From February 26 to 28, 50 young eco-innovators, all between the ages of 16 and 28, will gather in Stuttgart with environmental experts, business leaders, investors, academics, and government officials for the inaugural beVisioneers Global Summit.
The annual summit is an initiative of beVisioneers: The Mercedes-Benz Fellowship, a fellowship program providing young eco-innovators with the training, mentoring, expert support and resources to develop their planet-positive projects. The fellowship is open to these young people, regardless of their entrepreneurial track record or financial status.
Designed and implemented by The DO School Fellowships and fully funded by donations from Mercedes-Benz, beVisioneers selects fellows based on their leadership potential and the viability of their project ideas, offering financial support to fellows who would otherwise be unable to participate.
The summit will spotlight these young ecopreneurs, showcasing their local solutions to the climate crisis, as well as connecting them with sustainability leaders, growing a global ecosystem for environmental action.
The summit will also give fellows an opportunity to present their projects to an expert jury and the wider community, and up to 20 grants will be made to help fellows advance their work.
Presenters include fellow Thabo Mngomezulu, whose project turns waste into biogas for energy-starved rural populations in his native South Africa, and Chaitanya Sakre, a fellow from India, who will present on her development of a porous asphalt that absorbs climate-induced floodwater and harvests it for daily use.
“We are thrilled to work directly with young people who are passionate about innovating pro-planet solutions to issues they observe in their communities and around the world,” says Mariah Levin, Executive Director of beVisioneers. “Our aim is to build the world’s largest community of eco-innovators, anchored in youth action.”
The growing beVisioneers community includes not just current and future fellows, but experts and allies on sustainability and environmental action. This community will be represented at the Summit by a mix of business leaders, investors, funders, academics, and government and iNGO officials. This includes Dr. Krithi Karanth, CEO and Chief Conservation Scientist at the Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore.
“I’m delighted to participate in the beVisioneers Global Summit because elevating the innovations and achievements of young people around the world is critical to achieving sustainability and conservation goals” says Dr. Karanth.
Now in its pilot year, with 100 fellows from 10 countries, beVisioneers is building the world’s largest fellowship program for young environmental innovators. The program will take 500 fellows from 35 countries in summer of 2024, growing to 1000 fellows per year from all parts of the world in summer of 2025.
If you are interested in being a mentor, have expertise in sustainability, venture building, or have an eco-event space that you could offer for the fellows to meet, sign up to the beVisioneers newsletter for the latest opportunities about how you can get involved to help shape and grow this initiative.
Featured Photo by Victor Sutty on Unsplash.