What Design Can Do Accelerator is an initiative by Amsterdam-based design platform What Design Can Do (WDCD), which is supported by our global partners and our country partners SECRID, Nationale Postcode Loterij (Dutch Postcode Lottery), and CLICK NL.

What Design Can Do Accelerator is open to everyone around the globe. Designers, start-ups, students and entrepreneurs alike are invited to submit creative solutions that pave the way for a fair and circular future. By the end of the selection process, our goal is to find 8 dedicated teams or designers who will benefit from our accelerator programme.

You can never be too old to apply! There is, however, a minimum entry age of 18 years.

If you get selected as a winner of the WDCD Accelerator, you’ll be one of a very select group. As such, we will do our best to accommodate differences in time zones to make the development programme as accessible as possible.

Of course! Projects of different stages of development are welcome — from new ideas to market-ready enterprises. The important thing is that your project embraces circular design principles and serves for climate action. 

Yes, you can participate in the Accelerator individually.

Yes, you can. When you create a profile, we would like to know who the project leader of your submission is. Then, you can add your team members to the submission form and upload a photo or logo of your collective.

Due to the international nature of the challenge, all projects need to be submitted in English. If you are applying as a collective, at least one member of your team needs to speak English, so we can contact you in case we have questions about your submission and for your team to be able to join the accelerator programme. We know that English is not everyone’s first language; the application will not be judged on English grammar. If needed, feel free to benefit from digital tools such as Grammarly, Chat GPT for translation and clarity.

During the submission process, we will ask you to indicate which creative discipline best describes your project (Products, Materials, Communications, Spaces or Systems & Services). Though we understand that many projects are multidisciplinary in nature, please select the one that you feel is most appropriate. There are no wrong answers.

We will also ask you to tell us which of the industries are most relevant to your project. You can select more than one tag at a time.

• Built Environment (Architecture, Urban Desing, Construction)
• What We Wear (Fashion, Textiles & Responsible Production)
• Food Futures (Food, AgriTech & Biodiversity)
• Circular Goods (Circular Consumer Goods)
• Learning Climate (Education for Climate Action)
• Inclusive Health (Well-being, Health & Inclusive Design)
• Travel Reimagined (Hospitality & Creative Tourism)
• Culture & Arts (Culture, Arts & Advocacy)
• Digital Creations (CreaTech & Gaming & Media Innovation)

Of course, all projects are welcome!

You can submit your new project using this link

Yes, you can still submit a project that is early in the process. Just try to tell the story of your project as fully as possible: where your project is currently, and where you are planning to take it. And remember, a compelling image with a concise and informative short description can go a long way!

As soon as an entry is submitted, it needs to be checked by a WDCD moderator to see if it is complete. Your project may not be approved if you are missing information on your profile, on your idea, or if your idea is not relevant to the open call. You will receive a notification as soon as your submission has been approved. During the entire Open Call (until 31 March, 11:00 CET) you will be able to edit your submission.

As an entrant, you retain full ownership (Intellectual Property) of your idea. Should you choose to share your proposal on our online platform, you give WDCD and its partners the right to publish your idea on all possible media channels throughout the Accelerator. Should you choose to make your proposal available exclusively to the jury, and you are amongst the shortlist of finalists, we will share your proposal for publication to the press. Should a potential implementation partner or investor express an interest in developing or supporting your idea (even if you are not among the finalists), you are free to decide how to share your intellectual property. If so desired, we can assist and advise you.

> Learn more about our Terms & Conditions

In the submission form, entrants must indicate whether they want their idea to be visible only to expert advisors and jury members or to the public. You can adjust your project settings at any time during the Open Call. Once a project moves into the next phase: ‘Nominations’, WDCD will update the terms and conditions and automatically publish all nominated projects. If your idea is still not visible after changing your settings from private to public, it may have been put on hold due to language identified by the platform. If a problem persists, please contact us at challenge@whatdesigncando.com

Once the Open Call is closed, a review phase will begin. If your project is selected to move on to the next phase, you might receive feedback from the expert advisors, which will help you to further develop your application.

If you’re looking for practical or technical support, you can find a step-by-step walkthrough of the application process in this guidebook. You can also bring your questions to one of our scheduled webinars with the WDCD team. Please note that we cannot give direct input on the contents of your submission form or with the direction and development of your idea. 

Absolutely! You can submit more than one project. You will be able to see all your projects on your profile. 

Applicants submit their project in images, text, and video (optional) via the application portal. All of the approved formats are in the application form, which you can see an overview of here.

After the initial approval, entries that are made public will be added to the platform’s Entries gallery. On March 31st all approved entries will be closed for editing and moved to the Nominate phase, where the WDCD team and our curated international advisor committee will judge the entries and establish a shortlist. All nominated projects will be announced in April 2025.

The Accelerator selection advisors are composed of creatives, experts and entrepreneurs from all over the world. During the Nominate phase, together with the WDCD team members, they will put together a shortlist of top ideas. Every entry will be considered and evaluated on the judging criteria. Please visit the Application Guidebook to review the selection criteria. The nominees will be announced in April 2025.

From the list of nominated projects, an international jury of leading experts representing different expertise and nationalities will select a minimum of 8 winners. WDCD will announce the winning projects end of May 2025.

Ideas that have not been selected for nominations will not move to the next phase, and will be labelled as ‘Archived’. They will still be visible in our Entries gallery, unless you have indicated otherwise. Projects which have been ‘Archived’ are no longer editable, but you can always contact us if you have any special requests. 

At the end of the open call, the jury will choose the winning teams based on four key criteria: impact, design/creativity, feasibility/scalability, and the strength of your team and network.