Professor Thomas Puschmann

This workshop is jointly hosted by Ethereum Climate Fund, Global Blockchain Business Council, and Consensys.

Climate change presents one of the most significant challenges of our time, with potential global damages reaching $23 trillion annually by 2050. Proactive climate action is not only cost-effective—with an estimated $4 trillion needed annually to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050—but also essential to prevent far greater economic and societal costs.

For effective climate action, the participation of the finance industry is vital. Financial institutions play a key role in driving the transition to a more sustainable future through strategic investments in decarbonisation and innovation. Climate Tech firms and infrastructure, as well as the transformation of existing firms and infrastructure, will both require partnership with FIs to create tangible impact. Governments and regulators, through supportive policies, can create the environment which fosters these advancements.

In this workshop, discover the innovative approaches organisations are adopting to create powerful opportunities for collaboration and information networking globally.

This roundtable furthers Elevandi’s exploration of the conditions for developing innovation ecosystems, including at the Japan Fintech Festival and 3i Africa Summit. This roundtable tracks the innovation journey from research laboratory to commercial scale. Considering the lived experience of academics whose research underpin business models that have achieved commercial scale, as well as those of the founders and investors who have brought these models into practice, our discussants will share the factors that shape success, and those that impede them.

Operating under the theme of Elevating ESG, this roundtable will explore the necessary conditions and factors that will smooth the journey of innovators as AI and other technologies enable research and ideas to be developed at an accelerated pace and be tested in new environments with reduced barriers to entry.

Attendees will be invited to participate in a poll on entry, to gauge sentiment around which success factors are deemed critical to success. These factors will be considered by the discussants during the session, and questions will be solicited from the floor.

Attendees who wish to familiarise themselves with the topic may refer to the reference materials below.
- Forging strategic alliances: advancing fintech innovation and narrowing the ai talent gap through industry