Ideas Collective
Got an idea for positive social change but not sure how to get started? The Ideas Collective is Ireland's free social innovation bootcamp and social enterprise incubator programme that will help you take that first step.
The Ideas Collective is STAND's free social innovation bootcamp and social enterprise incubator programme for third-level students and recent graduates based in Ireland. Designed for anyone with an idea for positive social change, the programme supports participants to develop early-stage ideas into real social enterprises with a global justice and sustainability focus.
In 2026, we are bringing the programme beyond Dublin (15th-20th June) to Cork (25th-29th May) and Galway (8th–12th June) for the first time, supported by Pobal’s New Solutions Fund, co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union, with additional support from Irish Aid and the Community Foundation Ireland.
Through structured workshops, peer support, and inspiring speakers, we support you to refine your thinking, build your confidence, and develop your idea into something tangible. You will be challenged, supported, and encouraged to move from possibility to action, while developing a strong awareness of global justice and how your project can address it.
Applications for 2026 are now closed, but register your interest below to hear about the next Ideas Collective!
I could write an essay about the impact this programme has had on me! It’s given me confidence, motivation and a sense of belonging in a supportive and knowledgeable community. I feel validated in the impact I want to make and I’ve gained access to tools and resources I wouldn’t have had otherwise.
The Ideas Collective Journey
The Ideas Collective Free Social Innovation Bootcamp
The Ideas Collective Bootcamp is a free, five-day in-person social innovation programme designed to help students and recent graduates develop their ideas for social change into viable social enterprises. Taking place in Cork, Galway and Dublin in summer 2026, the bootcamp includes:
- Design thinking
- Global citizenship education
- Personal development
- Guest speakers from the fields of social change, social innovation and entrepreneurship
- Participants work on their ideas throughout the week and prepare to present them at the end of the programme.
Bootcamp dates for 2026:
- Cork: 25th-29th May (MTU Cork)
- Galway: 8th–12th June (University of Galway)
- Dublin: 15th-19th June (The Digital Hub)
Students and recent graduates from any college or university in Ireland can apply and attend whichever bootcamp location suits them best.
Pitch Showcase and Seed Funding
Each Ideas Collective bootcamp concludes with a live pitch showcase, where participants present their social enterprise ideas to a panel of judges from the social innovation and entrepreneurship sectors. Following the showcase, selected participants are awarded:
- €1,500 seed funding across three projects per bootcamp
- A place on the Ideas Collective Incubator, a nine-month programme supporting participants to continue developing their social enterprises
The contents enhanced my ideas to identify societal and environmental need (gaps) within my community and to develop a sustainable project that empower and transform the lives of people to make positive change in this world.
Pitch Showcase and Seed Funding
Each bootcamp concludes with a pitch showcase, where participants present their ideas. Following this showcase, a number of participants will be awarded:
- Seed funding of €1,500 across three projects
- A place on the Ideas Collective Incubator
Ideas Collective Incubator
PSelected participants from the Ideas Collective bootcamps progress to a nine-month social innovation incubator programme. The incubator brings awardees together once a month to continue developing their social enterprise projects through:
- Expert input sessions from leaders in social innovation, social enterprise and entrepreneurship in Ireland
- Peer learning and shared problem-solving
- A weekend residential
- A final showcase event
The incubator concludes with a final showcase where the winning social enterprise project is awarded €5,000 in seed funding to bring their idea to life.
The content, structure with breaks and stretching and advice from mentors was the most practical I have experienced, the opportunity to proceed to the incubator is really motivating and brings the projects vision feel in each.
Who Should Apply?
Any student or recent graduate based in Ireland with an idea for a social enterprise should apply for the STAND Ideas Collective. This free social innovation programme is open to students from any discipline, you do not need a business background to apply. It is a particularly strong opportunity for students of:
- Social Sciences: engage what you have learned in your degree around system issues and structural elements of society (political systems, the economy, and policy), and create local solutions via your Ideas Collective project that targets topics you see come up in your education.
- Business: use design thinking and entrepreneurial models from your education and get hands-on project management experience in an impactful, change-oriented way by designing a project in our programme.
- Computer Science/IT: put your skills into action by targeting features such as accessibility, user friendliness, and bridging gaps by creating online tools and/or digital platforms for impact as a part of your Ideas Collective project.
- Sustainability: take your knowledge set one step further by applying your developed understanding of sustainability to an Ideas Collective action project that gives you direct project experiences that centers the values of sustainability and equality.
- Architecture: use principles of design, inclusive architecture, and accessible models and create a project of your choice that centers impact in your Ideas Collective pitch!
- Design: put your modelling abilities to the test by creating a product or initiative with design principles you've gained in your educational journey that puts social change first via our programme.
Previous participants also included students or recent graduates of Psychology, Law, Environmental Management, Politics and International Relations, Science and more.
Other FAQs
You must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- Be resident in the Island of Ireland;
- Be enrolled in an Irish third-level institution OR be a recent graduate of an Irish third-level institution (up to one year);
- Have an idea for a social enterprise.
- Be willing to fully commit to the programme and to exploring issues from a global perspective, be ready to dig deep into the problem you are addressing and be open to having your assumptions challenged.
Since the programme is only five days long and has a strong social enterprise focus this year, we want to ensure that participants can hit the ground running. Your application should outline the key aspects of your idea, including the problem you're addressing, your proposed solution, and who it benefits.
If you're accepted, we'll go through your idea in more detail on a call before the programme starts to help refine and strengthen it. While your idea doesn’t need to be fully polished, it should be developed enough that you can make the most of the programme.
To apply the Ideas Collective we ask you to come up with an idea for a social enterprise. A Social Enterprise is an enterprise whose objective is to achieve a social, societal or environmental impact, rather than maximizing profits for its owners of shareholders. Social enterprises reinvest their financial returns into the enterprise to further their social purpose and are governed in a fully accountable and transparent manner.
If you do have an idea and want to apply, you should start by filling out the application form. Application forms will be open on March 10th, 2026. The STAND team will review your application. Depending on your application the STAND team will call you to interview. The interview will be online and no longer than 30minutes and is just a chance for you to tell us more about yourself and your idea and to show that you are ready and willing to commit to the programme.
You can sign up individually or in a team of a maximum of 4 people. If you sign up individually and we find that another person has a similar social enterprise focus we will give you the option of working together.
STAND can provide a limited number of beds in a mixed dorm hostel. Places are allocated on a first-come first-served basis.
STAND will provide a light breakfast and lunch.
Success Stories
After witnessing the human and environmental costs of fast fashion, Trinity student Aisling Byrne joined the Ideas Collective in 2015 to co-develop Nuw, a clothes-sharing platform designed to make sustainable fashion accessible and community-driven; with the programme’s support, Nuw evolved from a swap-shop idea into a thriving app now operating across Ireland and the UK. Aisling stated that the Ideas Collective gave her the confidence and tools that she needed to build a business that makes it fun and easy for people to live more sustainably.
"Rooted Resolutions started during my time with the Ideas Collective, and now, three years later, I’m still running workshops. It’s hard work, but my heart's totally in it at this point."
From an idea that had been sitting at the back of her mind all through college, to a successful social enterprise: the Ideas Collective gave Sorcha "the structure, support and accountability" she needed to turn her dream into a reality.
In response to growing national conversations around race, identity, and inequality, Sandrine and Gareth joined the Ideas Collective in 2020 to develop Unapologetic, a creative platform that amplifies underrepresented voices through writing, art, and dialogue, and has since grown into a dynamic publication and online community fostering social change in Ireland. Their most recent issue received over 60 entries. With the Ideas Collective, Gareth & Sandrine "learnt what it meant to community leaders."
The Reclaim Project is a creative community giving artists the space to respond to experiences of power abuse within the arts in Ireland, free of stigma or judgement. Founded by Molly Sterling, an Ideas Collective 2021 participant, the project arose out of Molly’s direct experience of abuse within the music industry.
"I joined the Ideas Collective because I wanted to take action. (...)I really couldn’t have accomplished all that the project has done without community.”
"The experience was both challenging and transformative. It was as though I had found my tribe."
TUIG Ireland/Tullow envisions a ‘4th space’ in rural Ireland—transforming everyday places like coffee shops into inclusive, community-funded hubs. Using a “pay it forward” business card model, TUIG brings people together across divides to foster unity, belonging, and resilience in post-pandemic Ireland.
The GoodMindGuide is a digital platform that helps users navigate the Irish mental health system by sharing experiences with organisations, practitioners, and treatment methods. It supports informed choices, fosters user agency, and encourages cultural change within mental health practice.
Kirsten said that the Ideas Collective filled her with hope and "meeting so many people with really cool ideas for very scary things happening in the world right now" was an highlight of her journey.
Eddie is a recent graduate from Trinity College Dublin with an MSc in Energy Science. He currently works for EirGrid Group. His project, Diginet, Digital networking app to close the knowledge and resource gap that exists between the global north and the global south in the attainment of the SDGs.
"The programme is incredibly designed to bring an idea to action. The Ideas Collective taught me that all ideas are worthwhile, but true positive change requires resilience, empathy, reflection and action."
Inspired by indigenous languages in Mexico, Karin’s project is a series of workshops to foster connections between nature and climate literacy and the Irish language.
STAND Ideas Collective Showcase 2025-26
STAND Ideas Collective Showcase 2025 bootcamp pitch showcase
STAND Ideas Collective Showcase 2025 - Week 2 cohort
STAND Ideas Collective Showcase 2025 - Week 1 cohort
STAND Ideas Collective 2025 Incubator Programme
Ideas Collective 2024 Participants
Ideas Collective 2024 Participants
Ideas Collective (2024).
Clare Sheppard, Britney Osazuwa, Lauren Jones Brennan and Khaula Bhutta, Ideas Collective (2024).
Ideas Collective (2024).
Ideas Collective (2024).
Ideas Collective participants(2024).
Rachel Chen, Eddie Mwangwewo, Adam O'Brien and Tejaswy Swathi Kovuri (left to right). Ideas Collective (2023).
Naga Sarvani Bavisetty, Ziqi Zheng, Rachel Chen and Eddie Mwangwewo (left to right, anticlockwise). Ideas Collective (2023).
Ideas Collective (2023).
Ideas Collective (2023).
Freddie Fallon and Hope Esosa Omoregie, Ideas Collective Showcase (2023).
Ideas Collective Showcase (2023).
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