8th Zermatt Summit: Visionaries and doers hit the road
From September 12 to 14, 2019, the Zermatt Summit will take place for the eighth time in Zermatt, Switzerland. "Entrepreneurship to serve the common good" is the theme of this year's conference.
More than 150 business and opinion leaders from Switzerland, Europe and overseas are expected at the high-profile business summit (see preview of the "8th Zermatt Summit" in the current print edition (UP_2019_09)). One of the declared goals of the Zermatt Summit is: The classic economic model, which focuses on people, must be transformed - inspired by nature and taking into account the needs of all people.
What is needed is a radical departure from the throwaway economy that has prevailed since industrialization. This concept has contributed significantly to the fact that humanity will soon have exhausted natural resources. 25 globally active entrepreneurs, such as Alisée de Tonnac, who was recently nominated by Forbes Magazine as one of the leading "Social Entrepreneur under 30" or Giuseppe Lavazza, who was the first coffee market leader to launch 100 percent compostable and biodegradable coffee capsules in 2015, show in their keynotes and as panelists how they break with the traditional logic of mainstream business through innovation.
The Blue Economy focuses on basic human needs -food, water, energy and health-while regenerating nature, creating jobs, building communities and eliminating waste. "Nobody tells me that buying an organic apple from Chile here in Zermatt is sustainable. That's just not true. It's not and it never will be," explains Gunter Pauli (see clip below), himself a Blue Economy founder at the Zermatt Summit. In his view, the local economy stimulates a direct relationship between producers and consumers.
Radical departure from the throwaway economy
Using concrete examples from cutting-edge technology and modern entrepreneurship, the Zermatt Summit explains that this model does not make sense in our ever-changing climate. The projects developed at the conference not only promote a new circular economy, but create multi-income streams that decouple companies from existing core business models and turn them into more stakeholder-oriented organizations.
Platform for exchange and relationship building
Speakers who have something to say and congress participants who want to be inspired meet once a year at the Zermatt Summit. They use this unique platform to exchange ideas with "changemakers" from civil society, education, science and politics in order to bring more humanity into the process of globalization and to develop new models that serve people and the common good. The Business Summit stands for ethical business in an increasingly complex world.
Zermatt is the powerhouse for change
People need to come together to make change happen. When people meet on a personal level in an inspiring place like Zermatt, things happen that are not planned, cannot be planned. There is no online structure that can replace this experience. That's why the initiator and organizer of the Zermatt Summit Christopher Wasserman deliberately chose this venue. Zermatt is located away from the everyday hectic world. The journey to the Valais mountains requires commitment, which is what it takes if you want to make a difference. Wasserman says:
"We want to provide a place where people with a wide variety of life concepts can meet to be inspired, share innovations, network and create new business models together for a better world."
More than statements: speakers at the Zermatt Summit stand for action.
- Urs Gredig interviews Gunter Pauli in the run-up to the environmental summit.
