Innovation accelerators and the Golden Egg

Description of the action and objectives

Green Deal action

The City of Reykjavík is one of the main backbones of Startup Social (Snjallræði), a social business accelerator, and Hringiða, a business accelerator. In addition, the city supports the Golden Egg, the country's oldest and largest entrepreneur competition. The City has representatives on the boards of both business accelerators and on the judging panel of the Golden Egg.

 

Implementation period

Planned completion in the second half of 2023

Status: In progress

Status report on January 1, 2024

Action completed. Iceland Innovation Week was held May 22-26 and was the largest festival to date. More than 800 people from over 20 countries had festival passes, and more than 70 side events took place. News about the festival was published in both local and international media. A cross-disciplinary working group within the City was established to enhance accessibility and visibility of innovation across the City administration in connection with Iceland Innovation Week. Reykjavík City hosted a conference called Innovation for People, which was one of the best-attended events of the festival. The City had a booth on the Gróska Takeover Day and also held an innovation workshop for City employees that was fully booked.

Older status reports

Below you can find older status reports with information on the progress of the action since its inception (if you're using your phone, it's better to turn it sideways).
  Timing Progress description
  July 2023

The Hringiða accelerator is managed by KLAK – Icelandic Startups, which has long provided support for business idea development and brought stakeholders together with a focus on value creation. The startups that got spots in the accelerator this year are Melta, Munasafn RVK Tool Library, Mar Eco, Orb, Bambahús, Resea Energy, and Alor. A new contract with Klak-Icelandic Startups for Hringiða and Gulleggið is being worked on. Startup Social is now managed by the Innovation Center of Education, still in collaboration with MITDesignX.
  January 2023 Reykjavík City was part of the Startup Social steering group, a 16-week growth space supporting endeavors by energetic teams passionate about contemporary challenges, and promoting the United Nations' sustainable development goals. In addition to giving a presentation at a workshop with the teams, Reykjavík City also provided counseling and answered their questions. The closing day of Startup Social was December 7 with the following startups presenting: Hringvarmi, Ylur, BioBuilding, Orb, Fort, On To Something, Laufið, Hugmyndasmiðir, and Sara, stelpa með ADHD.
  July 2022 Reykjavík City signed agreements for continued cooperation on the incubator Startup Social (Snjallræði), the accelerator Hringiða, and the innovation competition Golden Egg at the beginning of the year. Projects developed within the accelerator have already had various positive impacts on society. An event was held at Reykjavík City Hall in connection with Innovation Week under the name "Innovation for a circular world" where entrepreneurs from the Hringiða Accelerator presented their ideas to experts in innovation and sustainability. 150 ideas were submitted to the Golden Egg, which is a springboard for entrepreneurs in all fields who want to implement their ideas. The winner of the Golden Egg 2022 was the business idea TVÍK, or the technologically advanced Icelandic teacher, an interactive teaching platform that uses the latest language technology methods to help those taking their first steps in learning Icelandic.

 

Connection of action to Reykjavík City's policies:

 

Reykjavík City departments: