We have come a long way since Mardamej. Social innovation camps were a lot of fun, but many of the teams that emerged from these co-design events needed more support. So we built Kolba, a social venture incubator.

But Kolba has become so much more than an incubator. It is a community of troublemakers, thinkers and fixers. It is a network that has created an eclectic mess of challenges, prototypes, research initiatives, development projects and events.

We can’t even begin to capture all the amazing stuff that the Kolba network is up to in one blog, but we thought that we would share a few highlights from 2014 to whet your appetite for next year:

Kolba’s local governance challenge created some pretty cool ventures. The teams are troublemaking as we write, but a story that stands out is that of Arthur Dolmajian, a Canadian transport engineer of Armenian origin, who was inspired to relocate by the challenge. He’s now busy making Yerevan’s transport infrastructure navigable on Google and Open Street Map.

Seeing Hands, one of the ventures incubated by Kolba last year continues to thrive. There is even talk of the business expanding to Georgia. We are very proud that it was made in Armenia.

This year also saw the conversion of our internal training events, called Kolba Cafés, into public networking events for the entire community. The event on branding Armenia by Vasken Kalayjian filled the UN Conference room to bursting.

Finally, we have been nudging the Government to embrace co-design of public services and other government functions. We are making headway, so watch this space.

The above is just the tip of the iceberg. But we want to hear from you… where do you want to take Kolba next year? What did you like this year and what would you change? Any suggestions for Kolba Café topics or speakers?