Five days, five themes
Meeting both virtually and in the Paris region, experts tackled broad themes with big implications for the future, while exchanging and connecting around the technologies that will end up shaping it.
The Hello Tomorrow Global Summit in numbers
1000+
start ups
361
Exhibitors
60+
speakers
1542
contacts made
Humans, Machines, Space(s), Planet, and Entrepreneurship were all up for discussion with Isabelle Loc, Head of Real Assets EMEA, BNP Paribas and Rim Tehraoui, Group Chief Data Officer, BNP Paribas contributing to roundtables on machines and entrepreneurship respectively. Questions about the ramifications of the current global health crisis how to combat climate change with innovation were among the priorities within each theme for speakers, investors, and researchers.
Deep Tech and health
As the majority of this year’s global summit had to be reorganized around social distancing measures, COVID-19 was fresh on attendees minds. However, the current situation also offered an opportunity to reflect on the tremendous progress that science has made in the sector. Work on a COVID-19 vaccine has taken less than 10 times the length of traditional vaccine developments, with the Pasteur institute of France sequencing the novel coronavirus’ genome in only 6 days.Hello Tomorrow panels showed that health innovations go far beyond the current crisis as well by highlighting gene therapies as promising cancer treatments and solutions specifically adapted to regional health systems. (Such as the winner of the 2019 BNP Paribas – Hello Tomorrow Challenge, RxAll, a smartphone application allowing for the detection of fake medicine, a problem that has specifically plagued countries in Africa.)
"The power of innovative technologies to improve health and wellbeing is on full display at Hello Tomorrow’s ‘deep tech’ summit this week. Enabling deep-tech startups to come up with disruptive solutions to pressing health needs is all the more important at a time of a global pandemic.”
Nathalie Doré
Chief Digital and Acceleration Officer BNP Paribas Cardif
read her full article on linkedin
“The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored just how fragile our real-world economy is when the systems and behaviours that underpin our daily lives are disrupted. However, it has also demonstrated the power of the virtual economy.”
John Egan
CEO at L'Atelier BNP Paribas
Responding to the environment
In order to combat the climate crisis, our behaviors, consumption, industries, and the energy we use to power our lives all must change to more sustainable, low-carbon solutions. For these major transitions to be possible, disruptive technologies need to mature in the same way as solar and wind energy solutions. On that front, Hello Tomorrow highlighted several exciting prospects developing in the world of deep tech:
- Advancements are being made in hydrogen, electric batteries, and even nuclear fusion that won’t produce radioactive waste;
- Several startups are currently working on solutions to capture CO2 in the air in order to reduce greenhouse gases, the CO2 can then be used to produce construction materials or even vodka;
- Startups like 2015’s Hello Tomorrow Challenge winner, Dendra Systems, are working toward solutions to repair damaged ecosystems using drones to plant trees in deforested areas.
“Tomorrow, saving our planet through innovative solutions requires joint action, partnerships, and bridges across the public and private sectors. We must mobilize companies, academics, deep technology startups, NGOs, governments and wider society.”
Constance Chalchat,
Head of Company Engagement, Sustainable Finance, CSR & Communication, CIB
Read her full article on LinkedIn
“Venture capital (VC) investment in climate-tech startups has totalled $55bn over the last five years according to PwC, and at Hello Tomorrow’s global summit in Paris this week, innovative green-tech and clean-tech startups are out in force.”
Christophe Lenouvel
Head of Principal Investments, BNP Paribas
Innovating for a more resilient, sustainable economy
In addition to major advancements in health and energy, deep tech innovations are also leading to solutions for adaptable and decentralized production, overhauling supply chains and ramping up digital infrastructures – key aspects to creating an economy that is more resilient. By increasing its investment in and support for deep tech, like we can see thanks to Hello Tomorrow, BNP Paribas aims to help foster exciting solutions for today’s problems and create a more sustainable future in the process.
"Our long-term partnership with Hello Tomorrow demonstrates our commitment to support tech and deep tech around the world, more than ever these days, in a changing and challenging environment.”
Andreas Lambropoulos
Head of Strategic Initiatives, IFS, BNP Paribas