After 12 months, Rethink Irelands is wrapping up the Incubator and Accelerator Pilot phase. It has been a journey filled with learning, collaboration, and many moments of joy. We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who took part and contributed along the way.
How Did It All Begin?
In 2025, Rethink Ireland took the lead in co-designing and testing ESIC’s Incubator and Accelerator Pilot. This ambitious pilot was framed as two consecutive six-month programmes: a six-month Incubator and a six-month Accelerator, each consisting of four learning modules. The modules were developed based on ESIC’s core curriculum, which was co-created by partners across the ESIC consortium and based on previous research, ensuring that the pilot was grounded in evidence and informed by the needs and experiences of social innovators. A defining feature of ESIC has been its commitment to participatory design and co-creation.
ESIC has aimed to apply the same principles it promotes by using a participatory approach throughout the project. All pilots, including the incubator and accelerator pilots, played an important role in this process. The experiences, feedback, and insights gathered from participants, trainers, consultants, mentors and facilitators have not only helped validate and refine the curriculum but will also feed back into the ongoing research and future developments. This continuous learning loop is central to ESICs approach, ensuring that the project remains responsive, relevant, and grounded in real-world practice.
As we conclude our incubator/accelerator pilot phase, we are excited about the knowledge, resources, and relationships that started and will continue to grow from this work.
The Incubator Pilot
Seventeen participants joined us on the Incubator journey, committing to a six-month learning pilot designed around the four modules from the ESIC Core Curriculum. The pilot combined two online sessions per month with self-directed learning and practical tasks between sessions, requiring an estimated four hours of engagement per week. We also came together for two in-person learning days, one at the beginning of the programme and one at its conclusion.
From the outset, we embedded continuous feedback and reflection into the pilot. Participants completed surveys before, during, and after the pilot, while a dedicated learning loop sessions halfway helped us capture insights and adapt the experience as we went. The Incubator focused on individual learning and capability development rather than project-based learning, bringing together participants from across the island of Ireland. This gave us a diverse group of learners and opened up the question of where the best place is to meet for the in-person day. The participants chose Dublin as the location due to its established transport links which showcases the participatory design methodology ESIC applies throughout. The cohort was not only diverse in their geographical spread but also in their fields of social innovation: innovative ideas spread across equality, education, health and green transition. All participants were at a very early stage.
The online phase was initially delivered through the learning platform chosen by the consortium at the very beginning of ESIC’s project time. It is a platform where participants can collaborate, reflect, and learn together. As accessibility and inclusion are important to the ESICs approach, participants’ feedback highlighted the importance of a video transcription functionality. At the moment of time, this feature was not available, leading us to move to an alternative platform for the second half of the pilot. It was encouraging to see how quickly technical providers responded to our evolving user needs, reinforcing the value of listening closely to participants and continuously improving the learning experience. This experience showed us the opportunities offered by interactive digital learning platforms but also exposed that the digital skills gap can create barriers that need to be carefully considered in the programme design.
Throughout the pilot, participants benefited from a rich mix of expertise. Guest contributors included an external trainers and consultant in the area of on legal structures and governance, an internal facilitator on the Green Transition), and members of the ESIC consortium who shared their expertise in storytelling and impact measurement. Together with a consistent facilitation team, these contributors helped create a supportive and engaging learning environment that encouraged both personal growth and peer learning.
The Accelerator Pilot
Shortly after completing the Incubator pilot, we launched the accelerator pilot. Building on the learnings from the incubator, we refined several aspects of the programme, including clearer learning objectives, more structured learning activities, and an improved platform architecture and learner experience.
The accelerator brought together sixteen participants, including four who had progressed from the incubator. During this time, our ESIC consortium had further developed and expanded the curriculum, enabling us to pilot the modules in greater depth. This allowed us to test more advanced content and explore how participants could apply their learnings to their own social innovation contexts. Taking some feedback from the incubator, we tested the accelerator’s reach by opening participation beyond Ireland. As a result, the accelerator cohort brought together a geographical diverse group of social innovators with ten participants based in Ireland, four joining from a base in other European countries and two linked to countries beyond Europe. This added an international dimension to the learning community and created valuable opportunities for participants to exchange perspectives, challenges, and approaches across different social innovation contexts. Some argued that the group became too diverse which is something we are currently reflecting on before we finalise our work with a Guide on Incubator/Accelerator programme design (D4.3).
The core modules we addressed during the accelerator pilot were Stakeholder Engagement & Co-Creation, Designing Social Innovation, Social Entrepreneurship & Sustainable Business and Impact Measurement & Systems Change. We were fortunate to collaborate – A key contribution to the programme came from one of Rethink Ireland’s lead consultants, who helped develop the Social Entrepreneurship & Sustainable Business module and introduced small-group mentoring sessions. Participants also benefited from the wider expertise of the ESIC network, particularly during our final in-person learning day, where they connected with practitioners and peers from across the ecosystem. A new feature of the accelerator was the introduction of one-to-one mentoring. Consortium partners generously contributed their time and expertise to support participants through individual mentoring conversations and we learned that this was highly valued and brought the learning experience to another level. As part of our Incubator/Accelerator Guide, we are currently looking at how to refine and improve these offerings as part of an accelerator programme design.
Looking Ahead: Help Shape the Future of Social Innovation Learning
As a next step, we are closing the pilot phase with a Guide. The learnings and experiences gathered throughout both the incubator and accelerator pilots help us continue to refine and strengthen the support available to social innovators across Europe. In Ireland this will feed directly into the ecosystem development of the New Solution Hub.
To help us better understand the skills, knowledge, and capabilities needed within the social innovation ecosystem, we invite you to take part in ESIC’s ongoing Skills Monitor Survey. Your contribution will help build a clearer picture of current strengths, emerging needs, and future learning priorities, ensuring that the resources and learning opportunities remain relevant, accessible, and impactful. By taking part, you will be contributing to a growing body of evidence that will inform future capacity-building activities across the sector.