lab of tomorrow

Our starting point

With an estimated market potential of 12 trillion US-Dollar (Business & Sustainable Development Commission 2017), the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a strong case for private investments in sustainable development. The lab of tomorrow offers a business ideator and incubator program that enables businesses, investors and development agencies to leverage this market potential for sustainable business and reaching the SDGs.

At the core of our program, we match businesses, non-profits and political decision-makers to co-create and implement business solutions in developing countries that have a social and ecological impact on the ground. The lab of tomorrow is run on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and is implemented by the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, which provides access to an extensive network of international key players from the public and private sector.

Our mission

The mission of the lab of tomorrow process is to turn business opportunities in developing countries into profitable businesses. We are convinced that only viable businesses will have a long-term impact on sustainable development.

Our approach

The lab of tomorrow process offers an ideation and incubation program of three phases. Our approach brings innovation potentials, capabilities and resources of businesses from the EU and developing countries together to develop viable and profitable businesses. Our network of businesses, investors, non-profits, development cooperation actors and political decision-makers offers a unique support background for developing and implementing new business ideas.

Each lab of tomorrow is initiated around a specific development challenge with business potential, such as rural electrification in Uganda or plastic waste in Thailand. After thorough research on the business opportunities of this challenge, we match businesses, non-profits and political actors to jointly develop business ideas in an innovation workshop. After that, the venture teams test their solution in a three-month incubation phase. Exiting the lab of tomorrow process, the ventures are in a strong position to scale up their business independently.