While visiting Lisbon to (among other things) talk to the Beta-i team, Lara gave this quick interview to share a little more context about her new project, which can be seen in detail (and receive your input about how to get involved) at www.boma.global.
After being Executive Director of Women’s March Global, Founder and former Director of TEDx and the TED Prize and MD of Global for Singularity University, South African Lara Stein has a brand new project of her own: BOMA, which in the coming days launches its own editorial platform.
The roots of the word “Boma” originate from Africa and are present in the languages spoken in the Great Lakes of Africa. The Boma was a circular venue for the community and its elders to gather together: a space for community meetings, meaningful discussions, and decision-making to define actions. It was this concept that Lara brought to the fore to position her new project as “a community without borders, identifying new ideas, innovations, and systems to design a more intelligent, intentional, and sustainable future.”
Here’s how our conversation with Lara went:
What motivated you to migrate from previous experiences like TEDx and Singularity to a new project?
The understanding that we live in complicated times. Of social and political changes, which amplify the context of change. I have spent the last two years making global moves to drive change, and I realized that many countries have common challenges and desires, while sharing a will to maximize results while still having a wider impact. And that’s exactly what we want to maximize with the BOMA project: creating value impact from a human-centred approach.
Having worked in three major networks, I was looking for a model that would not divide the world, but rather add up. Something decentralized and collaborative, with a network of people who share the same vision. That’s why I think my obligation to BOMA is to bring these people together and make a model that works overtime – and that’s more intentional and intelligent about the future and the actions that this future requires us to take. I believe in a global system with local partners.
Can you comment a bit more on the idea of “being intentional about the future”?
I feel that the general mindset still focuses on ‘survival of fittest‘. We do not want to maximize this; we want to leverage collaboration, being a movement where people come together and get organized to help and act on concrete things. Doing so, we want to help design leaders able to answer the unavoidable ethical questions that lie before us. I believe people want these principles: to exchange experiences and knowledge for the world we want to have.
It seems that BOMA has more to do with the consequences of technology than the pursuit of technological innovation as a way to thrive. Does it make sense?
Tech is a key drive, everything is around that. But the complexity lies in its transformation: technology alone is not the point of action, but rather the good use of technology, how it is being applied to increase shareholder value and the consequences of it. These are very complicated questions to be pursued by ethics: the consequences of our actions in the name of a “good outcome”.
What are the main goals to be achieved by the platform in this first phase?
In the coming days, we’ll launch our editorial platform on the BOMA website, with bottom-up change and empowering communities content. We are only 6 months old and always revisiting our KPIs, but I would like to have up to 15 or 20 country partners in the coming years, with bottom-up community events and projects associated with our lines of work that can gradually be developed by the partners themselves in each country. This is a long-term project because talking and acting on systemic change takes time.
You can even have add up a pinch of Sustaintech and there you go: the fourth edition of Protechting is on the making.
After three previous successful editions, Protechting is back to promote the collaboration between startups and established corporations. It has now two different tracks to boost startups growth, according to their maturity: a Piloting track and a new Pre-Acceleration track, with a spotlight at sustainable and socially impacting solutions.
Protechting 4.0 – applications open
Healthtech, Insurtech and Fintech startups – If you are eager to pilot your solution or to speed up your growth, here are the Partners who are making it happen:
Fidelidade
As the largest insurance group in Portugal, with over 200 years of existence and an international presence, Fidelidade consists of a group of companies in the insurance and health sectors, including also a combination of services, that as a whole, protect the future of families, companies and Country. If Protection is your thing, this is the partner for you.
Fidelidade is here from the very first edition of Protechting (Jesus, it has been a few years now) noticing how startups have been bringing innovation and a new look into these areas. Shout out to the brave winners of the first edition of the program: EctoSense LifeSymb and CleenBeen.
Hospital da Luz Learning Health
Inside Luz Saúde Group, Hospital da Luz Learning Health is dedicated to the advanced training of professionals, translational research and innovation, in healthcare provision and management.
As the improvement of knowledge, technologies and advanced practices in healthcare are what makes their DNA, you can already see that innovation is part of the job and therefore the right partner to collaborate – “Healthteching” speaking.
Hauck & Aufhäuser
Hauck & Aufhäuser presents itself as the Fintech partner for Protechting. Adding not only knowledge and expertise into the area, it adds also to the international focus of the program, since it is a private german bank, with a 220-year history.
This is actually the most recent partner of the program, joining for the previous edition in 2018 – in fact here is their own testimony entering Proteching.
Fosun
Fosun was founded in 1992 and is a family-focused multinational company listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (00656.HK) since 2007. With its roots in China, and through technology and innovation, Fosun’s mission is to create customer-to-maker (C2M) ecosystems in health, happiness and wealth. The group embraces all the other partners of the program.
Actually, the presence of Fosun in Protechting is what can be taking you to China: The three best solutions of the piloting track will get the chance to participate in a roadshow in China with access to some of the largest global investors.
Wrapping up here, it goes without saying that Protechting is powered by Beta-i, so if you feel like you could use some more info or just wish to chat, you can reach us at scouting@beta-i.com
Applications for Protechting are now open – you can apply here
Word-playing aside, the Journey is now on it’s third edition, a brand new marathon of pilot projects on the making to disrupt the tourism industry.
For all the startups that want to take their chance to apply to this open innovation program, these are the brave partners that are following the path of innovation, with Turismo de Portugal as the main enabler and Unicre as the program’s data partner.
Completing the list, here are the ones more than ready to work side by side for pilot development:
1. Parques de Sintra – Monte da Lua
In order to understand Parques de Sintra – Monte da lua, one needs to understand a bit of Sintra: we are talking about a mysterious mountain (the Serra de Sintra, also known as Monte da Lua) that includes the exquisite village with the same name – Sintra – as well as astonishingly beautiful and unique parks and monuments, part of UNESCO world heritage.
Following this UNESCO classification of the Sintra Cultural Landscape is 1995, Parques de Sintra was then created in the year 2000 to manage and optimize the area’s monuments, parks and properties.
— > The Journey you could take with this partner: Parques de Sintra – Monte da Lua joined this year as a program partner and would like to solve several challenges such as management of visitor flows, visitor counting and tracking systems, outdoor and indoor geolocation, fauna and flora identification, among several others. The idea is to optimize the experience of every visit.
2. Barraqueiro
Barraqueiro is a rerun partner for this edition of The Journey. Established as an international player and a leader in the Iberian transport sector, Grupo Barraqueiro is an experienced company founded in 1915. Constantly looking to evolve, it specializes in the design and implementation of innovative passenger and freight mobility solutions, in a sustainable way.
— > The Journey you could take with this partner: From finding smarter, safer and easier ticketing systems, to tracking and optimizing routes to reduce points of friction and tourism pressure, there is a lot to work with Barraqueiro, as these are a few examples. The purpose is to truly innovate the way of work, enhancing the customer experience and smoothing the business.
3. Vila Galé
Also partnering with The Journey for the first time, Vila Galé appears as one of the largest Portuguese hotel groups, managing 34 hotel units (25 in Portugal and nine in Brazil). Envisioning to be a benchmark company in the hospitality industry, the group also aspires to an economic growth that is sustainable, as well as socially and environmentally responsible.
— > The Journey you could take with this partner: As the creator of a disruptive solution, you could be helping Vila Galé to optimize energy and water consumption, predict maintenance for buildings or even bring out a brand new domotics system, among several other ways in which a hotel can be much more than that and add value to the whole touristic experience.
Ps. A lot on your mind or just don’t know where to begin? Don’t worry, Beta-i’s team is here to guide you through. Leave us a message at scouting@beta-i.com
Lisbon Investment Summit happened over two weeks ago now, but for us, it is still going: through all the things that we learned, the moments we treasured and the relationships we started.
It’s all about community
The most important thing we learned at #LIS19 is something that we at Beta-i have always believed: it’s all about community. Innovation is only possible when different stakeholders join forces together and collaborate to thrive – and #LIS19 is the perfect melting pot that joins entrepreneurs, corporate innovators, investors and decision makers in one place.
The highlights:
Humanity Will Fix the Future
Andrew Keen, the best-selling author of How To Fix the Future and the headliner at #LIS19, spoke about the unfulfilled promises of technology – the promise that it would bring equality, boost democracy and create bridges between people. To overcome these challenges, we must take action through regulation, innovation and citizen engagement. The “fixing” of the future does not rest on more technology – it rests solely on our shoulders.
Investment in Portugal
Pedro Falcão, Managing Partner of LC Ventures, gave #LIS19 attendees an overview of the investment landscape in Portugal. You can download the report here:
Lisbon Investment Summit would not be the same without our amazing pitch competition, sponsored by GROW, which was one of the highlights of these two days – 12 amazing startups pitched on stage but there can only be one winner. The prize went to Musiversal, represented by founder André Miranda (and a Lisbon Challenge alumnus).
Lisbon Investment Summit is knocking on our doorstep – in just a couple of days, we’ll gather the best innovators in the world for 2 days of knowledge sharing and discussion in an action-packed agenda. Here is all you can expect from our slightly unexpected event!
Thought-Provoking Conversations
What happens when you get some of the most daring entrepreneurs, corporate innovators, seasoned investors and forward thinking leaders in one place? A lot of interesting conversations! They will be sparked by our amazing speakers – like Andrew Keen, best-selling author of “How To Fix the Future”, that will share his thoughts on the challenges of digitalization and how society can overcome them. Not to mention talks on how to build a strong startup community, collaboration in innovation and how investment is changing across borders.
Perfect Matches
In the event like Lisbon Investment Summit – with some of the best startups around and top-tier investors we expect to see a lot of partnerships starting. The guests will be able to take advantage of our matchmaking app to find potential clients, but in a relaxed environment like #LIS it’s easy to just strike up a conversation with the person drinking coffee next to you, and who knows? It might be your next business partner.
Girl Power
Gender equality is not just a hot theme, it is something that runs in Beta-i’s DNA. Besides our female speakers – that range from entrepreneurs to venture capitalists – don’t miss #iamremarkable workshop by Google, to empower women to own their achievements, and the book launch of “Ara the Star Engineer”, a book to encourage girls to pursue STEM careers.
Fierce Pitch Competition
Lisbon Investment Summit gives the opportunity for startups to pitch in front of a crowd of top-tier investors and corporate innovators – and these startups are ready to shine. Like Daniela Seixas, founder and CEO of TonicApp told us, winning the pitch competition gave TonicApp the exposure and access it needed to start their investment round. So we can promise they will be ready to rock that stage.
Surprises
Besides our incredible panels on innovation, business and investment, #LIS is full of moments created to surprise you. Have dinner with a stranger and meet some interesting people, enjoy building your network while resting your eyes on the amazing views of the Tagus River, and ride a real-life bullicorn. Anything can happen at #LIS!
