Katapult Future Fest has a lofty goal; ‘create action towards reaching and transcending the UN Sustainable Development Goals’. The idea is simple but robust; keynote presentations, in-depth fireside chats, panel discussions, workshops with speakers, investors and participants side by side. Add in a lot of jazzy pants, fold in a sauna or dock jump or two and bake for three days in Oslo.
Now in its second year, Katapult is a breath of fresh air that talks the talk and walks the walk. From sustainability to making money, the crowd is a mixed bunch of investors, startups, political figures and city architects. Instead of simply bashing capitalism and talking big possibilities, the crowd – or rather 'tribe' as they refer to themselves – genuinely wants to “un-f*ck the world" through, one second-time attendee described it, "smart collaborative thinking and a redrawing of the lines". The status quo isn't going to help people problems who aren't [in different countries]". The key difference about Katapult is the family-feel, the open introductions and the real focus on the money's impact. Investors sit amongst attendees, get their own investment day and then help startups to repitch. Katapult offers real investment opportunities immediately and after further down the line according to attendees who returned this year.
The speakers are a diverse bunch; analysts grab a beer with MIT graduates meet corporate purpose advisors, AI-specialists knock heads with biology professors, investors teach swathes of younger people about what makes a good bet while Analysts drink with ethicists while waiting in line to speak with the guy who thinks self-driving laboratories are going to save the plant. The panel I moderated on the 'Future of Work' featured an AR/VR expert (Rachel Sibley - look out for a separate post in the near future) who truly defines that word, an authority on automation (Muriel Clauson) and Markus Lehto and Eda Carmıklı of LifeWorkLabs, mavens who really understand the human spirit and how to harness true potential.
Kyle Nel (Uncommon Partners, ex-Lowes and Walmart) summed up the challenge for the crowd early on; “The future isn’t discreet.” Nel focused his talk on big corporate changes that “big boring companies” (like Lowes) have gone through to transform their business. The key message, it's not impossible but it takes a jolt if you want to win the awards and see real change. The message was clear, keep it simple and focus on the basic elements to tell stories that demand change from the listener whether they are the CEO or the customer. “People don't change as fast as technology…we just think they do,” says Nel. It was Nel’s last example to do with Exoskeletons technology that most stayed with me. Instead of asking workers how the technology impacted their job, they asked how it impacted their life. Employees that used the exoskeleton responded they felt more energised at the end of the day, had better relationships with their family as a result and their outlook on life changed significantly. Work became a period of time again and not something that leaks into their private lives.
Rumman Chowdhury - AI-expert and Senior Principal at Accenture - wants to start a revolution of words. Technology and its current image problems have one cause and solution - the media. The media (myself included) keep making technology fight itself or other things. Chowdhury believes that if society is to accept more technology, and challenge it appropriately, we need to stop seeing things in such binary terms and move beyond technology causing divides (like have and have-nots), there are other better options available that will change hearts, minds and most importantly wallets.
Seth Bannon works for Fifity Years (a Silicon Valley VC firm that’s causing a buzz with their focus on the world’s biggest problems) and focused on ‘cellular agriculture’, a fast-moving area that is focused on creating new food options and materials that will challenge the future of the farming and food industries. Bannon namechecked his company's big guns; Memphis Meats (no animals just meat to eat), Geltor (a gelatin replacement) and Vitrolabs (creating real leather from stem cells). The next startup Bannon is helping get to profitability and real-world scalability is a transgenic soy plant startup. Fifty Years' focus on impact infrastructure mixed with some recent top hires Bannon discussed with me excite me for the future. Watch Fifty Years closely, they might just be the soul Silicon Valley needs right now.
Nicholas Borsotto from the Good Technology Collective and I met for the first time (FD: I am a member of the Think Tank) at the festival he's bullish on the future; "The Festival shines a light into the relationship between social impact and state of the art far-reaching new technologies coming. What we need to see now is a shift in the impact investment industry to support such ventures, rather than only almost purely philanthropic or low risk-low impact assets. This trend will be supercharged as the AUM (Assets under Management) in Impact Funds continue to swell and they diversify into higher risk - higher impact tech assets."
It can feel hard to make changes in a world that is controlled, overseen and otherwise impacted by big immoveable forces but festivals like Katapult give me – and other attendees – a vessel not just for hope but also action. Increasingly we can see a younger generation who have a real drive to move things forward from good intentions to real action - let's enable them. Investors are keen for startups that challenge the status quo and offer different routes. Katapult is a festival that certainly challenges the status quo of and those who are looking for the usual, more comfortable type of change.
For more information on the UN SDGs go here or check out the #KFF18 hashtag.
