Altru held its 4th meeting in Davos and brought to its sessions a unique confluence of truly interesting and dynamic people. Altru sessions focused on Refugees, Climate, and Blockchain. Here are some highlights from sessions at the Altru Clubhouse.
Refugee Crisis. Refugee Cities Not Camps. Global leaders from around the world. The refugee crisis (urbanization in general) is staggering with 10’s of millions being displaced each year. Cities not Camps. Kurtis Lockhart of Charter Cities, Michael Castle Miller of Refugee Cities and Sustainable Development Zone Alliance Chairperson Joachim Ruecker shared the critical need for a new approach and to address the core question asked by Andan Global Cities Founder Christian Kaelin who has spent more than a decade on this mission.: “Can we give people a place in which they can build a life?”
Climate Crisis. Carbon Recapture. Carbon Sequestration. Forestation is regarded as one of the greatest opportunities to address the carbon challenge. Sundar Bharadwaj, CEO Terragrn described a bold plan for South Africa to utilize bamboo both as a renewal energy source and as a carbon capture technology. He plans over 100 million hectares planted in Africa in the coming decade.
Mark Cusak, founder and CEO Lyte Coatings described a technology capable of pulling CO2 from. Worked with the UK government funding and Siemens to develop a coating that eviscerates pathogens in trains he discovered its capacity to reduce CO2 levels while repairing the air using photocatalytic oxidation.
CEO Ljubomir Samardzic presented the concept of Branded Real Estate. His firm ICICB Developments, a Dubai based Real estate company that has captured two major trends. Sustainability in Real Estate and Crypto Currency.
LG executives described the new LG NOVA venture fund and the LG Challenge an annual event to identify the most promising new ventures. Patrick Lin, Director of the new fund was Head of Autonomous vehicles at Ford Motors and Special Advisor to the White House. He offered insight into the future of transportation.
The future of Vaccines. Joseph Hernandez presented his firm Blue Water Vaccines which licensed technology from Oxford to create a universal vaccine.
Blockchain. Medha Parlikar - Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer of Casperlabs a pre-eminent blockchain scientist discussed how blockchain technologies capacity for humanitarian impact. Vojtech Simetka, a founder and board member of the Blockchain for Humanity Award described its 5 years of finding and promoting projects. He described some of some of the very powerful and inspirational projects.
Assistant Secretary General of NATO, Giedrimas Jeglinskas discussed the role of climate and sustainability in maintaining peace in Europe and the research they have been doing in this regard. He offered some insights on how the current conflict.
Top Tier Impact (TTI) brought the clubhouse 30 impact investors for introductions and panel session. A truly diverse crowd from across the globe. Helena Wassestein TTI COO led the discussion. Top Tier has over 600 members around the world selected for their engagement in impact activities.
The closing dinner on Wednesday the 25th was a highlighted another successful Summit. Our eclectic group of 25 guests from 12 different countries in the private room at the Postli captured the essence of why Davos is magic. The people it attracts. We enjoyed the wit and humor as we went around the room to hear ideas and insights of terrific personalities doing important work. Thanks to Altru Network members Ljubomir Samardzic of ICICB Developments and Joseph Hernandez of Blue Water Vaccines for sponsoring.