The Websummit — a View Into the Future
Enjoyed my days this year at the Websummit in Lisbon — yes a crazy big event, long entrance queues (all eager to get into action!), partly crowded; but also a lot of fantastic interaction with other entrepreneurs, founders, service providers, policy makers, investors, shareholders and much more; such as good food, excellent wines and fun events!
With our company ROCSOLE we were part of the GROWTH track and we were one of the 2926 startups/scaleups at the event! And there were probably several more about to be created…
In my view, the event carries so much positive energy, and there are so many great people to meet…Be open minded, and you can learn so much!
Some say the Websummit shows the path towards the future, and through the various poll boards you can participate on, it gives some interesting indications. Let’s look at two;
- SUSTAINABILITY & CARBON-ZERO SOCIETY:
When do we reach net-zero: here it seems like the sentiments are 2050 or never. We should all make our best efforts to reach the carbon-neutral society, and the COP27 in the weeks after the Websummit will give a stronger indication on the road map ahead.
What groups should be leading the way for the energy transition process: here, it looks like the collaboration between governments/public organizations along with major private consumers is essential, according to the pollers.
And the biggest concerns based on fossil fuel usage are related to loss of biodiversity and extreme weather conditions.
2. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:
Entrepreneurs have and want to play an important role in the global community. Governments, large corporates and other organizations should consider the voice of the entrepreneurs. Don’t neglect us; we are carrying weight and importance for the future — let’s see how it shows at the COP27 already! And the entrepreneurs social responsibility is baked into the business model and employees work bottom-up as changemakers…
And probably as no surprise — entrepreneurs see crisis as an opportunity to create solutions.
Then, I was thrown out into a challenge, invited by the European Investment Bank: pitch your startup in 60 seconds, competing against a graffiti artist…I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, but it sounded like an intriguing challenge. Should I make the pitch as a rap? How to get ready for this?
It was a fun experience, and always doing something new and different makes you learn something new. Dish, the graffiti artist, was super-cool and great to work with. The harbor scenery was perfect and the sixty seconds are actually quite some time…Check out the five entrepreneur pitches on EIB’s Twitter channel…
The full 60 second pitch of mine you can watch here:
I carry a lot of impressions with me from these long and intense days — so many fantastic people: entrepreneurs creating, disrupting and changing the world (two examples, out of many, many…Hasna Kourda with Save Your Wardrobe and Doron Myersdorf with StoreDot); investors and corporates; like Shell’s push for open innovation (great move) and really engaging discussions with so many VCs…Be the best version of yourself!
What I gather from Lisbon, plus a few other recent smaller niche-events on deeptech, hardtech, digitalization and cleantech/climatetech, is that the change is taking place; for industries, manufacturing and production — the collaborations between corporates, capital, policy makers and innovators /entrepreneurs are intensifying: from early startup phase, to the scaleup phase, when the true impact takes place. The transformation to make all industries and activities carbon-neutral is tough, demanding and not easy. But we have to make an effort together, for a better planet.
/Mika
