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DemTech Fellowship Program for Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova

Deadline: 15-Jan-21

The DemTech fellowship is established against the backdrop that all technological innovations can embrace democracy as a design and business principle.

The fellowship is a four-month virtual and in-person program that seeks to equip DemTech entrepreneurs from emerging democracies with the know-how of starting and scaling successful, democratically driven ventures.  The fellowship is driven by three key elements; collective learning, peer to peer mentoring and building strong networks among entrepreneurs.

The Fellowship Details

  • Six carefully curated DemTech entrepreneurs from Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova will go through two phases of the fellowship.
  • In the first phase, the fellows will attend bi-weekly collective lessons, where alongside traditional entrepreneurship classes, they will learn ways to integrate more democratic principles and process in their innovations and ventures. These lessons will be supplemented by bi-weekly mentor sessions, where the fellows will be matched with successful entrepreneurs from Denmark’s start-up ecosystem.
  • In phase two, the fellows will be invited to Copenhagen, starting at the COPENHAGEN DEMOCRACY SUMMIT, to build strong networks with policymakers and the start-up ecosystem in Denmark. Here they will meet with their mentors, pitch to investors, and visit a few selected partner hubs and companies. Winning fellows will be awarded at the closing event. Follow up sessions will be conducted post-Copenhagen visit and an alumni network will be established to support the fellows beyond the fellowship.

Eligibility Criteria

  • Applicants should have started a scalable business based on an innovation that meets DemTech criteria.
  • Applicants should demonstrate proficiency in the English language.
  • Applicants should be able to submit a 1-minute elevator pitch about them or their venture.
  • Applicants should be available for the entirety of the fellowship.
  • Applicants should come from one of the target countries: Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova.
  • Applicants should demonstrate a commitment to democratic values.

What is DemTech? 

  • There is a growing number of tech innovation startup clusters, such as fintech for finance innovations, medtech for medical-related solutions, and edutech for education inventions, among others. They don’t view DemTech as another cluster in isolation, but rather a system of checks that will ensure that tech innovations embrace democracy as a design and business principle.
  • Accordingly, all innovations that can and have the capacity to strengthen the core principles of democratic governance, by redistributing power, resources and wealth in order to create a social economy can be considered as DemTechs.

What is the DemTech criteria?

  • The Council of Europe, the continents leading human rights organization, outlines 12 principles for good democratic governance, namely; participation, responsiveness, efficiency and effectiveness, openness and transparency, rule of law, ethical conduct, competence and capacity building, innovative, sustainability and a long-term orientation, sound financial management, accountability and human rights and cultural diversity.
  • Innovation will be considered a DemTech if it meets one or more of its principles.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2HAnw6H