BY UE STUDIO
Updated Friday,27October2023-14:45
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On October 25, a design myth was born, a natural talent for turning imagination into reality; a myth by the name of Picasso. And on October 25, in this case in 2023, Audi held the second edition of its Audi Summit for Progress.
Chance? Hard to believe in them. Apart from that, the event of the brand with the four rings seeks disruptive genius to change and, above all, move the world. That's why he brought together 10 of the world's brightest minds at the Palacio de Cibeles in Madrid, to reveal and share their ideas for building a better and more sustainable planet.
The Audi Summit for Progress was a day to define the future in the broadest sense, because the company does not limit itself to disseminating and creating technology exclusively for the automobile, it goes much further and is committed to global commitments. "Not only is the automotive industry not going to be the source of environmental problems, but we are going to be the solution," said the general manager of Audi Spain, José Miguel Aparicio.
José Miguel Aparicio, Managing Director of Audi Spain, during his presentation.
Aparicio defined Audi's role: "Shaping the premium sustainable mobility of the future , which will be connected and autonomous mobility", and corroborated Audi's responsibility to the future of the planet by announcing that the firm will launch 20 electrified models and revealing the company's commitment to make all its factories CO2026-neutral by 2.
A collection of 'wonderful minds'
Dutch entrepreneur Paul Polman was the first of the gurus to speak at the Audi Summit for Progress. The former CEO of Unilever and co-author of the book Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take is a globally recognized business leader for his commitment and activism for climate and equality. In his presentation, he spoke of the business keys to "promote a change of mentality to create a better future for all" and added that "the future of leadership is about collaboration, not competition".
Polman recalled that "a company's mission means nothing by itself, the corporate graveyard is full of companies with good intentions." That is why he pointed out that "the only way to make companies work is to translate those values into behaviors", and called on the entire ecosystem of companies, regardless of their sector, not to let any more time pass to change the paradigm because "there is no better time than now", he said.
One of the most eagerly awaited questions from the public was asked by the journalist and host of the event, Mónica Carrillo, to Natalie Robyn, executive director of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA): Will there be Formula 1 in Madrid? The mystery was not revealed, but Robyn did guarantee that "Spain is very well represented in the FIA".
Under the gaze of Carlos Sainz, two-time world rally champion and three-time winner of the Dakar, Robyn spoke about the future challenges of the FIA and the competitions they run, such as Formula 1. "The key is sustainability: we have set ourselves the challenge of being carbon neutral in all world championships by 2030," said the first woman to lead the Federation, who specified that "the main CO2 emissions in competitions are not because of the fuel but because of the logistics of moving everything from one place to another."
FIA CEO Natalie Robyn with Carlos Sainz in front of Audi's Formula 1 prototype.
One term that resonated strongly in Audi's disruptive journey was datocracy. What is it? There is no one better than the greatest defender of the term to explain it: Alicia Asín, a leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data and co-founder of Libelium. In a nutshell, datacracy is "a system based on the collection and publication of publicly accessible data to generate a spirit of accountability to citizens." The aim is to "put Artificial Intelligence at the service of citizens", because during his speech Asín managed to demystify AI and chase away those unfounded fears that we sometimes create due to prejudices, often acquired "in films such as Minority Report or Terminator".
Ideas to change the world
Paradigm shifts often begin with proposals that, at first, are considered impossible. However, as the French essayist Jean Cocteau said, "they succeeded because they did not know it was impossible." Two of these projects are the floating cities and the sponge cities, by Kunlé Adeyemi and Kongjian Yu, respectively. Adeyemi, inventor of the concept of floating buildings, defended his idea because "humans have a great capacity for adaptation and our resilience will help us live on water, accepting it instead of repelling it."
For his part, Kongjian Yu explained that humanity is failing in its use of infrastructure and, therefore, he embarked on proposing an alternative: his sponge cities, which use nature to solve problems: "Many cities are flooded because we try to avoid water and dry out the earth; We must learn to live with it and keep that water instead of repelling it, as has been done historically in agriculture."
Family photo of the 'wonderful minds' who took part in the 'Audi Summit for Progress'.
If water was discussed at the Audi Summit for Progress, a great expert such as Ties van der Hoeven, a maritime engineer and co-founder of The Weather Makers, a company dedicated to regenerating ecosystems and improving water availability, could not be missing. The Dutchman presented his proposal for a more sustainable world through the project he is developing to reforest the Sinai desert in Egypt: "We have the ability to change the world and give it the shape we want, we can restore ecosystems," he announced. "It's simple," he dared to say, but he did point out that this simple "requires a lot of work and cooperation."
Water was very present, as it could not be otherwise for an essential element for the future of humanity. A hydrological block that was closed by Daniel König, Head of Water Use at Audi AG, an initiative that uses water and innovation in favour of sustainable mobility with the aim of raising the quality of life in cities.
Progress is, above all, dialogue. And that is precisely what Rodrigo García and Paula Ulargui did, who presented their projects in a conversation where they talked about everything from the edible bottle, created by García, to Ulargui's Fusion between nature and fashion project. Designer, architect, inventor and co-founder and co-CEO of Notpla, Garcia works to eliminate plastic packaging and thus came the revolutionary Ooho! seaweed wrapper. "It doesn't make sense for single-use plastic to last so long, that's why our mission is to make plastics disappear. This year we hope to replace 10 million," he said. The Navarrese designer Ulargui is characterized by her great commitment to sustainability, a commitment that she brings to her work, fashion, creating a much more sustainable style of clothing because, as she herself said, "the biology behind the garments is a world to be exploited that should serve as a model".
Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado was in charge of inspiring the face-to-face and digital attendees of the meeting through an exhibition of his work focused on nature. Salgado warned that we are living in a critical moment – "we are at the limit," he said – but with a message of hope: "We still have a solution; We can do an ecosystem reconstruction of the planet."
Sebastião Salgado is supervising the installation of a selection of his photographs at the Audi Summit for Progress.
"This is just the beginning," Aparicio concluded, making his own the message that Polman had launched during the morning: "The only impossible journeys are those that we do not start." Let's get started, because Audi and the brightest minds of change are already underway.
If you want to enjoy all the presentations of the Audi Summit for Progress again, access their website by clicking here.
Made by UE Studio
This text has been developed by UE Studio, creative branded content and content marketing firm of Unidad Editorial, paraAUDI.