Doing Good and Doing Business at ImpactFest 2019
Driven by the motto “doing good and doing business”, more than a thousand impact-makers from across the world joined forces during the 4th edition of ImpactFest on 5 November. More than a dozen Humanity Hub members, including our managing director, hosted meet-ups and roundabouts at the festival. The themes ranged from digital and financing innovation to food sustainability and social entrepreneurship.
Hub members Dutch Coalition for Humanitarian Innovation (DCHI) and HiiL each organised meet-ups around the theme of innovation.
DCHI showcased opportunities stemming from the convergence of emerging technologies such as ICT, biotech, nanotech, AI, and new energy. An engaging workshop showed participants the necessary mindset to put digital innovations into practice – turning even for-profit innovations into useful humanitarian tools. Meanwhile, HiiL tackled sustainable financing models with a focus towards bridging the justice gap through private-public sector collaboration.
The Humanity Hub celebrates networks that empower change and plays an active role in developing the ecosystem for a more peaceful and just world.
To this end our managing director Jill Wilkinson alongside design thinking facilitator Lisette Reek welcomed change makers at their own meet-up. Participants shared their change ambition with each other and applied design thinking principles to develop successful action networks.
Following the inspiring meet-ups, ImpactFest continued on with roundabouts and impact sessions. We are quite proud that more than 15% of all roundabout discussions were hosted by members of the Humanity Hub community.
Conscious Kitchen’s Anubhav Kandpal shared his experience on increasing the impact of food sustainability. John Marks, who founded one of the largest peacebuilding NGOs in the world, sought to prepare the next generation of social entrepreneurs. (You can still join him for our 13 November fundraising masterclass)
Other roundabout hosts included Yme Gorter (Waai), Mike Freni (Kumbaya), Alexander Gunkel (Space4Good), Claire Leunissen (The Hague Hacks), Lucien Stöpler (Justice in Practice), Nicolas Höning (Seita BV), Godfrey Takavarasha (UN OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data), Judith Madigan (BRANDOUTLOUD), Jiye Seong (Human Rights Foundation), and Marloeke Werst (21CC Education).
We are all excited to have been part of Europe’s largest impact meet-up!
ImpactFest is the annual event where purpose-driven organizations from all corners of the world have a platform to present themselves, pitch for investors and exchange experiences to scale together. ImpactFest is an initiative of the municipality of The Hague, together with a close group of impact partners, and within four years it has become the biggest impact event with international startups in Europe. The festival was organised by ImpactCity in collaboration with the European Venture Philanthropy Association.
