Sarajevo, June 26, 2025 – A specialized training titled “Assessing Startup Sustainability Based on the DIN SPEC 90051-1 Standard” was held in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The training was intended for advisors and experts from business development organizations, startup incubators, accelerators, and other support institutions seeking to expand their expertise in sustainability consulting for startups.
The workshop brought together representatives of various startup support organizations to strengthen their capacity in advising on sustainable business models.
In today’s business landscape, sustainability is becoming a key competitive factor—not only for large, established companies but also for startups and emerging entrepreneurs. Funding programs, investors, and customers are increasingly emphasizing responsible and sustainable business models. As a result, business development organizations and advisors are expected to support entrepreneurs in developing and evaluating their sustainability strategies.
The DIN SPEC 90051-1 standard, introduced in 2022, provides a structured framework for identifying and assessing both actual and potential sustainability impacts of startups. It is applicable across industries and at all stages of startup development, enabling a systematic and comprehensive evaluation of business model sustainability.
A total of 11 participants from 9 different organizations across Bosnia and Herzegovina took part in the training. Through interactive sessions and practical application of the standard on a fictional startup case, participants gained essential knowledge about the structure and content of DIN SPEC 90051-1, along with practical insights into the challenges and benefits of assessing sustainability in the startup context.
Dr. Mirza Suljagić, Director of R&D at Fablab Innovation Center, shared his experience:
“Taking part in the DIN SPEC 90051-1 sustainability assessment workshop deepened my grasp of the standard’s five-area framework—management, products and services, environmental impact, social responsibility, and finance and risk—and showed me how to turn its guiding questions into a fast, evidence-based scorecard for young ventures. This competence will translate directly into Fablab’s REAKTOR incubator, where startups receive hands-on prototyping support, mentoring, and pre-acceleration services, all of which I can now align with clear ESG and CSRD-ready metrics. Moreover, because Fablab is the EIT Urban Mobility hub for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia, this also strengthens applications to EIT UM accelerator schemes that offer tailored coaching, city testbeds, and investor matchmaking—multiplying the regional impact of every venture I coach or co-found.”
The training was organized as part of the “Sustainable Economic Development and Employment Promotion” (SEDEP) program, co-financed by the European Union (EU), the Federal Republic of Germany (BMZ), and the Government of Switzerland.
