She is an influential person. The keynote speaker on the second day of the Climate Security Festival is Michela Magas. She is the founder of MTF Labs, which brings together people from different backgrounds to create something new. The European Union and the G7 also listen to her because she is their innovation advisor. At the Climate Security Festival, she talks about connecting people and bringing about change. This is a short interview with Michela Magas.
Why do you participate in Climate Security Festival?
I am a firm believer of joining forces across disciplines to address major challenges. The climate risks being discussed at this conference are of such magnitude that no single domain can solve them on their own. Climate security is our common mission and this festival has the possibility to galvanise a broader community of actors around this mission.
What do you think about the concept of the festival?
The festival creates a level playing field for all participants and encourages co-creation by adopting the format of an ’unconference’ where the content is driven by the participants. This allows for a highly inclusive environment where multiple perspectives can be considered, each contributor is respected for the knowledge they can bring on board, and the chances of finding common ground become much more possible. Intelligent cooperation is a phenomenal strategic skill and the heart of civilised coexistence.
What are you going to talk about in your keynote? (Kind of a ”teaser” of your speech)
I will be speaking about my long experience of creating spaces of common understanding among disciplines. In MTF Labs we have run 22 labs around the world with over 8000 contributors to date from all kinds of knowledge, cultural and social backgrounds. I will show examples of breakthroughs that were achieved using hands-on approaches of translating thought into practice, and how we have scaled some of our findings to technology prototypes for cross domain collaboration in the Industry Commons.
Why it is important to form connections with different kind of actors to tackle the issues of climate security?
Our work has repeatedly demonstrated that joining knowledge across disciplines and converging around common missions results in social, cultural and technological breakthroughs. Addressing climate risks can only be done by establishing methods and instruments for collaboration between different actors. In the last couple of years I have been member of the High Level Round Table for the New European Bauhaus initiative that encourages collaboration among multidisciplinary communities and collaborative prototyping of potential solutions that are transferred directly to high-level policy. This leads to evidence-based policy that is not based on statistics but on real results on the ground, and stimulates the design of further enabling instruments by decision makers, to create a virtuous cycle. By building connections, methods, workflows and common mechanisms we can join diverse actors to become more effective together.
The festival is organized by Safer Climate & the Committee of 100 in Finland (Sadankomitea) together with the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki University Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR), Sivis Study Centre, The Finnish Lifelong Learning Foundation, Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Phoenix Coaching Oy and Helsinki International Film Festival Love & Anarchy.
The festival is part of an ongoing project Toward a Safer Climate, coordinated by the Committee of 100 in Finland and the Initiative for a Safer Climate. The project is funded by Kuluttajaosuustoiminnan säätiö. Safer Climate is a part of the Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center (ACCC) funded by the Research Council of Finland.
What? Climate Security Festival
Where? Finnish Mteorological Institute, Dynamicum building, Erik Palmén square 1, Helsinki
When? 21.-22.9.2023 / 8.30–15.00.
Official festival site: https://www.saferclimate.org/climatesecurityfestival
Info for the media: https://www.saferclimate.org/media
Festival images for media and communications: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sadankomitea/albums/72177720310638944
Contact:
Rosa Rantanen,
Safer Climate, Research Coordinator, University of Helsinki
050 336 0785
rosa.rantanen@helsinki.fi
Juhis Ranta
Communications Specialist, Committee of 100 in Finland
040 167 9660
juhis.ranta@sadankomitea.fi
Inquiries regarding the practicalities, program and registration:
Elina Niinimäki,
Event Producer, Committee of 100 in Finland
040 172 2118
elina.niinimaki@sadankomitea.fi
