Impossible is an innovation group and

incubator An incubator is anything that performs or facilitates various forms of incubation, and may refer to: Biology and medicine * Incubator (culture), a device used to grow and maintain microbiological cultures or cell cultures * Incubator (egg), a dev ...

. It started as a gift economy platform created by

Lily Cole Lily Luahana Cole (born 27 December 1987)"Autobiography"
, lilycole.com. is a B ...

in 2013, and since then has expanded to other areas, mainly design and technology. Impossible claim to be working on client projects with potentially far-reaching impacts.

Impossible People

Impossible People (previously Impossible.com) is an altruism-based

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...

which invites people to give their services and skills away to help others. Created by

Lily Cole Lily Luahana Cole (born 27 December 1987)"Autobiography"
, lilycole.com. is a B ...

, the app allows users to post something they would like to do or need so that others can grant their wish. In May 2013, Cole presented the app's beta in conjunction and with the support of Wikipedia co-founder

Jimmy Wales Jimmy Donal Wales (born August 7, 1966), also known as Jimbo Wales, is an American List of Internet entrepreneurs, Internet entrepreneur and former Trader (finance), financial trader. He is a Founders of Wikipedia, co-founder of the non-profi ...

at a special event at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. It is the first Yunus social business in the UK. The project became open source in March 2017.

Funding and support

In the past, the Impossible.com gift economy project received a grant of £200,000 from the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

’s Innovation in Giving fund. Other investors include Lily Cole herself and boyfriend and Impossible's co-founder, Kwame Ferreira. Donations of services from

Muhammad Yunus Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi economist, entrepreneur, and civil society leader who has been serving as the Chief Adviser of Bangladesh, Chief Adviser of the Interim government of Muhammad Yunus, interim Yunus ministry, g ...

, Brian Boylan, chairman of

Wolff Olins Wolff Olins is a global brand consultancy agency that specialises in corporate identity. It was founded in 1965 in London, where its main office is still based, as well as having offices in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It emplo ...

, Tea Uglow, creative director for Google’s Creative Lab, office space and "angel investor" role from

, and legal services from

Herbert Smith Freehills Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP (HSFK) is a global law firm with headquarters in London, England and Sydney, Australia. As of 2024, the firm was the 33rd largest by revenue. It was formed on 1 October 2012 by a merger between the United Kin ...

bolstered the social network.Mission Impossible: Lily Cole's new social network
" ''The Telegraph'', 23 Nov 2013.

References

External links

*{{Official, http://impossible.com Industrial design