The Decentralised Development Lab (DDLab)

The Decentralised Development Lab (DDLab) is a 12-month incubation and acceleration program, offering teams from different countries coaching, training, expert exchange, and financial support to develop solutions and maximize social impact for specific challenges.

After a global call for ideas and a rigorous selection process, from almost 200 submissions 4 teams have been selected to solve respectively the following 4 challenges identified by representatives from the German federal states and their partner countries:

• 1) E-Mobility –  How might we reduce upfront costs, attract (public and private) investments into, and generally support the implementation of e-bus infrastructure and vehicles?
• 2) Rural Female Entrepreneurship – How might we untap the potential of female entrepreneurship for the green and digital future of rural regions?
• 3) Inclusive digitalization – How might we make public services and active citizen participation inclusive for underserved groups? 
• 4) Mangrove-friendly Aquaculture – How might aquaculture become mangrove-friendly, and how might smallholders get involved in the development?

 

All 4 teams selected for the DDLab have:

• Various backgrounds and experiences who can contribute their expertise and creative energy to one of the four challenges.
• Social and public innovators, social entrepreneurs, innovative start-ups and socially oriented small and micro enterprises;
• Experts for topics that are related to the challenges: Researchers & PhDs, research institutions and associations, universities and colleges;
• Governmental and quasi-governmental institutions;
• Experts for new technologies, programmers and digital entrepreneurs

 

How does the program support them?

• Technical and financial support equivalent of up to 50,000€ for your teams and the chance to win a follow-up package worth up to 200,000€
• Access to an international network of subject matter experts, agile coaches, public and social innovators, and creative minds
• Accompanying events and workshops to connect and co-create with other idea providers
• 1-on-1 coaching, curated tools, and content to support your journey through the Decentralised Development Lab

The incubation program: 

In March 2022, our partners Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and minds & makers GmbH kicked off the #DecentralisedDevelopmentLab program with a two-day bootcamp which set the stage for the next 6 months by giving the teams the opportunity to get to know each other, the project team and cooperation partners. They also had the chance to meet the coaches that will be supporting their process of developing their ideas into actionable solutions. Here are the 4 selected teams:

Ba11y Team:

To address the challenge of inclusive digitalization, the BA11y team is developing a platform where organizations and People with Disabilities can work together to discover accessibility issues in their digital assets such as websites, documents, and applications. It invites active participation for underserved groups of users in Indonesia, in this case mainly users with visual impairments, to contribute by submitting reviews so that related stakeholders can have direct feedback to make the necessary changes.  

TRANSISI Team:

To address the challenge of e-mobility, the TRANSISI team is developing a one-stop solution for assets and investment management in the e-mobility sector. The solution will provide a contracting and financing mechanism that addresses the high upfront obstacles in the electrification of public transport and attracts investment to help accelerate the e-bus adoption in Jakarta.  

Becoming Nala (Formerly SophieChan) Team:

To address the challenge of rural female entrepreneurship, team Becoming Nala is developing a digital platform for aspiring women entrepreneurs in rural areas. Becoming Nala connects women in rural areas of Rwanda who have an idea-stage or early-stage small business with existing mentoring opportunities, webinars, acceleration projects and funding. The platform aspires to make it easy for them to get matched with local, regional or global opportunities that fit their needs. 

IoT Mangroves Team:

To tackle the challenge of Mangrove-friendly Aquaculture, team IoT Mangroves is developing an ambassador program for reducing World Carbon Emissions, developing aquaculture activities and working on a mangrove conservation program through eco-friendly tourism in Indonesia. They are also working on disaster mitigation and education to improve preparation for tsunamis and tidal floods through an IoT solution.  

The acceleration program:

In August 2022, a hybrid pitch competition was streamed live from the enpact headquarters in Berlin. The pitch competition took place following the six month long intensive incubation period. During the competition, the four teams pitched their solutions to an audience of 60 partners and ecosystem stakeholders for the chance to proceed to the accelerator phase of the program and gain further support and up to 200,000 Euros to transform their solutions into a ready-to-market product/service. The winning teams, Team Transisi and Team Becoming Nala, were announced on the 1st of September. The accelerator phase of the program officially kicked off in the same month, and is currently ongoing until March 2023.

More information on the Official Decentralised Development Lab:

The Decentralised Development Lab (DDLab) has been developed by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the “Bund-Länder-Programm – German Government and Federal States Program (BLP).” The project is implemented in collaboration with minds & makers and enpact e.V.