Cambridge researchers are driven by an appetite to ensure that communities worldwide can benefit from the research carried out here. We ensure that they are supported in doing so.
It has been a record year for social venture engagement, venture building and investment. Forming new recommendations around support for social innovators, we connected with over 75 social enterprises within the University ecosystem.
We are also working with peers at ImpactU to grow systematic support and investment routes for students, researchers and alumni in this area.
Kalamna Global, a new Arabic language learning platform from the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, has received funding from both ImpactU and Cambridge Enterprise to scale up its cutting-edge educational resources. It was also a recipient of Social Pathfinder investments made from the Discovery Fund, as were Cosysense, a smart energy-saving retrofit company reducing costs and carbon associated with commercial air conditioning, and Majicom, a research spinout from the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy providing affordable clean drinking water solutions in sub-Saharan Africa.
We work with innovators to help them build their ventures and deliver impact for communities, improving lives around the world.
“Cambridge Enterprise was pivotal in making it all happen. They helped me to open doors and helped me to see things differently. I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur until it was pointed out to me that I was essentially creating a startup for social impact.”
VOI Global
Founded by Dr João Costa, Gustavo Almeida and Duarte Fonseca, VOI Global is a practical tool for resolving real-world conflicts in fragile communities. The VOI methodology promotes social cohesion and local development, leading to significant improvements in well-being among participants, and has positively affected over 10,000 people worldwide.
Cambridge Enterprise has worked with the team to transform their concepts into a practical solution for resolving real-world conflicts, helping to unlock funding and support from programmes internationally. Two projects to promote peaceful coexistence between communities in Guinea-Bissau used an intervention co-led with villagers to improve social cohesion, community resilience and well-being, yielding 98% improvement in success indicators.
Founders:
- Dr João Costa, Co-founder and creator of the VOI methodology; Institute of Criminology, School of the Humanities and Social Sciences
- Gustavo Almeida, Co-founder and CEO
- Duarte Fonseca, Co-founder and COO
Image credits: VOI Global, Unsplash
