“It was an amazing learning experience for us”: the 15 finalists of the 2020 Social Innovation Tournament (SIT) “got ready for Lisbon” during the SIT Mentoring Bootcamp – held online for the first time because of COVID-19 – from 17 to 19 June.

IES Social Business School experts on business and social entrepreneurship taught sessions on impact entrepreneurship, societal problems, value propositions, solution architecture, sustainability models, impact frameworks, value generators and scalability. The finalists’ projects come from nine countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and for the first time in the history of the SIT, Norway.

They will meet in Lisbon, Portugal on 8 October for the SIT final event where they will compete for four prizes awarded by a jury composed of specialists from the academic and business worlds: General Category and Special Category 1st and 2nd Prizes of €50 000 and €20 000 respectively.

In 2020, the Special Category Prizes will go to projects focusing on the environment (with special emphasis on biodiversity and ecosystem conservation).

To better prepare for pitching their projects at the SIT final event, finalists will benefit from a one-day online training workshop with communications expert Kim van Niekerk, and a two-day rehearsal Bootcamp in Lisbon. As one of the participants said: “Just keep going, because what you do is just amazing.”