The Swedish Institute has launched applications for Impact Pioneers ’26, a fully funded leadership program bringing 80 climate ecosystem builders from across the Middle East and North Africa to Stockholm. The program targets the people who shape startup environments: incubator leaders, investors, university innovation officers, and public sector professionals supporting climate entrepreneurship.
Participants get flights, accommodation, meals, insurance, and a structured 12-week program combining online workshops with an immersive week in Stockholm’s innovation ecosystem. The deadline is March 24, 2026.
Seven countries qualify: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia. Applicants need citizenship and residency in one of these nations, plus strategic influence in organizations nurturing climate startups.
What the Program Delivers
Impact Pioneers ’26 runs approximately 12 weeks from May through September 2026. The structure splits between online components and physical presence.
Online workshops run from May through July. Participants engage in interactive sessions, peer learning, and master classes featuring practical tools and cases from climate entrepreneurship. The Swedish Institute expects participants to dedicate three to four hours weekly during this phase.
Each participant develops a change project addressing a specific challenge or opportunity within their organization. The project applies new knowledge gained through the program to launch initiatives that continue after the program ends. Coaching support runs alongside project work.
The program culminates September 26 through October 2, 2026 with an intensive week in Stockholm. Participants visit leading innovation hubs, engage with Swedish entrepreneurship experts, and explore Stockholm’s impact entrepreneurship ecosystem through hands-on workshops and field visits.
Who Benefits Most
The program targets ecosystem leaders holding strategic, decision-influencing, or system-shaping roles. Eligible profiles include:
Founders and managers of startup hubs, accelerators, or incubators focused on climate solutions. Technology and innovation hub leaders. Representatives from business support organizations and networks. University ecosystem leaders bridging research and entrepreneurship through innovation offices, research centers, or commercialization units.
Investors actively engaged in supporting climate entrepreneurship and innovation also qualify, as do public sector professionals working at national, regional, or municipal government levels on climate entrepreneurship initiatives.
The Swedish Institute defines climate entrepreneurship as creating and developing innovative business solutions that address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing climate resilience, or enabling transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy.
Applicants need solid working knowledge of written and spoken English. They must show willingness to actively participate, provide support, and share experience with other participants. Most importantly, they should arrive with identified opportunities and challenges to work on during the program.
Sweden’s Ecosystem as Laboratory
Stockholm offers participants direct access to one of Europe’s leading impact entrepreneurship ecosystems. Sweden ranks consistently among the top innovation nations globally, producing more billion-dollar startups per capita than most countries outside Silicon Valley.
The country’s approach to climate entrepreneurship combines strong policy frameworks with accessible funding and collaborative networks between universities, corporations, and startups. Swedish companies pioneered commercial approaches to sustainability decades before climate tech became a global investment category.
Participants gain firsthand exposure to how Swedish organizations structure support for entrepreneurs, design accelerator programs, bridge research to market, and create policy environments that enable innovation rather than constrain it.
The program also builds long-term relationships with Swedish foreign missions and Swedish entrepreneurs and organizations, creating potential for future partnerships, knowledge exchange, and collaboration beyond the program timeline.
What Success Looks Like
The Swedish Institute structures the program around practical outcomes rather than theoretical learning. Each participant’s change project should generate measurable results applicable to their organization’s work.
Successful outcomes might include launching a new accelerator program component focused on climate solutions, redesigning investment criteria to better evaluate climate impact, establishing university-industry partnerships enabling climate research commercialization, or implementing policy changes enabling climate entrepreneurship at municipal or regional levels.
The coaching support component helps participants navigate organizational challenges implementing new initiatives. Participants learn not just what works in Sweden but how to adapt successful approaches to their specific contexts and constraints.
