2022 Global Impact Summit, Mexico City

Education track: learning loss, raising standards and challenging centuries of tradition.

Ben Nelson from Minerva University talked about how, at its essence, higher education in its current form will not be able to achieve the results that the world needs. Over several hundred years, interdisciplinarity has disappeared from higher education, and we urgently need to bring that back. Higher education needs to be part of the future and not just evolve, but become more revolutionary. He posed a challenge to every university president in the room that the future of the world is in their hands. Future presidents, leaders of business, scientists, people who are making decisions about the world are the university students of today - so universities have a responsibility to ensure that the skills and capabilities of today’s students translate into impact for tomorrow.

“Over a 50-year span the amount of time students spent studying for the same degrees plummeted by a third. University standards worldwide are declining; when you spend less and less time learning, grades go up and they assess the wrong thing, that creates a fundamental rot in our education system” 

Ben Nelson, Founder and Chancellor, Minerva University

Other notable sessions from the Education track included:

• Transforming Learning in K12 Classrooms - Leticia Lyle, Camino Education and Marcelo Burbano, ARUKAY
• The Great Challenge of Upskilling Latin America: What's Needed? Panel session with Julian Melo, UBITS and Nacho Gomez Portillo, Egg Cooperation
• Women and Online Learning in Emerging Markets: A $14 billion opportunity - Jaylan Elshazly, IFC and Nicole Amaral, Coursera
• UNESCO Future of Higher Education - Rosa Wolpert, UNESCO

“Start by thinking about students today and their different levels of engagement. We also see a big mental health crisis, students lost and teachers. We have to acknowledge that students have transformed. Tech has changed, so has content. The question is how schools also change as a vehicle, the functions they are performing, and (most importantly) pedagogical shifts we need to make.”

Leticia Lyle, Co-Founder, Camino Education

Maria Spies also guided the audience through the Latin America EdTech 100, HolonIQ's annual list of the most promising EdTech startups from Latin America.

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Health track: quantified health, prevention, and building confidence in digital health platforms

Health-focussed sessions at the Summit ranged across topics from telehealth and home healthcare disruption to the need for great focus on prevention, and how to build public confidence in digital health platforms.

“People are more aware of the value of data they are getting from their body. Covid made us more interested in our health…also the companies who serve our health are looking to use more data and to make health more data-driven. The big question is how”

Jorge Madrigal, Co-Founder, Vivanta

Notable sessions in the Health track included:

• Doctors without Borders: Scaling a B2B telehealth platform - Carina Reverter, CEO Latam, MeetingDoctors
• Progress through partnership: How pharma companies can foster digital innovation - Armando Romero, Digital Health Partnerships, Bayer
• Home run: Disrupting diagnostic pathways - Fahed Al Essa, Global VP of Product, Examedi
• Vital signs: Data-driven interventions in population health - Itzel Alvarez, CGO & Co-founder, Cardiotrack

“There are many actors pushing for this transformation, however not across every part of the government. We get a lot of the different players together to go and talk to the government to educate them on their model and outcomes, and challenges. We also need to understand where government is coming from and the best ways to ensure everyone is successful in this goal.”

Lizette Neme, Partner, Public Affairs and Law, InStrag

During the day, HolonIQ’s VP, Health, Vernon Baxter, also unveiled the Latin America Health Tech 50 - the annual list of the most promising startups from across digital health, biotech, medtech and other areas where entrepreneurs are driving healthcare innovation. 

Climate track: sustainable development goals, AI, high-impact entrepreneurship and green jobs

The Climate track in Mexico City demonstrated the deep integration of sustainability issues with broader ecosystems, including education. Tec de Monterrey’s Director of Sustainable Development Cynthia Villareal led several important discussions on mapping UN Sustainable Development Goals at such a large and complex university, as well as introducing ‘Ruta Azul’, the University’s Path to Environmental Sustainability.

“Green jobs give us a breadth of opportunities. We’re doing a lot of research to figure out what that looks like for us”

Vanessa Gibson, Investment Climate Director, Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE)

Further sessions in the Climate track included:

• Data & AI to combat Climate Change: Examples from the Field - Panel session with Romina Malagamba Otegui (Latitud R), Fabiana Menna (Gran Chaco Foundation) and Jairo Trad (Kilimo)
• Promoting high-impact entrepreneurship in Latam through innovation districts - Hugo Garza Medina, Strategy Vice President, Tecnológico de Monterrey
• Green Jobs and Sustainability Training: The New Imperative - Andreas Müller, AHK Mexico
• Smart Mobility in University Districts - Dr. José Ignacio Huertas, Professor of the Mechanical Engineering Department and researcher of the Energy and Climate Change Research Group at Tecnológico de Monterrey

HolonIQ’s Co-CEO Patrick Brothers also announced the Latin America Climate Tech 50, HolonIQ’s annual list of the most promising Climate Tech startups.

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Follow 100 Days of Impact

The Mexico City Summit marked Days 7 and 8 of 100 Days of Impact and a global wave of ideas and inspiration for the future of impact. As each week unfolds, we’re sharing key themes and content from each summit, including speaker highlights, insights from leading organizations and the winners of our regional EdTech, HealthTech and ClimateTech 1000s.

Stay tuned here for a weekly wrap as we move from New York and Mexico City to Bengaluru, Singapore and Jakarta, with exclusive insights from our participation at COP27 before our final summits in London, Paris, Berlin, and Stockholm. Be part of the action by registering for any of the face to face or virtual summits around the world, and see for yourself how 100 Days of Impact unfolds with our 5,000-strong global community.

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