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Change-Makers Accelerator 2022

On June 29th, Beit Berl's Innovation Center hosted the final pitch for the eight teams in the 2022 Change-Makers Accelerator. After 12 weeks developing business plans, marketing campaigns and testing their products and services, the teams' social-educational initiatives were put to the test before a panel of judges representing the venture capital, philanthropic and education fields. And the winner is… DUGRI!

In the two years since Uriah Rosenman and Sameh SAZ Zakut began collaborating on "Let's Talk Dugri" (Let's Talk Straight), their lives have changed - as have the lives of the millions they have touched through social networks, in-person workshops, and articles in the local and international media. See their rap piece that went viral. In the Accelerator, DUGRI honed their concept into a venture with a first stage business plan to promote advocacy dialogue on painful issues and recognition of past injustices, with a focus on the future and close communication. They aim to develop common narratives among Jewish and Arab communities, and promote authentic discourse and cooperation. Over the weeks of mentoring, DUGRI developed a marketing strategy vis a vis the educational system, increasing its base fivefold by creating key partnerships. Now, DUGRI aims to build a strong and creative voice by a generation that has experienced less trauma than their parents, more technology and opportunities, with millions on both sides who believe that through cooperation we can create a common and better future.

2nd place winner, SHALEV, developed a VR teaching platform integrating virtual reality and augmented reality for clinical medical needs, in training interns and medical students, surgical planning and basic science. The platform was developed by Dr. Shai Teiman-Jordan, Head of Sheba-Tel Hashomer Hospital's Engineering Research Laboratory and 6th year medical student David Yogev, for science teachers and science and medical students biology, anatomy and surgery. As a result of the Accelerator, SHALEV rolled out a marketing plan geared for the education system, ran pilot projects in three schools, and honed their product, developing measurement and assessment tools that allow them to go to the next phase of marketing in the coming school year.

3rd place winner MEMORIES is an interactive digital platform for oral histories documented in Israel to be used in schools and informal education settings, affording accessibility to the narrative history of diverse communities in Israel. Over the last decade, Time Tunnel has promoted dozens of initiatives documenting community memories in all parts of Israeli society, and bringing communities together to share and find connections - from elementary school to retirement groups. Developed by Time Tunnel co-creator of Time Tunnel, historian Dr. Boaz Lev Tov, and Time Tunnel member Rada Gavrilov, the Accelerator enabled MEMORIES to upgrade its platform's UI & UX experience and enabled more reliable and efficient uploading of oral histories.

With the prize money and continued mentoring from the Accelerator, all teams will continue to the next stage of development, creating projects that can be scaled up to change educational practice in the fields of Jewish-Arab relations, and use of AR/VR in education.

Congratulations to all winners and participants of the 2022 Change-Makers Accelerators!