Glasgow City Council’s H2020 Connecting Nature project, in partnership with The Melting Pot’s Good Ideas and Glasgow Caledonian University, have just launched a new Nature-Based Accelerator. This is a pilot programme to support early-stage nature-based businesses and social enterprises (nature-based enterprises*) that are or could be making positive environmental, social, and economic change in Glasgow. The initiative is a 3 months fully-funded programme and is the first of its kind in Scotland. We are seeking individuals, existing enterprises, entrepreneurs or community groups to take part.
The overarching aims are to find new ways to encourage more local and resilient nature-based economies, create more green jobs, and help us to achieve our net-zero targets. One of the main focuses of the pilot is how we can use innovative enterprise ideas to help improve and maintain open spaces in Glasgow.
Spaces are limited and applications should be received no later than 21st May 2021.
*A nature-based enterprise has a broader definition than you might initially think. It can include many different types of organisation such as social enterprises, a collective, charities or even a for-profit business. The key criteria is that nature is used either directly or indirectly as a fundamental part of their product, service or process whilst also supporting climate change, health and wellbeing and biodiversity policy agendas. Examples can include food or other community growing; beekeeping; nature-focused landscape architecture; eco-tourism; urban forestry; biomaterials; carbon off-setting; vocational & skills training plus lots more. You can find more examples and more information about nature-based enterprises by checking out Connecting Nature’s simple guidebook (PDF).
More details and the application form can be found at: https://good-ideas.org/nature-based-accelerator’