00:00Well, I'm excited now to be joined by Mirad, who is our Tech for Change editor.
00:05This is a really exciting one because there's a lot of skepticism around technology right now, particularly around AI.
00:12So, you know, I think for you, what exactly does that mean?
00:16What are your overall themes that you're covering this year?
00:19Well, absolutely. I mean, like you say, Tech for Change, this introduction of Tech for Positive Change is really a
00:24real theme that's driven an undercurrent of all the discussions.
00:28You know, Tech for the Change for the Purpose of Change, what's the underlying reason behind it?
00:32Does it have a positive outcome?
00:34And AI, there'll be a lot of heated debates perhaps on that over the next few times.
00:37But in terms of the themes I'll be covering, I'll be focusing on things such as transport, of course.
00:41I'll also be looking at things such as forestation, reforestation.
00:45We've got some very fancy drones that can basically reforest area after perhaps mining.
00:50Also in the food tech area, particularly around anti-food waste, we've got, you know, one third of food globally
00:56that goes to waste.
00:57I'll also be looking at social impact, a big focus on women, not only solutions for women, but solutions developed
01:03by women.
01:04You know, a big drive here on talking about how we finance women as co-founders or founders of their
01:10own startups and, of course, you know, health.
01:12But what's also really standing out to me and something that we don't always talk about is the emergence of
01:17what is being called low-tech and low-tech solutions.
01:22I'm hearing a few of the founders here talk to me, oh, this is low-tech, but very proudly low
01:26-tech.
01:27When you say low-tech, what does that mean exactly?
01:29Well, absolutely.
01:29I mean, for a long time we've been talking about high-tech.
01:31How can we add features?
01:32How can we make this fancy?
01:34How can we make this more sophisticated?
01:35Low-tech's about stripping that all out and saying, okay, what's absolutely necessary?
01:40Obviously, that reduces costs if we get rid of some of those features, but it can also, you know, use
01:45a lot more or less resources.
01:47High-tech might use more resources.
01:49If we keep it low-tech, we might not necessarily need as many resources.
01:53To give you an example, because I think that's the best way to describe it, one of the companies here
01:57on the Impact Mile is this innovation is deceptively simple.
02:00It's known as the Sun Air Fountain.
02:02It's developed by Agua de Sol, and what they're using is solar energy to provide drinking water.
02:08Now, you might think, oh, I know this.
02:10It's like a solar pump to get water out of an aquifer.
02:13We've already heard that, but it's not at all that.
02:15They're actually capturing water literally from thin air through condensation.
02:20What it is is a panel, and perhaps we can show you there on the screen in a moment, but
02:25a panel that captures humidity in the air at night, turns that due to solar heat into water during the
02:32day.
02:32And, you know, you can see the water filling up, the bottle filling up over the course of a few
02:37hours.
02:37And this water's been tested, and it's perfectly drinkable.
02:41We're talking about no grid, no CO2, no plastic, and drinking water.
02:46Just giving an idea of what – and the founder said to me, this is low-tech because we want
02:49to deploy it quickly.
02:51Are there any other examples?
02:53I mean, that's fascinating.
02:54Other examples of what constitutes this low-tech?
02:57Yeah, well, I mean, you might not necessarily think it, but there's a car here that perhaps some people will
03:00see, and, you know, cars are normally associated with high-tech.
03:03But its chassis, its body is actually made out of linen.
03:06And so what that does is they're stripping out all unnecessary features.
03:10It's significantly lighter.
03:12It's electric, which means it can go further on less.
03:15But I think what they're talking to me about, and I will do an interview with their founder later today,
03:19is kind of how we can combine the magic or the technology of nature with, you know, our kind of
03:26human technological resources.
03:29And you'll see a lot of stance here kind of being inspired by nature.
03:33And I think, you know, how can we work in unison?
03:35So that's the idea.
03:37Fascinating stuff, Mary.
03:38Thanks so much, and we'll check in with you in a little bit.
03:41Thanks very much.
03:42All right, I want to turn our attention back to the main floor where we are going to check in
03:48on the live action.
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