CHALLENGE

Connect the key leaders and innovators in the Mediterranean creative economy who are engaged in similar activities, but often operate in isolation from one another.

SOLUTION

Gather over 50 founders and managers of coworking spaces, fablabs, and cultural hubs from 14 countries across the Mediterranean region for the 2015 Coworking Summit at the Cogite Coworking Space in Tunis, Tunisia. This three-day summit assembled participants to share experiences, build a regional network, and acquire the skills to bring their operations to the next level.

RESULT

Participants engaged in professional workshops, innovative trainings, and community-building activities to further develop the skills needed to professionalize their operations. The summit also produced a strong community of leaders and innovators in the regional creative economy.

CHALLENGE

Develop the talents of creative entrepreneurs in Tunisia, give them the knowledge and skills to move from the idea to action stage in their projects, and develop a cohesive community of entrepreneurs within the Tunisian creative economies.

SOLUTION

Disrupt!/, a series of business idea competitions across the Arab world that bring together innovators within a specific sector of creative industries. A 3-day event, Disrupt!/ selects teams of young creatives to further develop their idea with the support of mentors and experts in their industry. At the end of the event, teams pitch their idea and business model in front of a jury for cash prizes.

RESULT

Design and implement the Disrupt!/ business idea competition in Tunis.

Wasabi hosted the inaugural Disrupt!/Media!/ competition in October 2014. This edition brought together 25 young entrepreneurs under the theme “Digital Storytelling,” and featured 6 expert mentors from the fields of art, journalism, business, and design.

A second edition, Disrupt!/Games!/ brought together 30 young game designers with disruptive ideas for solving real world problems through gamified experiences in May 2015. As they developed their ideas, participants worked with  Walid Sultan Midani of Digitialmania and Dutch game designer Dimme van der Hout of MonkeyBizniz.

In February 2016, Wasabi hosted a third edition, Disrupt!/Media!/, with  24 candidates from across the country worked on ideas in “audio-visual culture.” Candidates were coached by trainer Adel Beznine, eight mentors from the Tunisian creative industries, and Hans Luyckx, Director of Operations at IJsfontein, a Dutch company which creates playful digital learning platforms.