FuturePositive Events: using advanced technologies to drive progress
Today, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of FuturePositive Events, a bi-monthly event to bring together individuals who seek inspirational, pragmatic and forward-thinking conversations about the potential for advanced technologies to drive progress at scale, and who come together to design the future we want to live in.
Through our work, Sofia and I meet many people who are curious about the intersection of technology and progress. Though these encounters always spark interesting conversations, we’re (still) inevitably faced with the same questions over and over again: what defines the most capable impact entrepreneurs? How does it mean to drive progress? Is Google positive for the world company? The list goes on… In our minds, these perspectives, and the conversations that follow, miss the point: none of them speak to the potential for deep-tech and science to drive progress in a scalable and highly profitable way. None of them speak to the power of companies focused on building preferable futures.
None of them speak to the social and environmental progress that companies like Ynsect (the first bio-refinery of insects in the world), Streetbees (an intelligence platform making human data accessible anywhere to accelerate economic development), What3words, (the world’s simplest addressing system), or Biobeats (which applies the power of machine learning to preventative mental health) are making. And none of them push the conversation deep enough to explore what cutting edge technologies are particularly promising and attractive, and what new business models need to be deployed to further advance society.
Feeling the need to elevate the conversation towards a more pragmatic, forward-thinking approach, as well as provide a space for anyone who was curious about this, Sofia launched Impact Coffees last year — a low-key monthly gathering for individuals who wanted to push their thinking. She thought 15 or 20 people might show up if she was lucky. Lo and behold, more than 200 people gathered at Second Home in London, and stayed late into the evening, passionately exchanging ideas and advice on what they were building. The success of these first events spoke to the appetite of individuals — entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists, investors, young professionals, designers, you name it––all keen to learn more.
Since then, the space has continued to evolve, and there are now a number of accelerators and community spaces, conferences, investors and entrepreneurs who are increasingly focused on building these ambitious companies that address pressing challenges in a scalable and profitable way.
Despite the progress, however, we still see a gaping hole to shape that conversation at a European level––a need for a community that pushes our collective ambitions, nurtures collaborative relationships and actively shares best practices for everyone interested in impact at scale.
That’s why we’re launching Future Positive Events with events in Paris and London. These events have 3 objectives:
- Imagination. Let’s project into our most preferable future, and visualize the destination before hopping on the spaceship. We’ll share frameworks and tools to design the future, taking from different disciplines from speculative design to foresight.
- Inspiration. Many scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs are already building those futures. We’ll place them in the spotlight to share their inspiring stories, and have them describe how they’re achieving impact at scale. And finally,
- Action. To establish a critical path towards action, we’ll share studies and best practices, and build the kind of local and global networks needed to propel pioneering business ideas forward.
More info on dates soon!
