Imagine bringing together eager, bright, talented early career professionals and giving them physical and mind space and time to combine all their knowledge, experience and skills to address the societal and environmental challenges that matter. What do you expect to see?  



We did just that in the 2026 SDG Innovation Accelerator. We saw professionals develop innovative business solutions that address pressing social or environmental sustainability challenges while creating tangible value for their company. 

From Idea to Impact

During the 6-month Accelerator programme, we helped participants develop their innovative and practical business solutions, made to implement within their own organizations. The solutions ranged from inclusive services and innovative financing models, to new approaches for sustainable infrastructure and combating cybercrime. 

During the accelerator, the participants turned problem spaces into ideas, ideas into concepts, and concepts into fully reasoned proposals with both a moral and a business case. Our strategic design partner Flatland brought the creative energy to the process, and helped participants translate abstract thinking into tangible work by putting pen(cil)s to paper. 

Final Showcase 

On Thursday, 9 July, the accelerator culminated in a final solution showcase, where each team presented their work to company champions, colleagues, and peers. The winning team is proceeding to the Global Solution Showcase and potentially ending up on the final stage during the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2026 in New York City. 

A big thank you to our participants from KPN, ING Group, TenneT, and ABN Amro, and to our partners from Flatland: Nanne Uffen and Janita van Ginneken-van Dijk.