Track 11
Ventures
Technologies, products, and business models ready to scale.
Open to: startups and early-stage companies
Finalists meet: investors and corporates
Challenge 2027 · Applications open November 17 · Now open to policy, research, and financial inventions
Get notified →
The Imagine Next ecosystem
One direction, three ways in.
A Challenge to find inventions worth building, a Summit to bring them together with the people who can fund and adopt them, and a book about inventing beyond the goals we inherited.
01
The Challenge
A global search for planet-first inventions across ventures, research, policy, and finance.
Explore Challenge 2027 →02
The Summit
Three days in the San Francisco Bay Area during SF Climate Week, where inventors meet capital and institutions.
Explore the Summit →Inventing Beyond the Goals We Inherited
03
The Book
Imagine Next: Inventing Beyond the Goals We Inherited, by Julia Daviy. Forthcoming.
About the book →Global Innovation Challenge 2027
Four tracks. One standard.
Some of the most powerful inventions aren't companies. In 2027, the Challenge opens to every kind of inventor, judged by the same question: does it leave people and living systems better off?
Track 22
Policy & Regulatory
New laws, regulations, standards, market designs, procurement rules, or pricing mechanisms.
Open to: policymakers, legal experts, NGOs, researchers, individuals
Finalists meet: policymakers, regulators, cities, foundations
Track 33
Research
Lab- or concept-stage technologies not yet formed into a company.
Open to: researchers, labs, students, independent inventors
Finalists meet: research funders, venture builders, corporate R&D
Track 44
Financial & Institutional
New funding instruments, ownership models, or governance structures.
Open to: finance professionals, economists, institutions, individuals
Finalists meet: foundations, impact investors, public finance
The 2027 timeline
November 17, 2026
Applications open
All four tracks, worldwide. No company required for tracks 2 to 4.
Rolling, in waves
Selection waves
Entries are evaluated in waves by our jury and funding fellows. Wave dates are announced at launch.
March 17, 2027
Pitch Day (virtual)
Finalists from every track present online.
Spring 2027 · SF Climate Week
Finals at the Summit
Top finalists present in person to investors, institutions, and policymakers. Dates announced with the program.
What participants receive
Based on the 2026 program · Track-specific support confirmed at launch
A rigorous evaluation
Every complete entry is assessed with the Symbiotic Matrix by our jury and funding fellows.
Jury feedback
Finalists hear directly from the jury what stood out and what to strengthen.
Preparation
Workshops on path to market, fundability, and intellectual property, with mastermind sessions before and at the Summit.
A stage
Finalists present at Pitch Day and the Summit to investors, institutions, and policymakers.
Visibility
Selected inventions are announced and featured across Imagine Next and SICouncil channels.
A path forward
Winners advance into the SICouncil Deployment Pathway, with introductions to investors, corporates, and institutions.
Be first to apply.
We'll email you when applications open on November 17.
How we select
Judged on everything it changes.
Every entry is evaluated with the Symbiotic Matrix, developed by the Sustainable Innovation Council as an alternative to the traditional evaluation frameworks used by venture funds. Consequences come first: environmental, community, and systemic impact carry more weight than feasibility, team, or market fit. A strong business case cannot make up for weak consequences.
Weighed first · Consequences
Carry the most weight in selection
i
Environmental
Effects on climate, ecosystems, water, materials, and non-human life, including harm shifted elsewhere.
ii
Community
Who benefits, who bears the costs, and whether the people affected are better off.
iii
Systemic
Whether it changes how a system works, or only optimizes it, and what happens as it scales.
Then · Can it happen?
iv
Originality and feasibility
Is it genuinely new, and can it work technically, legally, or financially?
v
Implementer capability
Can this person or team carry it through a market, an institution, or a legislature?
vi
Adoption pathway
Who would adopt it, and what would it take?
See your invention the way our jury will →
2026 in review
What the 2026 Challenge found.
36
countries represented
1,500+
startups screened
162
evaluated in depth
50
selected
17
finalists pitched to investors
Top 3 awardees · announced April 2026 →
The Imagine Next Summit
Where inventions meet the people who can scale them.
Spring 2027 · During SF Climate Week · Dates to be announced
Three days of capital, invention, and frontier technology. In 2026: Capital Day, Innovation Day, and Frontiers Day, with 400+ registrations across three days.
Julia Daviy
Imagine Next
Inventing Beyond the Goals We Inherited
The book · Forthcoming
Where inventions come from.
The Challenge finds inventions, and the Summit helps them reach the world. The book is about the step before both: a practice of inventiveness, questioning the goals we inherited and learning to imagine what else is possible. Born from a 616-day experiment in daily invention; its Atlas holds about 100 concepts selected from the 365 the experiment produced.
Get involved
Who Imagine Next is for.
Inventors and founders
Startups, researchers, and policy and financial inventors with ideas that leave people and living systems better off.
Get notified →Investors and capital allocators
Pre-evaluated inventions, judged on consequences as well as potential.
Explore partnership →Corporate and policy leaders
Inventions to pilot and adopt, from technologies to new rules and market designs.
Partner with us →Challenge partners and sponsors
Support a track, fund prizes, or host the Summit, and shape what gets built next.
Become a partner →2026 partners and venues
UC Berkeley
Host venue · Innovation Day
UC Law San Francisco
Host venue · Capital Day
SOSV
Host · Frontiers Day visit
SF Climate Week
Official event
California Resources
Partner