Changemakers Summit on Lesvos – Europe Day 4.0: An alternative approach to the crisis

Changemakers Summit will take place in Mytilene, Lesvos on Europe Day, Tuesday May 9th 2017. The Summit aims to inspire and showcase an alternative approach to the crisis: one in which changemakers and diverse stakeholders come together and co-create impactful solutions that contribute to solving both humanitarian and economic challenges!

The Summit’s theme is “Europe Day 4.0: An alternative approach to the crisis”, and its focus will be on identifying and accelerating ways in which we can empower and accelerate social tech entrepreneurs, and turn the crisis into an opportunity for local economic development and integration. Representatives of government and non governmental organisations, Universities and research centers, entrepreneurs and investors will participate in this inaugural summit.

Among others, Riaan Conradie, LifeQ CEO, Batoul Husseini from SAP, Emanuele Musa Babele’s co-founder, physicist Daniel Dobos from CERN, Thorsten Gleibs from MLOVE and Theo Anagnostopoulos from the social entrepreneurship sector confirmed their participation in the event.

Europe has been deeply affected by the refugee crisis, as hundreds of thousands of people transition into Europe. This huge influx of people has generated a new set of challenges surrounding the humanitarian and integration needs. These challenges have resulted in Europe finding itself at a significant crossroad. The aim of the Summit is to hold inclusive international dialogues with diverse stakeholders, show casing an alternative approach to the crisis, inspiring a positive and inclusive way forward, from Lesvos and beyond.

Pre-event collaborative workshops

On May 6th 2017, a series of collaborative workshops will begin, which will be focused on actionable solutions regarding testing, implementing and accelerating social impactful tech solutions, which will precede the Summit. These will include:

• an acceleration bootcamp,

• SAP “train the trainer” coding school,

• a STEM program and

• two think tanks,

  • “Market Access for innoavtive solutons” and the other

  • “Futures & Foresight on Humanitarian Tech”.

During the workshops, projects that are being implemented under the Changemakers Lab program, will be further developed and the results of these interctaive workshops will be presented at the Summit.

CML is also proud to announce the collaboration with Geneva based organisations (The Port at CERN and G3iD), which will work together in testing, implementing and accelerating proposed solutions on Lesvos. Challenges identified on the Lesvos will be worked on at The Port Hackathon in Geneva in October 2017.

CML approaches the refugee crisis from the principles of community, collaboration and entrepreneurship. Through inclusive collaboration, CML endeavors to position Lesvos as a Global Humanitarian Tech Hub, establishing best practices, accelerating social impactful tech solutions and inspiring positive change across Europe!

Changemakers Lab

Changemakers Summit is held under the Changemakers Lab (CML) program. CML’s vision is to establish best practices on the island and position Lesvos as a Global Humanitarian Tech Hub, through a network of strategic international partners. The program’s mission is to create an enabling environment where social entrepreneurs and key stakeholders can co-create social impactful tech solutions that contribute to solving humanitarian challenges, stimulating local economic development across Europe!

CML is also collaborating with the University of the Aegean Environment Department, in its Entrepreneurship course, as a strategic partner. Our team members also serve as mentors on the implementation and acceleration of the student’s startups. The Top 3 of these startups will be presented in the Changemakers Summit on 9 May.