Accelerating Ideas That Change the World | Love Dager | TEDxBerlin Salon
LO, a Stockholm-based entrepreneur, argues that citizen-driven innovation, like his hackathon platform Hack for Earth, is necessary because relying solely on governments to set global goals is insufficient. He illustrates this with a Nigerian group winning a hackathon for low-tech vertical farming, which provides scalable solutions for the developing world. ## Speakers & Context - **LO:** Stockholm-based tech entrepreneur, investor, and community builder. - LO operates **Hack for Earth**, a global hackathon platform. - The discussion takes place in **Davos**, where LO was hosting a hackathon. - A stated critique of governance: relying on elected or unelected politicians to set all world goals is insufficient. ## Theses & Positions - **Citizen Power:** Global problems require citizen-driven innovation, enabling as many people as possible to create solutions and drive impact. - **Critique of Governance:** There is a fundamental problem with letting governments solely set global goals or create all solutions for the world. - **Power of Money/Citizenship:** While citizens can vote, the ability to "vote with your money" through innovative action is a uniquely powerful form of citizenship-led innovation. - **The "Age of Builders":** A shift away from previous eras (like the "age of the entrepreneur") where only tech-focused people could create change; now, anyone with an idea can be a builder, heavily assisted by tools and AI. - **Impact as a "Drug":** Successfully creating real-world impact becomes addictive for innovators. - **Grassroots vs. Systemic Funding:** While large prizes (like X-Prize) create fascinating things, bypassing established systems through grassroots ability is valuable. ## Concepts & Definitions - **Hack for Earth:** A global hackathon platform mobilizing citizens, companies, and cities to develop solutions aligned with the **UN sustainable development goals**. - **Vertical Farming:** A method typically seen in developed countries using high tech (containers) to achieve less space, more yield, and less labor. - **Build Hack:** A method involving three stages: 1) Dreaming (identifying needs), 2) Hackathons (creating early-stage solutions over 48–72 hours), and 3) Build (an acceleration program to turn concepts into real startups). - **Actionable Impact:** Solutions must be doable, not the most expensive, and scalable; prioritizing what can be achieved now rather than solely moonshot projects. - **Global South:** The developing countries, emphasized as a primary area for positive impact and engagement. ## Mechanisms & Processes - **Hackathon Process:** Dream $\rightarrow$ Hackathon (48-72 hours, early solutions) $\rightarrow$ Build (Acceleration Program for real startup development). - **Startup Support:** Hackathon winners are supported through introductions to VCs (for money), help building out the company, and finding team members. - **Scalability Principle:** Solutions using low-tech materials like **PVC pipes** are considered highly scalable because the components are available everywhere. - **Innovation Enablement:** The current landscape, supported by AI and new tools, lowers barriers so that people who are not professional coders or programmers can still build. ## Named Entities - **LO:** Speaker, Stockholm-based entrepreneur. - **Hack for Earth:** Global hackathon platform. - **UN sustainable development goals:** Goals that guide the focus of Hack for Earth. - **Davos:** Location where the discussion took place. - **Nigeria:** Country represented by the hackathon winning group. - **Stockholm Fintech:** Startup community LO founded to support fintech companies in Stockholm and the Nordics. - **Global South:** Geographic designation emphasized for community engagement. ## Numbers & Data - Hackathon duration: **48 to 72 hours**. - Funding metric: Women only receive **2%** of all available venture capital funding globally. ## Examples & Cases - **Nigerian Vertical Farming:** A group of friends from Nigeria won a hackathon to design low-tech vertical farming solutions using just **PVC pipes and water tanks** to provide yields to developing countries. - **Tech/Innovation Eras:** Comparison drawn between eras where only "tech bros of Silicon Valley" could create change, and the current era where "anyone with an idea can be a builder." ## Tools, Tech & Products - **AI:** Cited as a "big force" in democratizing creation, allowing anyone with an idea to build. - **PVC pipes and water tanks:** Low-tech materials used as an example of highly scalable farming infrastructure. - **Hack for Earth platform:** The central organizing tool/methodology. ## References Cited - No external books, papers, or specific prior authors were cited, other than the overarching concept of **UN sustainable development goals**. ## Trade-offs & Alternatives - **Prizes vs. Reality:** An observed trend is that increasing prize money in a hackathon leads to less grounding in reality, as participants focus more on what the jury expects versus what the actual problem demands. - **Stakeholders vs. Shareholders:** Critique of the system that transformed stakeholders into purely shareholders, creating inaccessible silos of wealth. - **Tech Focus vs. Anyone:** Transitioning the definition of "startup" from requiring specialized tech skills to accepting non-technical, community-driven solutions. ## Counterarguments & Caveats - **Initial Skepticism of LO:** The initial speaker was skeptical, challenging LO to provide an example beyond the theoretical. - **Hackathon Systemization Risk:** Question raised about whether the hackathon process can scale without becoming too "stylized and systemized," repeating previous problems. ## Methodology - **Hack for Earth Process:** Dream $\rightarrow$ Hackathon (early concept generation) $\rightarrow$ Build (acceleration into reality). - **Impact Criteria:** Solutions must be doable, not prohibitively expensive, scalable (e.g., PVC pipes), and actionable (implementable within 6 months or one year). ## Conclusions & Recommendations - The ultimate recommendation is for organizations to find more partners with **engaged youth communities**, particularly in the **Global South**, to expand the scope of citizen-driven innovation. - **Actionable Conclusion:** The process of building solutions should be supported by financial pathways (VC introductions) to move beyond mere ideas. ## Implications & Consequences - **Democratization of Building:** The decline of technical barriers means impact creation is no longer exclusive to Silicon Valley programmers. - **Systemic Barrier:** The continuation of the current investment model creates systemic barriers that disproportionately affect marginalized groups (e.g., women). ## Verbatim Moments - *"We cannot be waiting."* - *"We choose what we want. We choose where we spend our money. But you almost can only vote with your money."* - *"vertical farming for Nigeria. So vertical farming as you might have heard about is usually sort of a high techch thing and you see it in containers but you see it mainly in developed countries in sort of a solution to less labor more technology more yield >> and less space."* - *"We are all about like actionable impact."* - *"it becomes addictive and then they want to do it again and again and again."* - *"AI has made it."* - *"I think we're getting back to that. We had a period of tech entrepreneurship where it was only the tech bros of Silicon Valley that could create change and now I think we're looping back to anyone who wants to build can build."* - *"the more grassroots ability of bypassing systems is a wonderful thing."*