Shadowing Practice: Why Impact First Deep Tech is our future | Philipp Buddemeier | TEDxESMTBerlin - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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The last 25 years I had the opportunity to work at NGOs and in consulting,
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The last 25 years I had the opportunity to work at NGOs and in consulting,
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safety children and McKinsey.
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And of course you will never guess which way to start.
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But additionally I had the opportunity to set up a circular economy incubator,
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launched with urban finance startup growing mushrooms on coffee waste,
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set up a sustainability-focused boutique advisory firm,
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co-authored two books on sustainability,
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and most recently, set up an investment firm.
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Now across these 25 years,
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I've known two main things.
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The first, business as usual is from farmstruck to environmental collapse,
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and that's to resolve the tide,
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you need a new paradigm paradigm,
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and that new paradigm is impact first.
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And that second, incremental innovation is going nowhere,
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and that to turn the tide we need a radically different solution,
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and that's the opportunity for DICTEC.
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So today I want to talk about impact first and DICTEC,
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or more specifically how impact first DICTEC is our future.
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And if you're wondering what DICTEC is, we'll get to that.
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But first, let me start where my journey began.
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It was unbelievably almost 40 years ago when I went to a Greenpeace exhibition board,
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and what may seem absurd today was still common practice back then.
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Racy states would dump their nuclear waste into the ocean,
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and companies, indeed, would dump their untreated toxic waste into the ocean as well.
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So that did not seem to make any sense,
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but what did seem to make sense was the Greenpeace pipeline
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that said our oceans don't have a dream to start polluting them.
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So I didn't expect in my journey to find different answers to that.
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But at university, I did not get any new answers.
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In fact, we were taught the very classic doctrine that nobody put more succinctly than Milton Friedman,
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who said the one and only social responsibility of business is to increase its pressures.
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Now, on my first job of management consulting,
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I did not get the nuances ahead.
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Incept, talking from the core was the mantra of today.
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So I took the first opportunity for a career break and went to business school.
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And besides the more classical curriculum,
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I started to get fresh perspectives.
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I think the lecturers, as you say in the building,
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have a lot of them.
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It's national team and theater.
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And I was just one of those peers,
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contributors and off-campers, not really stay with me,
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which is Steve Jobs, very famous commensurate address at Stanford,
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where he said, you've got to find what you like.
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And if you haven't found it yet, keep looking and setting.
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And so there's no reason to keep looking and to not setting.
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Don't set him.
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That must really stay with me.
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But one of the figuring things out,
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the environmental crisis, went from that to terrible.
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And in 2009, the planetary boundaries framework came out to scientifically assess the state of nature.
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And in 2009, seed out of the Earth,
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the systems were in the orange,
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in the back, and by today,
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in fact, 6.9 boundaries have been fixed.
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In fact, all realms of nature,
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climate, sexual, and allergies, all are in jeopardy.
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And these are just scientific data points.
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They have real-world implications.
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In our land system, we agree that we don't have enough to grow food.
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If fresh water is depleted,
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we don't have enough to irrigate our crops and drink.
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So this has real-world implications.
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For us, perhaps ten years ago,
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there was an opportunity to think that policymakers would fix it for us.
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With a Paris Agreement, set in motion,
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there was this window of hope.
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And yet the 1.5 degree country that was mentioned reached after that last year already.
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And current policy is on track for a 2.7 degree future world.
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And so, Wilha is reading,
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the news might agree that pining our hopes on enlightened policy makers does not seem a promising proposition.
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It's actually perhaps hope that business is fixing it for us,
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business as usual, incrementally improving what it does,
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when I think that's what gets here in the first place.
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And so I think it's a very new paradigm,
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and yet new paradigm is impact force.
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Instead of the traditional notion of maximizing profits now and relying on others to fix issues later,
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impact force flips that notion on its head,
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and it starts at the very opposite end.
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It starts with the question,
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does the economic activity I pursue,
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does that align with a future worth living,
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with a futuristic economy thriving within monetary boundaries to the benefits of all?
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And once that question is then addressed,
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then which afterwards makes an activity more economically accessible?
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Now of course this is very difficult for incumbent businesses embedded in a business-as-usual mode to pursue.
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But perhaps there are other companies who can do this.
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And one great example is Keith Stemper and Echodia,
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who planted with that very notion and vision of regenerating nature and planting trees.
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And to do so, he set up a search engine,
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Echodia, now the eighth-nest search engine in the world,
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to generate projects in order to plant tree and regenerate nature.
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And by now, it's planted well over 200 million trees.
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And so it demonstrates that the notion of impact source on the scalable business model came to exist.
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And so, mostly working in a permanent business,
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I noticed how difficult it is to change an existing system.
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And at the same time,
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I was starting to work with early-stage venture capital investors who were much more interested in disrupting a status quo.
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And so I started to wonder whether it wouldn't be exciting to apply an impact-first mindset to early-stage investing.
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And coincidentally, I met a serial entrepreneur and investor who was excited about this very same question.
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And so together, we set up an impact-first investment firm.
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But to just start, we took the time,
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took the step back to think about and synthesize our learnings across innovation, entrepreneurship and investing.
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And we both engulfed down into two core beliefs.
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The first, that we want to align everything,
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everything we invest into with our vision for a future fit economy that within planetary boundaries to the benefits of all.
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And second, that we want to fast-track deep-pick disruption,
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so not implementing innovation, but deep-pick disruption to build radically new solutions.
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And then you can think about first investors who also ask the question what deep-pick of course is,
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and this is something I want to briefly answer now.
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And Deep Deep is the result of scientific breakthroughs requiring intensive R&D.
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But I think most importantly is the question, what can it do?
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And when I think about what it can do,
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I really think about a metaphor that was shared with me by William McDonough,
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the co-founder of Co-Dip Trader,
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that I had the pleasure to interview for my first book on research here, Equinomy.
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And he said, if you go to Mexico,
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but you're heading towards Canada,
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slowing down is not enough.
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You have to turn around.
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And so incremental innovation is exactly that, slowing down.
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It lessens the destruction.
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It lessens the damage from business as usual.
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That's what incremental innovation, energy is making things less bad.
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However, if you build something new,
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like Ecosia, like deep-text solution,
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new materials, waste-custaining, If you build something new,
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you have the opportunity to come on now.
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Now, the deep-pack first, investors,
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we then ask, where should we apply deep-pack?
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The fluxing.
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Now, we started with a familiar perspective from which bacteria data is available, CO2 emissions.
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We very clearly provide this a two-plus of all emissions arise from energy use.
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We for good reasons, investors set 4 caliums into the new world.
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We wanted to address the ecological crisis,
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not just climate, but hedge funds and planet for this which we learned you to ocean health.
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And surprisingly, there weren't any data explaining which sector did destroy the most and which solutions,
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accordingly to help us, could carry the tide.
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So we did to that and analyzed which sector is drawing environmental destruction and what we found it was tight.
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It's amazing.
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In fact, we found that almost 50% of all environmental destruction is caused by the food system, but agriculture.
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So it really matters what we eat.
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And next is industry and construction.
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So if you think, every part of the world cuts or we're eating,
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that's not just climate impacts,
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it's water, dangers, driving biodiversity loss.
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Equally, if you think about forestry,
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to look for action in the structure of paper and other industrial applications.
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And that's starting not just private impacts,
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but fresh water and land use and biodiversity.
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Yes, the reduced key sector really became the focus of our investigation.
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And of course the next question then was,
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are there any exciting deep tech phenomena?
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By now, we've made our first investment,
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and I'm excited to share that we started with the construction industry thinking about how to reinvent insulation.
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In fact, we invested in a Cambridge spinner that touches the problem of today's insulation repair,
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which is not just thick and heavy,
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it's also poor performance of molecular producers, toxic, non-desitable waste waste.
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Whereas instead, the biobased algaes that produce out of biological waste stream underbodies chemo,
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the acid can sound better,
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and of course, they buy bad grade and can safely be returned to a biosecid after use.
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We are now looking into other issues that will impact the agricultural survey chain,
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and now we're screening an up-told spin on it that turns agricultural waste into a power substitute.
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And as you know, that power is the most damaging a cultural commodity after me and Gary,
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you would be as excited as we are to produce a substitute of potato tea.
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And so this is the opportunity to take waste, turn that into value.
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Similarly, sewage sludge, something that today is decilibrated,
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and instead what is the component into fertile soil?
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If you can produce fumig matter that we bring in our fields to improve soil health,
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improve water retention, and as result, boost agricultural yield.
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There are really interesting opportunities to speak that today they're not available in cost-compositive yet.
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They're not available at scale.
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But it does take upon us that we take low-valued waste streams,
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unwanted waste streams, and we can only do high-value desirable solutions.
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Now, the question then for investors,
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of course, is can we escape,
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can we grow the prices, can we achieve prosperity?
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And the cost very clearly is yes.
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We do have the playbook.
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Of course, we know there is a storage.
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We've seen 90% or more costecreens over the last 50 years.
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And by now, solar is one-third cheaper than any other fossil fuel anywhere globally,
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globally, and to that we do that class,
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we should achieve prosperity and petropower comes.
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Now, solutions exist at night,
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but we need investment to scale it.
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And to be in the market,
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I think I've no better quote than what Bookman Stachiller said.
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He said, you never change something by fighting to existing reality.
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You change something by a a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
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So impact first is that new model,
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and it will make today's business as usual system of pay, make, waste, obsolete.
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We know that solutions exist at last day,
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and we know what it takes to scale them,
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it takes investment, but we also know that our opportunities,
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the time to carry it, is rapidly diminishing.
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Business as usual is on a fast track to environmental disruption,
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And now is the time to turn the tide to invest and scale impact solutions for global impact.
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So this, I believe, is at the moment.
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Let's not waste it.
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Let's not check it.
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Let's innovate, let's celebrate impact,
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and let's together to create a future worth again.
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Thank you.
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Why practice speaking with this video?
This TEDx talk by Philipp Buddemeier offers a compelling opportunity for English learners to enhance their speaking skills. Engaging with meaningful content allows you to practice not only the language but also the delivery of complex ideas. Using this video, you can apply the shadowing technique, which involves repeating the speaker’s words shortly after hearing them, mimicking their intonation, pace, and emotion. This method helps improve your pronunciation, fluency, and comprehension. Furthermore, by focusing on a topic like "impact first deep tech," you become acquainted with vocabulary and expressions relevant to sustainability and innovation, enriching your overall language learning experience. Engaging with such contemporary themes can also motivate you to express your own thoughts in English confidently.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
Throughout the talk, several grammatical structures and expressions stand out that can be useful for English learners:
- Conditional Sentences: Buddemeier often uses "if" statements to discuss future possibilities ("if you're wondering what DICTEC is"). This structure allows you to understand how to express conditions and outcomes effectively.
- Passive Voice: The speaker mentions phrases like "was still common practice," which illustrate the passive voice's role in focusing on the action rather than the subject. Recognizing and using passive voice can enhance your writing and speaking abilities.
- Direct Quotes: He quotes Milton Friedman, saying, "the one and only social responsibility of business is to increase its profits." This technique emphasizes the importance of integrating reputable sources in your own speech, making your argument stronger.
- Transition Expressions: Phrases such as "but additionally" and "now across these 25 years" signal transitions in thought, which can greatly improve the coherence of your own speech.
Common Pronunciation Traps
As you engage with this video, pay attention to certain pronunciation challenges that may arise:
- Words like "impact" and "sustainability": Ensure you pronounce these words clearly, emphasizing the correct syllables (im-pact and sus-tain-ability) to enhance your clarity.
- Technical Terms: Terms like "deep tech" and "circular economy" may be new to you. Practice saying them multiple times, as they can be tricky due to their compound nature.
- Intonation Patterns: Notice how Buddemeier changes his intonation to emphasize key points. Practicing such patterns through a technique known as shadowspeak will help you sound more natural and engaging in conversations.
Incorporating these strategies while you learn English with YouTube not only improves your language skills but also deepens your understanding of important global issues. With consistent practice, you will find that your speaking proficiency significantly improves!
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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