For the third year in a row, the Göran Bredinger Scholarship has been awarded to a young social entrepreneur who is making an innovative contribution to solving a societal challenge. This year, the award went to Joel Holmberg and the team behind ResLedaren—a travel app designed to make it easier for people to get around, regardless of their cognitive abilities.
“It feels really awesome—fun, of course, and a little unexpected,” says Joel Holmberg, one of the founders of ResLedaren. “I’m always surprised when we achieve something or win an award. There were so many great entries, so it was just fun to be in the running—and then we ended up taking home the whole prize.” It’s really, really fun! The grant will help us dedicate a large part of our time to this over the coming year, for example, by paying for space at a coworking space for startups in Stockholm or for test phones and servers—or maybe both.
Shining a light on invisible disabilities
Joel explains that they wanted to highlight “invisible” disabilities such as autism, ADHD, and other cognitive disabilities, since they may not always be as noticeable as physical disabilities.
– An important part of participating in society is being able to move around freely, use public transportation on your own, and not have to travel with an assistant or a parent. The focus is often on things that are visible, such as people in wheelchairs, using canes, and the like. So we’ve chosen to focus on cognitive disabilities. If you have autism, it isn’t visible to others, and as a result, you don’t receive as much assistance. So ResLedaren is simply a travel app that plans your trips on public transportation and helps you from one hour before your trip all the way to your destination. This leads to greater independence and increased participation.
“Why hasn’t anyone built this before?”
The idea for ResLedaren came about when Joel’s colleague Hampus heard about a so-called hackathon—an event where programmers gather at a specific time and place to code. This particular hackathon, Travelhack, was organized by SL and lasted 24 hours, with three categories: more enjoyable travel, smarter travel, and more accessible travel.
“None of us had been to anything like that before. Hans [Hampus]’s mother-in-law works a lot with people with cognitive disabilities, so it had been in the back of our minds that there are challenges for them that many people might not think about. So we sat down and sketched out a travel planner with an overview, a map, and the like, and thought, “We can build this—why hasn’t anyone built it before?”
It ended with ResLedaren winning Travelhack—and the success story doesn’t end there. In addition to the Göran Bredinger scholarship, the team behind ResLedaren has received funding from the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority to create a new travel service.
“We’re going to work on a one-year project called Dit-i-tid—a fun fact is that it’s the same name spelled backward—for which we’ve just received funding from the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority after winning an innovation competition. We’re going to develop a service that simply sends out pre-planned trips with checklists, etc., to people who, for example, are going to meetings and the like. So it’s not just for people with disabilities; everyone can benefit from it. The recipient receives a simple text message with information about the activity, along with a pre-planned itinerary featuring reminders and a packing list, which they can download if they wish. The service aims to reduce the number of missed meetings, forgotten documents left at home, and similar issues, while improving the overall meeting experience.
The project is set to launch in August, and Joel says they’re interested in finding people who want to help develop the service.
– Right now, we’re looking for a few people to hire if things take off! Friendly people who want to work with accessibility and technology, such as salespeople and the like. So if anyone wants to work on something that makes a difference, they’re welcome to contact us!
The Göran Bredinger Scholarship
The Göran Bredinger Scholarship is awarded during
Almedalen in collaboration with Forum for Social Innovation Sweden. The grant amounts to 50,000 Swedish kronor and is awarded to a social entrepreneur who meets the criteria listed below. The grant was established in 2014 by Göran Bredinger and will be awarded for the next ten years (2014–2024).
By "social entrepreneur," we mean:
- An entrepreneur who contributes to innovative solutions to societal challenges
- Driven by results for society
- Has a business model that makes the company viable and growth-oriented
Criteria for selection as this year’s scholarship recipient:
- The entrepreneur should help solve a social problem
- The business concept must be innovative, feasible, and clear
- A business model that demonstrates the idea's financial viability
- May show good results
- Operates in Sweden
- Is in the early stages
- Are in their 20s or 30s
The jury’s rationale for this year’s scholarship recipient:
“By making it as easy as possible to use public transportation before and during a trip, this year’s Göran Bredinger Scholarship recipient aims to create a more accessible society that enables more people to study, work, and participate in social activities regardless of their cognitive abilities. ResLedaren is available throughout Sweden, has been downloaded by 10,000 users in a short time, and sees opportunities to go on an international journey! The digital application ResLedaren is an innovation that can be of great value to us all!”
This year's three finalists
Natalie de Brun Skantz, Grönska:
Grönska offers locally grown vegetables and herbs. Grönska uses an innovative growing system that allows crops to be grown indoors in an urban environment all year round. The goal is to offer a sustainable, locally produced alternative to imported vegetables and herbs.
Cecilia Tilli, Ultuna Dairy:
Ultuna Dairy develops and produces vegan, organic dessert cheeses. By creating high-quality vegan alternatives, Ultuna Dairy aims to make it easier for more people to reduce their consumption of animal products. The products are currently delivered to 15 cities in Sweden.
Joel Holmberg, Tour Guide:
Joel Holmberg has developed the ResLedaren app, which provides assistance for traveling by public transportation. The goal of ResLedaren is to enable more people to participate in society, study, work, and take part in social activities, regardless of their functional abilities.
This year's jury consisted of:
Göran Bredinger, Founder of the scholarship and Chair of the jury
Åsa Skogström Felt, Global Leader, The Hunger Project
Maja Frankel, Ashoka Director for Scandinavia
Anders Norman, CEO, Almi Skåne
Eva Engquist, Chair, Form Design Center
Hanna Sigsjö, Executive Director, Forum for Social Innovation Sweden
Tina Kaikkonen, Consultant
