UNLEASHed : What happened in Denmark DOESN’T stay in Denmark. Right?
Some of you asked what UNLEASH actually is? Is it another useless conference? Or is it just a networking party?
Backstory
Essentially, UNLEASH got some explanation in its own title — Innovation Lab. Let me borrow a common word from startup culture — a hackathon. The only thing I’d add is that this a sustainable-development-oriented one, more specifically — focused on tackling Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were developed by the UN.
Having been signed by 195 states (and ratified already by 160) as a result of the Paris Agreement in autumn 2015, the global community committed itself to reaching 17 SDGs by 2030. This is an ambitious goal that, obviously, means a lot of effort to be put by all the sectors — governments, the corporate sector, civil society and each of us as individuals. The question is how?
As Flemming Besenbacher, Head of the Supervisory Board of Carlsberg Group, once pointed out:
“The discussions and conferences seem to be a fairly good instrument but I’d like to see some real solutions.”
In order to walk the talk, a group of Danish corporate sector representatives, including consultants from Dalberg Group and Deloitte with the support of the UN came up with an idea of developing a project that would result in creating real outputs — a for-profit startup, a social enterprise or a non-for-profit focused on achieving SDGs. That’s how about 2 years ago UNLEASH Innovation Lab was born.
What’s inside?
Firstly, 1000 ppl from across the world who are mainly entrepreneurs, academia representatives and tech experts humbled to have become the Founding Class of UNLEASH and empowered as SDG Talents met in Copenhagen what included several panels on sustainable development, case studies on sustainable solutions for Danish companies as well as study tours to sustainable-development-oriented companies and social enterprises.
Later on, the Talents were split into large 8 groups (based on specific SDGs) that spread in different locations across Danish countryside. Finally, through thorough facilitation process, we ended up in teams of 4-5 SDG Talents who focus on very specific issues.
Under a rigorous facilitation of consultants from Deloitte and the UN as well as various industry experts, within 5 days the teams were brainstorming insights, defining real-world problems and framing ideas aimed to resolve issues either as a startup, a social enterprise or just a non-for-profit.
What’s in it for me?
Part 1. Circular economy sparkles: An E-waste Case
When I applied for the program I was pretty much interested in joining the SDG 11 Group — Sustainable Cities & Communities. However, later on, my insights turned out to be more valuable for the SDG 12 Sustainable Production & Consumption.
This brought me to explore SDG 12 in a narrower subgroup — Circular Economy at a lovely Danish seaside place called Folk High School Snoghøj that hosted us.
Firstly, together with my fellow teammates, we focused on “Moral vs Monetary Incentives” for a circular economy. Though, having longstanding debates, internal pitches and brainstorming, we shared a common interest in e-waste. Indeed, the scale of the problem is immense — according to Al Jazeera’s report ‘E-Waste Republic’, Ghana (well, Nigeria too) holds world’s biggest e-waste landfills. Obviously, the scope of the problem is behind just a startup solution — the hand of the int’l organisations and governments is needed as well. So, after a rigorous facilitation, we came with the idea to tackle it at the core — by breaking the waste supply chain. Ultimately, we identified the scope of the issue — a niché between e-waste owners & users and the electronics manufacturers.
N.B. If you’re interested in looking more into this project, please feel free to reach me out.
P.S. Interestingly, just in a few weeks this experience brought me to join an E-waste workshop during the WEF inaugural Sustainable Development Impact Summit held in New York during the 72nd UN General Assembly. In particular, the workshop covered e-waste systems in Africa and, essentially, resulted in an agreement to create an initial pilot in Nigeria.
Part 2. The Humans [of Snugglehøj]
First of all, the Danish concept of folk high school is simply mind-blowing — they managed to create so friendly and relaxed atmosphere, so all the teams enjoyed their time there. For instance, our Snoghøj school had a fantastic music room where we arranged jam sessions after intense all-day brainstorming and pitching sessions and even managed to prepare a small farewell gig (indeed!). Although, we all worked in a competitive environment — only 2 out of 25 teams implied to get through, however, UNLEASH brought very collaborative vibes. Just look in their eyes!
The Finals
Through senior facilitators milestone check-ins and peer review, 14 out of 199 teams’ ideas (there were 7 SDGs selected for the inaugural year; 2 teams per SDG pitched in the final round) have been pitched for angel investors & SD experts.
The award ceremony included an opening from Crown Princess Mary of Denmark who also attended the UNLEASH Festival in Aarhus and keynote speeches by the Prime Minister of Denmark Lars Løkke Rasmussen, UNDP Director Achim Steiner, Salman Khan — founding CEO of Khan Academy, and Ashton Kutcher — somebody I haven’t heard of before and whom many of you might know more from the perspective of pop-culture. In fact, Ashton turned out to be a serial investor and, according to Forbes, built a $250 million portfolio with startups like Uber and Airbnb.
What’s next, right?
Since September, 7 best teams & ideas are in the process of close collaboration with angel investors and have already been experiencing seed funding process, hopefully soon developed into fully autonomous SD-oriented startups & independent entities.
Essentially, what happened in Denmark DOESN’T stay in Denmark — the fathers of UNLEASH are focused not only on promoting the winners of the Innovation Lab, but also in building a community and providing further assistance to all the teams and the ideas they are still passionate about and ready to keep working after the hackathon itself.
Also, UNLEASH is expected to run as a long-term project to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and is expected to be hosted in a different country every year. The next, or second, edition of the Innovation Lab has already been scheduled for mid-2018 and is to be held in Singapore.
The application deadline is Feb 15, 2018.
Became passionate about UNLEASH?
Became interested in joining a fascinating platform for professionals & social entrepreneurs interested in [and already tackling] the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda? Want to receive a nomination? Please, reach me out by email or Facebook (I can provide a limited amount of nominations).
