Incubator for socially focused ideas

Just as it takes a community to raise a child, so too it takes a community of peers and advisors to launch a new business idea. That’s roughly the thinking behind Bloblive, which we covered last year, and it’s also at the heart of UK-based Bethnal Green Ventures, a new school for people who want to use the web and mobile tools to create social change. Starting next month, Bethnal Green Ventures Nightschool aims to help further early-stage, socially oriented web projects by bringing them together with all the people, advice and support they need to launch and grow. The 10-week program will meet every Monday evening in London to help social projects answer the question, “What do I do next? ” Answers might include coding the product or service being built, for example, or focusing on the project’s own future sustainability; either way, the goal is to help projects reach the next phase in their development. The application deadline for participation in Bethnal Green Ventures Nightschool was Sept. 1. In early 2011, meanwhile, Bethnal Green will also launch a Ventures program, through which three carefully selected teams will get a small stipend, a work space and community support for three months to help build, test and launch their startups. At a time when incubators are growing in number, according to BusinessWeek, this will be one to watch.