How much time, energy, and coffee does your team really pour into screening? It’s the behind-the-scenes story of selection that rarely gets told — and as application volumes grow, it quietly pulls resources away from deeper programme design and founder support: the work that actually moves the needle.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone. And we think there’s a better way forward together.
Here’s how it works:
The Build Table is a series of exploratory sessions where Pollinate Impact members dive deep into shared challenges. Each session presents a research-informed snapshot of a concrete problem emerging across regions and contexts — highlighting insights, trends, and potential directions for solutions. Sessions serve as the starting point for forming a Collective Action Team (CAT) of members committed to co-designing, testing, and piloting solutions together.
What This First Session Is About
Our partner Impact Intelligence has developed a beta AI-supported screening tool, informed by the participation of 20 member organisations — putting real data behind the anecdotal evidence surfaced across the network. The aim is not to automate decision-making, but to explore how AI, when trained responsibly using real incubator inputs, could help surface signal from noise, reduce manual effort, and support human judgment.
We’ll share:
- A snapshot of what the network is seeing, where screening bottlenecks emerge, where processes break down, and why this work is best taken forward together.
- Early thinking on an AI-supported screening concept is being explored with our partner, Impact Intelligence.
This work does not aim to replace human judgment or automate difficult decisions.
Instead, we’re exploring how responsibly designed support tools informed by incubator inputs might help surface signal from noise, reduce manual burden, and strengthen decision-making while keeping practitioners firmly in control.
What You’ll Walk Away With
By the end of this session, you’ll have clarity on:
- Understand the key screening bottlenecks surfaced through Pollinate Impact’s early research — from common pain points to where processes break under scale
- Gain clarity on why this is being taken forward as a CAT — not a one-off tool or webinar — and why collective action is the right approach for this challenge
- Assess whether the problem resonates with your own screening reality and how your insights, processes, or data could help shape the solution. Leave with a concrete pathway to join the CAT cohort and help co-design what effective, ethical screening could look like in practice
We’ll close with an invitation to join the CAT cohort, a group of Pollinate Impact members committed to co-designing, testing, and learning together as this work evolves.
We’ve done the listening. Now it’s time to build. 🍽️
About The Build Table
The Build Table is where Pollinate Impact members move from shared challenges to shared solutions. Each session introduces a concrete issue emerging across regions and contexts, and invites members to join a Collective Action Team (CAT) to co-design, test, and build something practical together.
This is not a webinar series. It is a space for collective work.