Three great days at changeNOW 2023

30,000+ people took part in the ChangeNOW2023 Summit in Paris from May 25th to 27th, to address urgent issues such as climate change, biodiversity, tech for good, ecosystem acceleration and sustainable food systems. And Alkemio of course was there!

Alkemio took part in the “Accelerate the Ecosystem” track, a good match for our fundamental approach to enabling society to work more effectively together! Our stand is shown below, and attracted many visitors, leading to engaging and meaningful conversations. It is clear that the recently launched Innovation Library brings a new dimension to the platform, allowing best practices to be much more easily shared. The positive feedback we received about the core of our platform was truly inspiring.

Cross-silo collaboration and public values central

One of the key aspects that resonated with attendees was our platform’s ability to foster cross-silo collaboration. It is simply critical to have a shared space for all parties, with the change to be achieved central. And then to support that community as they work together for change with the tools needed for effective progress: a whiteboard for visual collaboration (Miro), discussions around content (Slack), safely share files (Google Drive), share events, etc – all supported by best practices from the Innovation Library to support communities working together for change.

Another key aspect of Alkemio that received many positive reactions was our focus on putting public values central – and what that means for being able to trust the platform and how your data is protected. This includes the elimination of advertising-based revenue models and algorithms that push specific content.

Doughnut Economics, TheoryU - understanding a new future

A core theme at the event was the focus on how we need to look at new ways of working together. New economic models. New incentives. Key thought leaders in this space, such as Doughnut Economics and Theory U, gave inspiring presentations – triggering many more deep discussions between participants on what it means to work together using alternative economic models. Of course this is a topic already being actively followed by Alkemio, with our focus on Steward Ownership, so for us it was fantastic to see the energy on this really critical topic.

City of The Hague Delegation

We were honoured to also be part of the ImpactCity The Hague delegation which included 25 public, private, and NGO participants related to the city of The Hague and its ecosystem. One of the highlights of our time was the official side event held at the Embassy of the Netherlands in France on Thursday. It was a pleasure to connect with individuals from diverse background. We exchanged ideas, discussed fruitful learnings from the various sessions off the day during the Summit, forged new connections, and shared opportunities for a sustainable future.

Pitching

On Friday, Denise Larsson, our Community Manager, had the opportunity to take the stage and pitch Alkemio to an enthusiastic audience. The response was very positive, and again both the platform’s ability to make impact together and our focus on public values was well received.

Looking back

René Honig, co-founder of Alkemio beautifully described those days:

“Under the gaze of Eiffel’s magnificent testament to human innovation, at ChangeNOW in the Grand Palais Éphémère, we showcased Alkemio’s online platform. In the spirit of Gustave Eiffel, who inspired countless minds with his daring imagination and tenacity, we aim to enable creative synergy for impactful solutions. Just as Eiffel bridged Paris with the sky, we seek to bridge humanity with its potential, proving that together, we can redefine the boundaries of possibility.”

In conclusion, our participation in the ChangeNOW 23 event in Paris was full of learnings, insights, and definitely was a great success! Both in terms of the problem we are addressing as Alkemio, more effective impact together, as well as how we are doing it, by putting public values as central. We now bring this energy back home knowing that there is still a lot of work to be done, and more importantly that we are going on the right direction!

Will you join us on working together to make sustainable and efficient impact?