HORYOU'S SPECIAL DAVOS ONLINE EDITION OF SIGEF

Catalyzing Innovative Public/Private Partnerships Towards Post-Covid-19 Sustainability Solutions

GENEVA, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, April 16, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- “If the goal is to recover from the pandemic, we need great innovations that are both ethical and bold." Coming from the Director-General of UN Geneva, this opening statement summed up the spirit of the tenth edition of the Social Innovation and Global Ethics Forum – SIGEF, organized by Horyou Foundation, and the third to be virtual.

As was the case with all previous editions, SIGEFOnline 2021 was a resolute look to the future and how to make it something to look forward to for everyone, everywhere. From AI to the IoT and blockchain, and through medical care, finance, education, and information, including social media, the speakers of all sessions called for an equitable sharing of wealth amongst all regions, continents, age groups, genders, and communities around the world and to overcome all sorts of socio-economic and health problems, including pandemics.

Livestreamed from Geneva on Thursday, January 28th, 2021 and coinciding with the annual gathering of the shapers of the global economy in Davos, SIGEFOnline 2021 was a good opportunity for Ms. Tatiana Valovaya, the 13th UN official and the first woman to occupy this position, to promote the connection of the UN 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the financial sector to catalyze innovative public/private partnerships.

Perpetuating the SIGEF tradition, this edition brought together alongside Ms. Valovaya, a large array of high-ranking officials, as well as business executives, NGOs and representatives of civil society, academia and the arts, to voice concerns, experiences and propositions on disruptive technologies, conscious capitalism, women empowerment, Youth and Climate, and science.

The pervasiveness of the pandemic as a theme throughout all of the panels, the societal crisis of which it is a symptom and the best way to overcome it and reinstate sustainability were the focal points of everyone’s concerns and actions and the core features of this edition.

Aptly titled “Disruptive Technologies: Fostering Autonomy in Anticipation of a Sustainable Future," the first panel navigated from the notion of “a gaming society fascinated by horror and characterized by the fear of death” (Akira Hasegawa), to AI and the risks of not building safeguards, such as the establishment of a digital identity as a way to re-take control of the Internet (Carlos Moreira), to pushing for reconsideration of the importance of mineral resources in accordance with the requisites of the SDGs (David Lenigas).

The next panel, titled "Conscious Finance: Combining Venture and Impact Capitalism for Good," focused on entrepreneurial finance, impact investment and the role of private finance for sustainable development (Karen Wilson) and highlighted technology’s facet as an enabler of inclusion, fostering communities in order to create business opportunities and societal impact, based on the global Covid-19 experience (Raja Al Mazrouei).

The panel "Women Empowerment: Advancing Equality and Inclusion through Partnerships" was comprised of three high-profile women (Teuta Bakalli, Amina Arapova and Valentina Nessi), whose exceptional walks of life constituted the core of their presentations, an interesting testimony to the fact that empowerment is a matter of passion as much as it is one of will and opportunity. “I like to live my life like a work of art, the art of living the difference."

"Reviving Trust in Science for an Inclusive Global Health Approach" was next, again with three speakers, (Magnus Magnusson, Dr. Constantinos Demetriades and Dr. Camillo Ricordi). From quoting Hans Jonas, (“How we manage scientific uncertainty will determine our future,") to “understanding how our cells sense the availability of nutrients in their environment to adjust their growth and metabolism accordingly," to stating that Covid-19’s most surprising consequence was the general public’s revived interest in science, the panel concluded that the question was not in the public’s distrust in science as much as it was in the way science was presented, or misrepresented.

The following panel was "Youth and Climate: Action Beyond Persuasion." From Naomi Oreskes ("It’s good to have the US back in the Paris Agreement but the lesson of the past four years is that the rest of the world cannot just sit back and wait for the US to solve this problem because that’s not going to happen. The rest of the world must take leadership"), to Sofie Winge-Petersen (“The EU and the US must work together, because something radical has to happen”), and Clara Latini (“engaging the media and decision makers to be involved in the same action") this session highlighted the crucial involvement of youth in creating conditions that are bound to help shape and inclusive and sustainable world.

Closing the conference, Yonathan Parienti, founder and CEO of Horyou, the Social Network for Social Good, co-organizer of SIGEF with the Horyou Foundation, stated: “Solutions are there, we need to connect the innovators, the people who are thinking the world of tomorrow with the funders, the people that have the financial resources and are looking for allocating these resources to what will be impacting the world in the best ways possible. We have to stand up and we have to connect, that’s the purpose of Horyou and the Horyou Foundation.”

SIGEFOnline Organizers and Main Sponsors:
Horyou, the Social Network for Social Good Horyou Foundation
Cognitive Research Labs NQ Minerals
La Fabrique du Futur HoryouToken

More information: www.sigefonline.com
Access to all replays: www.sigefonline.com/#/conferences