ACTAI Global is a 501c3 community of Athletes, Conservationists, Technologists, Artists, and Innovators who combine our energies and capital to support Environmental Conservation and catalyze Economic Empowerment via Entrepreneurship. As we make New Year’s Resolutions for 2021 we wanted to highlight some of our gatherings and projects from 2020 and invite everyone to participate and steer our collective positive energy toward our greater purpose in 2021.
Every group has a culture. What has grown out of ours is defined by values that have evolved from our historic interactions, which are now expressed in three vows:
- Stand for something greater than yourself
- Leave people and places better off when interacting
- Use your power to empower others
What did we do as a community for our mission in 2020?
- We hosted 15 ACTAI Fireside Chats with members of our community to keep people connected and to move people to action in areas important for us and our goals;
- We gathered in person for a snow kiting event, ACTAI Switzerland in St Moritz in between the CFC and WEF in Davos in January;
- We saw one of our projects – the Extreme Tech Challenge – grow even larger with a new alignment with the UN and it’s Sustainable Development Goals, and to become its own 501c3 with fantastic corporate support, record numbers of applicants, and record levels of funding for our winners. (Applications are still open so please share this with your communities). Click here to see the application details;
- We proudly teamed with the UN Joint SDG Fund on their webinar on private and public financing of the SDGs;
- In partnership with the UNDP Accelerator Labs and Mission Blue, we created a webinar to catalyze projects supporting a Blue Economy and elimination of Marine Plastics. The UNDP is actively looking for mentors for their network via ACTAI, so please reach out if interested.
- We continue to support to communities and in person gatherings that were born in our community: WTF and Rotto Tech Fest; Look forward to the start of Australian Summer for #WTF and #RottoTechFest on Rottnest Island in December 2021!
- Together with World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace, we joined Soul Buffalo and the Ocean Plastics Leadership Network to create a dialogue and solutions for the plastics crisis;
- In support of programs in-line with the United Nations’ SDGs, Cotopaxi and ACTAI have started a project to upcycle used kites into limited edition ACTAI & Cotopaxi fanny packs. Save your old kites for this, they will be tax deductible as a donation to this project!
So what’s in the works to ‘step it up’ in 2021?
We have much to look forward to:
Gatherings in planning (subject to easing of pandemic travel friction):
- A Barbados gathering in collaboration with the United Nations Innovation Labs and the Barbados government to empower entrepreneurship and ocean conservation;
- An active science and research, diving, free-diving and kiteboarding trip to the newest Mission Blue Hope Spot, the Aeolean Islands, with Dr Sylvia Earle. Similar to the Abrolhos Islands Hope Spot we catalyzed earlier.
- We are considering an ‘old school reunion’ gathering in our birthplace of Maui; several prominent people from our early original crew have been asking to help drive one!
- And while a vaccine might be able to tilt the curve to allow all of the above, if it can’t get there soon enough, we are ready to host Online Fireside Chats or Online Webinars for any of our community or partners to help spread the word on their projects related to our community or mission. Reach out if you have ideas to info@actai.global
Collaborations with our partners planned for 2021:
- Crypto Finance Conference online on the 20th January;
- 2021 Extreme Tech Challenge contest cycle and XTC online finals;
- A May gathering in Singapore / Bali alongside WEF (which has moved from Davos this year) is being considered. Reach out if interested so we can triangulate possibilities;
- Subject to UNGA plans – a gathering in New York for UN General Assembly Week September 2021;
- West Tech Fest and Rotto Tech Fest are definitely in the works for Perth Australia December 2021;
- Partnering with your next event? If you have an idea, reach out!
Catalyzing Entrepreneurship and Impact in line with the SDG’s:
Reach out to discuss any projects that you would like to share with your community at info@actai.global.
If you would like to engage more deeply with our community (and join our gatherings!) please consider our vows and whether or not they hold meaning for you. If your response is a “hell yes!” please share a short bio and headshot pic that may be placed on our ACTAI website.
The power of our community stems from the deep connections that have been formed over many years, between people that share common values. Time after time, deep friendships, partnerships, projects, industry leading companies, and fantastic kite trips, have been born from our community.
A recap of some of our 2020 events are below.
Follow us on social for updates on our events and those in our extended community.