Innovator in Residence (IIR)

The Venture Strategy Group (VSG) at Unbuilt Labs offers a one of its kind pay-what-you-want Innovator in Residence (IIR) Program, where founders looking to solve grand challenges receive 1 year of support through six 1:1 Advising Sessions.

Officially launched in August 2026 after pilot program in 2022

Grand challenges such as the 2030 SDGs are characterized by their high global priority and complex causality: attempts to intervene create irreversible changes as well as unintended second and third order consequences. We believe the next generation of innovative companies solving grand challenges will be led by strong research centers that consistently deliver breakthrough ideas and monitor ideas’ impact. This is about the future of organizational design and corporate governance, just as much as it is about sustainable development.

In 2022, our IIR pilot program included the Holonym Foundation (raised 5.5 million seed round in 2024) and the Initiative for Global Sustainable Economies. Today, disruptive technologies and rapid pace of global change have pushed forward thinkers to reimagine governance. We are pleased to offer this exciting program and support bold experimentation. You are welcome to add your advisor Marvin Cheung (Linkedin) to your Board of Advisors until the end of the IIR program, if you so wish.

To apply: Calendly link to schedule a free 30-minute Advising Session with the Director‍ ‍

Please note, this program is only available to founders based in the U.S., Canada, European Union, Switzerland, and Norway at this time.

Innovators in Residence (IIR)

2022 Pilot Program

Presented at the UN General Assembly Science Summit

  • The are some key learnings from our 2022 pilot program.

    1. Given the complexity of solving grand challenges and creating long term systems change, the likelihood of success is far greater as an organization than as an individual.

    2. Research organizations looking to solve grand challenges require a vastly different agenda-setting model since by definition its work needs to span multiple degrees of abstraction simultaneously.

    3. Methods used to find product-market-fit for digital products are also effective for designing actionable information products and engaging broader audiences.

Dennis Larsen

Co-Founder and Director, Initiative for Global Sustainable Economies (IGSE); University Lecturer, BI Norwegian Business School; Unbuilt Labs IIR ‘22

  • As a Managing Partner at ReputationInc, Dennis is recognized as a thoughtful and trusted advisor to leaders and organisations world-wide. His specialisms include strategy, sustainability, reputation risk, organizational change and learning & development.

    With dual MSc degrees in Economics and Corporate Communication, Dennis takes a keen interest in enabling moresustainable systems through the intersection of economic thinking and strong communicative practice.

    He is on the board of the European Association of Communication Directors, a Practice Fellow at the Nordic Alliance forCommunication & Management and a visiting scholar at BI Norwegian School of Management and Rotterdam School ofManagement.

Shady El Damaty, Ph.D.

President, Opsci; Co-Founder, Holonym; Unbuilt Labs IIR ‘22

Raised 5.5 million USD in 2024

  • Neuroscientist trained in multimodal neuroimaging (EEG/ECoG/MRI), behavioral science, and machine learning techniques. Intellectual interests include the development of mechanistic biophysical models of decision-making derived from empirical neural dynamics recorded from perception to action.

    Currently exploring software development challenges in decentralized data marketplaces to support open science, humanitarian engineering, and asymmetrical social impact.

    Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Georgetown UniversityPrincipal investigator on Community Life and Adolescent Development StudyFounder of Opscientia