Project Specialist, Innovation Ecosystems - UpLink

*This is a 3 year grant funded role with the possibility of extension.

Project Specialist, Innovation Ecosystems - UpLink

The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the international organization for public-private cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

About UpLink

UpLink is the open innovation platform of the World Economic Forum to crowdsource innovative solutions which can accelerate the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).​ UpLink’s effort focuses on building bridges within the innovation ecosystem to support entrepreneurs for growth and scale.

Since its launch, UpLink has made significant progress in addressing the world's biggest challenges in different thematic areas (e.g. Longevity, Urban Transformation, Food System, Sustainable Mining, Water, Circular Carbon Economy, etc.) alongside its esteemed partners by specifically delivering in enabling early-stage impact-driven start-ups to accelerate impact, building and strengthening innovation ecosystems and shifting perception around the value and significance of early-stage impact innovations.

Why we are recruiting

UpLink is growing its presence across new thematic areas to identify and surface impact-driven early-stage start-ups. In addition, we are actively building, strengthening and broadening thematically focused “Innovation Ecosystems” in the support of scaling and growth of these start-ups. To support this effort to accelerate “entrepreneurship in the global public interest” we are recruiting for two Project Specialists.

Reporting Lines and Interactions

Reporting to the UpLink Project Lead, Innovation Ecosystems and working closely with the UpLink team, and relevant Forum Initiative teams, the Project Specialists will be responsible for supporting the sourcing, engagement and impact scaling of entrepreneurs (“innovators”) on UpLink.

Main Responsibilities

SOURCING OF HIGH-POTENTIAL UPLINK ENTREPRENEURS

Project management and delivery of key stages of UpLink Innovation Challenges life-cycle:

• Co-designing innovation challenges with UpLink partners and external networks
• Collaborating across the various UpLink teams (venture sourcing, impact measurement, digital engagement) to ensure challenges are run smoothly
• Recruiting of early-stage start-ups
• Coordinating and facilitating the review & selection process with external experts
• Collaborate closely with internal Forum teams to leverage respective networks, expertise and communication opportunities as needed

COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT, ENGAGEMENT AND IMPACT

Support the engagement of UpLink entrepreneurs, including:

• Acting as account manager for UpLink entrepreneurs - ensuring their engagement across UpLink and Forum-wide opportunities
• Supporting event management to accelerate and scale UpLink entrepreneurs’ impact, incl. integrating UpLink entrepreneurs in other Forum workstreams and supporting the delivery of dedicated programming
• Continuously tracking impact of entrepreneurs and ensure it is being reported through the UpLink platform and the digital engagement team
• Identifying possible cross-SDG opportunities, and collaborating with other UpLink Project Specialists across different areas

The successful candidate will be assessed on

• Successful project management and delivery of UpLink Challenge life-cycle
• Ability to collaborate with and coordinate between Forum teams, UpLink team and external stakeholders
• Level of engagement of UpLink entrepreneurs in the UpLink Innovation Ecosystem
• Ability to find and elevate compelling stories, solutions and innovations
• Quick learning and ability to create and maintain networks
• Flexibility to adapt to a fast moving, and developing team and workplan

Preferred requirements and experience

• Genuine passion for scaling impact in the SDG space
• University degree in relevant field, such as: development, environment, entrepreneurship, digital engagement
• Required knowledge and networks around innovation for the SDGs and impact driven start-ups.
• 2-5 years of professional experience, ideally in sustainable development and/or community engagement/development, as well as project management
• Digital community engagement/development a strong plus
• Proficient command of English is required
• Passionate connector and networker with demonstrated ability to cultivate communities and identify common interests among community members
• A flexible, agile and adaptable mindset to work in a fast-paced and evolving team
• Experience with digital collaboration tools
• Creativity, an open mind and an entrepreneurial spirit

Why work at the Forum:

The Forum believes that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to improve the state of the world by building awareness and cooperation, shaping mindsets and agendas, and driving collective action. Join us and become a driver for positive change!