Idea Incubator
Even the best ideas have pitfalls.
Our Idea Incubator Co-Lab at the GCC is where participants identify - and solve - them.
Every year, at the Global Citizenship Conference (GCC), we devote a special space for "springboarding" great ideas: the Idea Incubator Co-Lab.
Our annual Idea Incubator helps Fellows who have great ideas that address local and global problems to "incubate" their idea into a tangible project prototype. Fellows develop and refine their idea to experience success as well as failure in the early stages of the idea development. Fellows test the prototype in virtual settings as well as face-to-face at the GCC. Here, they learn how to develop business plans, identify their value-add, pitch their ideas to GCC participants to garner support and identify challenges. The implementation of the prototype in the months following the GCC allows Fellows to experience success as well as failure and – more importantly – seek continued support in the early stages of the project development.
This year, the 2014 Idea Incubator call for great ideas went out in early May and three exceptional Melton Fellows' ideas are selected for incubation. These Fellows will begin working from June to September on refining their idea from abstract to concrete, through online coaching, skills development and more.
On September 29, in New Orleans, the Idea Incubator Fellows will meet for the first day of their Co-Lab where they refine the pitch they'll make at the GCC. During the entire GCC, these Fellows will pitch their projects to GCC participants, crowdsource input, gather support - and inspiration! On October 6, the three Idea Incubator Fellows continue to work in the Co-Lab to synthesize the feedback they have received and prepare the action plan to implement a pilot version of their project idea in the months following the GCC.
The Idea Incubator is restricted to Melton Fellows. Applications to the 2014 Idea Incubator are now closed.