46
Startups supported
8000
Young people impacted
100
Partners collaborated with
26000
Passionate followers
THE CHALLENGE
Together with Zorlu Holding, one of Türkiye’s biggest conglomerates, and S360, Türkiye’s leading strategic sustainability consultancy firm, we designed and launched imece, Türkiye’s first social innovation platform and social entrepreneurship movement.
THE TRANSFORMATION APPROACH
The co-design process for developing and implementing imece was conducted with multiple stakeholders from various fields, including academia, NGOs, public and private sectors, as well as international collaborators such as OpenIDEO, Stanford d.school, B Lab, and frogDesign.
During the first three years of imece ATÖLYE oversaw responsibilities from designing the initial concept to piloting programs, from recruiting the founding team to creating a blueprint for scale. We created digital and brand assets as well as an adaptable strategy based on the changing needs of the innovation sector, always taking on a “think global, act local” mindset. Since its founding, we have now moved onto an advisory role to make sure the platform sustains itself for the longer term.
As Zorlu Holding, we established imece to contemplate how we can collectively solve social problems. We believe that society's problems can be solved not just by individuals, governments, NGOs, or private companies alone, but together.
"After imece's Support Program, the Turkish Olympic Committee honored us with a grand prize."
"Thanks to imece, we introduced our products to users. With this confidence, we will develop an international game project in the near future."
In an environment nourished by the uncertainty of complexity, imece promises to make a difference and to design the future together.
"When you think of social innovation in Türkiye, imece is always mentioned; most Gen Z impact-focused youth have crossed paths with imece at some point."
THE IMPACT
In its eight years, imece has shared 200K USD+ funds with social entrepreneursand engaged 8000+ youth through its Open Innovation Lab, supporting over 40 start-ups while building an audience of 26,000+ passionate followers through events and summits. Currently, UNDP serves as imece’s official platform partner.
In 2023, ATÖLYE and imece joined forces to organize post-disaster workshops focused on disaster relief as a result of the earthquake that hit Türkiye and Syria. As an immediate response to the disaster, they brought together over 100 individuals from 60 organizations to kick-start 20 different projects — one that would develop into the NGO Saha. Imece also organized a “DisasterTech” hackathon with ReFi Türkiye, where 55 participants came together to co-design rapid solutions for disaster relief.
As of 2024, imece has expanded its network further, collaborating with B Lab Europe to host the first B Corp Boot Camp in Türkiye with ATÖLYE as community partner. Through these efforts, imece is actively supporting the growth of the B Corp Community in Türkiye.
THE COMMUNITY LENS
imece’s founding rests on the spirit of bringing together social impact practitioners with individuals and organizations from a multitude of sectors to enable cross-industry collaborations. This holistic system has lead to increased capacity building as well as the fostering of fertile environments for impact entrepreneurs to flourish.
Since imece’s design and development kick-off back in 2016 until today, we have continuously collaborated with the core team and key stakeholders to shape its future. We have redesigned and co-built a more sustainable business model for imece by diversifying its incubation programs and partnership structures.
In 2021, imece hosted the first imece summit: Shaping the Futures in partnership with Zorlu Holding, ATÖLYE, B Lab Europe, BMW Foundation, S360, SIX, and other local partners. The following is a report of their findings that emerged during the summit.
Project Team
Project Team
Ahmet Alpat, Atılım Şahin, Aylin Durmaz, Ayşesu Çelik, Bala Gürcan, Ceylan Uşaki Erali, Dara Kılıçoğlu, Ebru Boyacı, Emre Erbirer, Engin Ayaz, Mert Çetinkaya, Mertcan Avcı, Murathan Sırakaya, Nazlı Cangönül, Nesile Yalçın, Özge Aytan, Serdar Paktin, Şevval Ceylan, Tolga Dizmen, Ufuk Barış Mutlu
Project Lead
Kerem Alper
Community
Bigumigu (Content Provider), Erdinç Akkaya (Software), Gülin Ölçer (Coach), Ömer Hacıömeroğlu (Presentation Flow Design)
imece Team
Buğra Çelik, Duygu Kambur, Fırat Okucu, Öykü Attila, Seda Karaca, Tuğçe Akbulut, Uğur Orak, Zeynep Çelik
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