always treasured the value that our diverse backgrounds and perspectives bring to our team and work. It’s also a reason that we chose to work internationally and offer our workshops and programmes online since the beginning, so we could bring diverse voices and experiences together.
Another core aspect of our work is already implied in our name - we’ve always seen ourselves as part of a larger ecosystem (network) of actors contributing to a just and thriving world for all, and we actively engage in different networks and ecosystems around the globe. We believe that the only way to achieve both our individual and collective goals is through honest collaboration and by building innovation ecosystems based on the principles of regeneration.
And lastly, we love developing new ideas such as our Impact Garden and empowering those working on innovative approaches to address the challenges of our time.
Now we can bring it all together! Jointly with the Institute Work and Technology (IAT) of the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences and AiDiA - the Afro-German Start-Up Pitch, we started a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
The essence of that project? Developing a framework to evaluate the innovativeness between migrant entrepreneurs and innovation ecosystems.
Before we unpack the details of the project, let us share more about the funding that has made this dream possible.
In July 2023, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) published the DATIpilot funding programme, consisting of two modules: Innovation Sprints (Module 1) and Innovation Communities (Module 2). The DATIpilot serves as a field for experimentation and provides learnings and ideas for the German Agency for Transfer and Innovation (DATI), which is currently being set up.
A total of 300 Innovation Sprints are being funded. The projects address a wide range of topics with a focus on AI/machine learning, medical technology/pharmaceuticals and healthcare and social services. Around 20 percent of the projects focus on social innovations. Further information can be found here (in German only).
Our project is called "IMANI - Societal Embeddedness of Migrant Startups in Local Ecosystems: Measuring the Impact of Mutual Relationship of Innovativeness." IMANI aims to identify, make visible, and harness the innovation potential of migrant startups for both local and remote startup ecosystems.
We are very happy to team up with the IAT who bring decades of experience in researching migrant entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystems to the table. The results of their research (Terstriep et al., 2023) point to the importance of local innovation ecosystems for the success of individual start-ups and social change as such. This applies in particular to migrant start-ups and communities.
Through our project we will develop an impact model to understand ‘mutual innovativeness’. We will explore how the success of a start-up is influenced by their embeddedness into their local ecosystem, as well as how start-ups shape their ecosystems in turn.
Our goal is to develop a dynamic, science-based impact model, as well as learning modules and practical tools, adaptable across ecosystems, ready to support migrant start-ups and their ecosystems.
The initial steps until mid 2025 include developing the impact model and piloting it with AiDia’s communities, through collecting data, evaluating the results and adapting the model. With IAT, we also aim to provide a comprehensive insight into the scientific understanding of migrant start-ups within start-up ecosystems.
In the second half of 2025 we will then focus on transferring the findings from our pilot and research into practice.
We aim to make the impact model accessible and applicable for other innovation ecosystems. This will include:
.png)
Pictures by: Dongdilac
.jpg)