Project description:

Impact Hub Lisbon is the Portuguese branch of the global Impact Hub network — one of the world’s largest communities of social entrepreneurs, with over 100 locations and 25,000 members worldwide. Since 2016, the Lisbon hub has launched more than 50 innovation programs, working with over 2,000 social entrepreneurs and 20+ international partners.

LX Circular is Impact Hub Lisbon’s flagship program for circular economy entrepreneurship, developed jointly with the Lisbon City Council and co-funded by Portugal Inovação Social as part of the national social innovation initiative. It operates on two tracks. Ideation brings people with no start-up experience together for an annual hackathon tackling real circular economy challenges identified by the city, with the strongest teams moving on to a capacity-building phase. Incubation and Acceleration is an open competition for early-stage start-ups working on circular economy solutions, with a new cohort selected each year for an intensive bootcamp followed by twelve months of mentoring, peer sessions, coworking space and investor meetings.