During this uncertain Covid-19 crisis and the continuously changing measures, the oikos Conference 2020 faced several challenges and had to evolve beyond, for real. Working on sustainable business strategies since September 2019, the oikos Conference team had to adapt the program twice. On November 16th and 17th, we offered five different sessions with the objective to let the participants discover and compare sustainable business strategies of start-ups and established corporations. All in all, over 120 participants listened and interacted with the seven speakers of the different sessions.
On Monday evening, we welcomed Dr. des Tabea Bereuther from the University of St. Gallen, who offered us an academic perspective on sustainable business strategies. This valuable theoretical background was then complemented by Nina Damaso from TooGoodToGo: She presented their vision to be food waste warriors , showing how profit is not in contrast with “doing good”. Afterwards, Tobias Meier from ecos, Nina Damaso and Tabea Bereuther discussed various angles of sustainable business strategies, with a particular focus on the tech and textile industry.
Tuesday, we started with two virtual lunch breaks, first featuring Migros and then Yasai. Christine Wiederkehr-Luther took us on a journey from Shenzhen to Switzerland and explained how Migros implements sustainability along its supply chain. Afterwards, Mark Zahran gave us insights on the future of agriculture: he presented the innovative concept of vertical farming and how it has to be implemented in smart cities and the circular economy to nourish humanity.
Last but not least, on Tuesday evening, we focused on mobility. First, we welcomed Moritz Vohler from Sono Motors, who presented the “first car that charges itself” and impressed the audience with its spectacular fund raising. Finally, Prith Harasgama from Crosstown Power enlightened us about the future of hydraulic energy and how to convert gas turbines power plants into zero carbon emission systems.
Those quality speeches gave us interesting and unique insights on the various implementations of sustainable business strategies. We want to thank our speakers, sponsors and our very active audience for participating in the oikos Conference 2020 and make those days memorable!
oikos Conference 2020 Team
