ACT Smart Innovation Hub - Partners Recruitment

About Berytech

Berytech is an ecosystem for entrepreneurs, providing a dynamic environment for the creation and development of startups and SMEs, fostering innovation, technology and entrepreneurship in Lebanon.

Berytech’s role is multifold in building an all-inclusive ecosystem for its own entrepreneurs while contributing to the growth of the Lebanese entrepreneurial ecosystem in general. It has helped shape the cultural norms of the society in accepting and supporting the concept of entrepreneurship, while its different activities continue to push new avant-garde concepts. Berytech serves as a nucleus in connecting different stakeholders in the ecosystem and it strives to influence policymakers and legislating bodies to issue laws that benefit the ecosystem.

Since its establishment in 2002 by the Saint Joseph University (USJ), Berytech has succeeded in:

• Creating strategic connections and international partnerships and affiliations,
• Connecting different pools of experts in the ecosystem: business angels, mentors, cluster managers, technology transfer managers, innovators, and researchers,
• Collaborating with the Ministry of Economy and Trade to set and implement a national strategy to support SMEs, and
• Partnering in creating organizations, programs, and accelerators to serve the Lebanese entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Background

Since 2019, Lebanon has been assailed by compounded crises; specifically, an unprecedented economic and financial crisis, COVID-19, and the explosion at the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020.

Of the three, the economic crisis has had by far the largest and most persistent negative impact. The Spring 2021 Lebanon Economic Monitor finds that Lebanon's economic and financial crisis is likely to rank in the top 10, possibly top three, most severe crises episodes globally since the mid-nineteenth century. Since 2019, Lebanon's currency has lost more than 90% of its value. The country's economic meltdown – one of the world's worst since the 1850s – has pushed an estimated four million families into poverty in the last two years. In fact, Lebanon’s GDP plummeted from about US$55 billion in 2018 to an estimated US$20.5 billion in 2021, while the real GDP per capita fell by 37.1%. Such a brutal contraction is usually associated with conflicts or wars.

With the severe currency deterioration and the lack of basic infrastructure, many Lebanese have emigrated further exacerbating Lebanon's brain drain. This drain slows down the revival of the economy and reduces the prospect of the creation of jobs.

Additionally, the deficiencies in major facets, including food security, energy generation, waste and water management and valorization, and water, land, and air pollution are severely increasing.

The need to tackle the impending energy, waste, water, and wastewater as well as transportation crises has never been more urgent as they are affecting livelihoods. Effective response pathways are needed to shift to sustainable, circular, innovative, and technological systems and unlock opportunities for socio-economic growth.

In 2016 and then in 2019, Berytech received funding from the Kingdom of the Netherlands to design and implement the Agrytech Program and consequently the Agri-food & Clean Technology Innovation Hub Program – entitled ACT Smart. The objective of the ACT Smart initiative was to strengthen business advancement and job creation in the agri-food and cleantech sectors in Lebanon through a sector-wide approach to economic growth, by stimulating innovators and entrepreneurs to put their creativity and energy at the service of the two sectors and encouraging them to develop local solutions to the environmental and food security challenges faced by the Lebanese economy at large.

About the Initiative

In 2023, the ACT Smart Innovation Hub initiative, co-funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Lebanon and Berytech, was renewed for four additional years, represents an opportunity for Lebanon to showcase how innovation and technology can transform socio-economic and livelihood problems in the agrifoodtech and cleantech sectors into opportunities to boost and create a promising sustainable economy through job creation and entrepreneurs’ empowerment.

The project focuses on tracks that further expand the Agrifoodtech and the Cleantech programs with the overall objective of:

• Strengthening innovative business solutions to problems in Agrifoodtech and cleantech sectors that support improving livelihoods,
• Helping in access to finance and in scaling up pre-seed and seed stage start-ups,
• Creating jobs for people, especially youth and women, resulting in tangible economic, environmental, and social benefits.

The overall objective will be accomplished through four specific objectives that will support:

• Enabling ecosystem partners in areas within and outside greater Beirut to carry out ideation activities.
• Creating opportunities for startups and SMEs to grow competitively through acceleration programs.
• Facilitating investment opportunities for pre-seed and seed ventures.

Summary

Berytech, within the ACT Smart Innovation Hub initiative, intends to partner with five different ecosystem players located in different areas in Lebanon to implement the outreach and validation lab activities. The selected partners will have to 1) conduct outreach activities, 2) shortlist 20 startups to recruit 10 teams per cycle per partner and 3) run product/market the validation 2-month phase. For this the selected partners will receive 1) a capacity building program and support from Berytech, 2) related Standard Operating Procedures and forms, 3) the Validation phase program design to implement, and 4) financial support to run day-to-day operations.

Innovation support organizations operating in the following areas are encouraged to apply Beirut, North of Lebanon, Bekaa, North of Mount Lebanon, and South of Mount Lebanon.

Overall Objective

The overall objective of this call is to partner with ecosystem players to support them in the implementation of the ideation activities to enable entrepreneurs across all Lebanese geographies through capacity building, bootcamps, and programs. All for the aim of growing the innovation ecosystem in Lebanon, re-ignite the entrepreneurship spirit and mindset in youth in different areas, reach more entrepreneurs and create more opportunities to innovate in the AgrifoodTech and CleanTech sectors.

Scope of Work

The selected organizations will have to work on the following tasks:

1. Field and Needs Assessment Ecosystem mapping in the region where they operate in, identifying potential players and needs across their region. This mapping will focus on Cleantech and AgriFoodTech sectors, identifying sub sectors of focus, and relationship building to develop the ecosystem of support for this Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program.
2. Attend capacity building program The capacity building program will be conducted during March and April 2023 to provide the selected partners with the tools, policies and procedures, SOPs needed to conduct the Validation phase.
3. Conduct Outreach Activities

• Identify potential entrepreneurs in the agrifoodtech and Cleantech sectors
• Establish relationships with relevant stakeholders
• Organize and implement outreach activities to attract at least 20 teams of entrepreneurs and young innovators willing to create solutions for challenges in the agrifoodtech and cleantech sectors.

1. Run the Validation Phase

• Implement five cycles of validation support, supporting 10 startups per cycle over a period of 32 months.
• Facilitate and recruit trainer to deliver workshops for entrepreneurs to help them ideate and validate their ideas.
• Provide entrepreneurs with one-on-one mentoring and linkages support to be able to validate their ideas.
• Run networking activities for startups in the ecosystem.
• Organize and implement Demo Days for each cycle to demo startups innovation.
• Manage the grant ($1500/startup), expenditure approval and disbursement process.

1. Reporting

• Report on KPIs and MEL data.
• Abid by the SOPs provided by Berytech.
• Manage the budget allocated for the implementation of the program.

Startup outreach and validation activities for each cycle should take no more than four months in total.

Target group

Innovation support organization, incubator, accelerator, tech hubs, for profit enterprise, and others… located and operating in one of the following areas:

• Beirut
• North (Koura, Tripoli and Akkar)
• Bekaa (north, central and west)
• North of Mount Lebanon (Metn, Kesserwan, Byblos…)
• South of Mount Lebanon (Aley, Shouf…)

Eligibility Criteria

Innovation support organization, incubator, accelerator, for profit enterprise, and other stakeholders

Location: located, operating, and having a facility to run activities in one of the following areas:

• Beirut
• North (Koura, Tripoli and Akkar)
• Bekaa (north, central and west)
• North of Mount Lebanon (Metn, Kesserwan, Byblos…)
• South of Mount Lebanon (Aley, Shouf…)

Size: The organization should have no less than 2 full time employees and no more than 20 full time employees 

Facilities: The facility in the operating area should have a space to accommodate a minimum of 30 participants. The space should have internet and amenities.