youth wellness acceleratorImpact by Business
Do you have a piece of the puzzle to improve the mental health of children and young people? The Youth Wellness Accelerator program is aimed at those who have a digital solution that meets one of society's major challenges - preventing mental illness among children and young people.
This intensive business development program allows you to test and verify your solution with relevant customers and target groups. You will have the chance to develop and analyze your solution together with public sector actors. You will also have access to expertise in the development of digital innovations, scalable IT solutions and game development. With the Youth Wellness Accelerator, you can scale up your solution and business for greater growth and social impact.
The program is a collaboration between us at BizMaker, Sundsvall Municipality, Region Västernorrland and Bron who work with digital innovation.
The program was implemented in 2021 and 2023. Our hope is to be able to carry out another round of the program, but we currently have no start date.
What is impact?
Impact means effect, influence or pervasiveness. When we talk about impact companies, we mean companies whose entire business concept aims to contribute in one way or another to solving one or more problems for people, the environment and society. Their basic idea is to develop innovations that create positive social effects, while at the same time making money from the innovation.
About the Youth Wellness Accelerator
More and more children and young people are seeking help for issues such as anxiety and depression. Adults have limited insight and understanding of the digital world and everyday life that children and young people live in today. The opportunities and uncertainties that come with increased digitalization can make it difficult to navigate what can be harmful to mental health and what could actually prevent mental illness.
Who can participate?
The program is aimed at those who run a company with a digital solution that contributes to the prevention of mental illness in children and young people. Your goal is to commercialize your innovation and create value related to the well-being of children and young people.
Perhaps your company already has its solution in parts of the market but is interested in testing the business idea with the public sector? Perhaps your solution is in the GovTech area? That is, a new smart welfare service or product developed to create benefits and value for citizens or employees in public organizations. Or a gaming solution that can identify and analyze the well-being of users? We are interested in anything that creates value for the mental health of the young generation.
We take in companies from all over Sweden.
Examples of digital innovations we are looking for:
- Products/services that shorten queues for support services
- Products/services to prevent mental health problems through school health services
- Products/services that contain applied gaming and prevent mental health problems.
- Products/services that offer help and support to people around children and young people or directly to the target group.
Criteria for participation in the programme:
- The company's solution should be innovative and novel with the potential to create impact.
- The company's innovation should have growth potential and be scalable in an international market.
- The company should be able to focus on its business development within the program.
- The company's registration number must not have been registered for more than five years.
- The company's founding team must own 75% of the company. No dividends must have been paid to owners.
The program offers unique access to
Industry expertise
Through our partners, you will have the chance to collaborate with different professionals who work closely with your target group - such as psychologists, social workers, nurses and teachers.
digital development
You will have access to expertise in the development of digital innovations, scalable IT solutions and game development via the Bridge. You also get access to IBM's powerful platforms for developing applications based on IoT, AI, big data and more.
business advice
You get access to BizMaker, GovTech Sweden, Game ON MidSweden and Sundsvall Municipality's business advisors, strategists, networks and test environments. Through Region Västernorrland, you get the opportunity to customize test pilots through Testbädd Hälsa.
PROGRAMME STRUCTURE
The program includes six months of business development. Based on set goals, business models and strategies, we work together to verify and successfully commercialize your solution so that as large a target group as possible can benefit from the value and effects created. The program includes seminars, workshops and events both in physical and digital form.
Participants are expected to attend these joint thematic full-day meetings:
- Communicating value
- Strategy for growth
- Sharp verification
- Financing for sustainable growth
During the program, you will receive support to package your offer and business model. You will also receive demand-driven interventions such as advice on patents and IPR issues and legal support in drafting contracts.
WHAT DOES IT COST?
The fee for participation was 5,000 + VAT. The company was responsible for travel, accommodation and overheads for participation. We did not invest in the participating companies and thus did not take any ownership when participating in the program.
IP and confidentiality
We protect your intellectual property rights and all IP stays with you as the creator. We work under strict confidentiality and all information is kept confidential.
Thanks to the program, we have learned, among other things, the importance of finding the ownership structure and regulating it in clear agreements. They have helped us create a secure framework and a business plan. BizMaker has provided valuable tips on possible funding to apply for. We now have a plan for financing in the coming months.
Giselle Abbas, Monos Mind
- "The accelerator has been a very valuable entry point for psychologists and managers working in clinical settings to share their existing tools and challenges," says the innovator.
Mamduh Halawa, Zeeds
Youth Wellness Accelerator Startups 2021-2023
MONOSMIND
Develops a game to promote good mental health. The game will create emotional awareness in children and young people aged 5-12. It will also help adults, such as parents and pre-school staff.
Want to know more?
Programme partners
Read more about Sundsvall municipality
With nearly 100,000 inhabitants, Sundsvall is the engine of growth in the Sundsvall region, where 200,000 people live and work. Within Sundsvall municipality, there are around 8,000 employees working to provide the people of Sundsvall with good welfare services and equal opportunities for a good life, both now and in the future. In the city between the mountains, everything is a quarter of an hour away. From business life in Stenstan to life in the countryside. From the school to the ski slope. The life more and more people want can be found in Sundsvall. Here we develop the solutions of the future with the latest fiber technology. And here is the digital heart of welfare; everything from child benefits to pensions is delivered from here every day.
Visit sundsvall.se
Read more about the Bridge
Bron is Västernorrland's digital innovation hub and IT cluster that brings together over 90 private companies, public actors and academia to collaborate for more digital innovation.
Bron is the driving force in shaping the ecosystem for GovTech in Sweden with the aim of accelerating the societal value of the digital transformation. The initiative began in Västernorrland because important conditions for GovTech are already in place here; a strong collaborative culture combined with forward-looking authorities and innovative tech companies.
Bron also runs the project and the game cluster Game ON Mid Sweden, which will create conditions for the establishment of new jobs, new companies and new education in the gaming industry in Västernorrland.
Visit broninnovation.se
Visit govtechsweden.se
Visit gameonmidsweden.com
Read more about Region Västernorrland
Health care in Region Västernorrland wants, by establishing a test bed, to enable the design of new and safe methods to get in touch with and support residents to make healthy choices.
Testbed Health is an initiative from Region Västernorrland, Bron innovation and BizMaker, where we open up for external parties to perform tests on products and services that promote better health. The test bed offers a simple entrance for companies and entrepreneurs to parts of the health care system's activities. It allows more stakeholders to be involved in designing and using the support system for innovation in the public sector.
Visit rvn.se
