Here we go
Again XII
Welcome! I'm an 18-year-old Swiss and Danish lad passionate about climate tech and grid-scale energy storage. I love startups and work as the Head of Task at the Entrepreneur Club Winterthur. Let's shape a sustainable future together!
YES (Young Enterprise Switzerland) & Accenture Challenge: As mentioned in last month's newsletter, I took part in the YES & Accenture Sustainability Challenge. Which was an absolutely lovely event, it was hosted in the Accenture office in Zurich. We then got put into random teams. We then got 6 hours to come up with a technical solution to a problem within the sustainability space that is specific to Switzerland. Our solution was to reduce the amount of methane that cows release. If you calculate methane Greenhouse gas potency off about 25x compared to CO2, it amounts to about 6% of Switzerland's GHG emissions. I then got to pitch for the team in the first round, which you can see in the picture below. I was not satisfied at all, as I wasn’t able to finish the presentation (we only had a minute). Yet they let us go on to the second round. There is was able to bring the pitch over much better. Which in the end convinced them enough so that we could win. The experience was great, I got a lot of learning from it. The 6 months mentorship at Accenture is surely also going to be a massive learning curve.
Triathlon Uster: Uster triathlon was my last short (Olympic) distance triathlon, when I am writing this there are only two weeks until challenge Mallorca. I managed to go through the race very efficiently, I finished in 2:29:45. Which was pretty good given the course it was on.
Villars & WTO:
I had the pleasure to be at the Remaking Trade for a Sustainable Future conference this month and a Villars Fellow. This was the last of quite a few conferences they have held all over the world to write the “Villars Framework for a sustainable Global Trade System”, which is a framework that hopes to improve the current international trade system so that we can have a more sustainable future. In all metrics Ecologically, Socially as well as Economically. It was also a great time to meet people who work in international affairs like Patrick Odier, which you can learn more about in the Building Bridges section. I also met a bunch of Ambassadors and people working in the industry. I want to mention a few people, Manuel the Ambassador of the Philippines which I am going to be visiting in Geneva on the 4th of October right after having been at Cherise's office. Jan Yves Remy was also there (Of course she was a part of writing the framework) we got very well along at the Symposium and now again at this event. I will meet her in Geneva soon again as well. It was a great experience also meeting the other three Fellows there. I want to say a huge thanks to the Villars Team for having us
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I also wrote an article about it. Which you can find here: https://medium.com/@jenscthomsen/my-learning-from-the-remaking-the-global-trading-system-for-a-sustainable-future-project-cee652dda74f
Budapest: I was in Budapest with my class and we are now about halfway through Gymnasium (High school), it was a great trip, we got so much closer as a class and we had a bunch of fun. We also get to visit some history of the city good as well as the bad. It is a truly lovely city, recommend it very much if you are looking for a city in Europe where the coffee doesn’t cost 12 dollars.
Things Happening next month:
Building Bridges: When I was at the Remaking Trade for a Sustainable Future conference, I met Patrick Odier the chairman of Building Bridges. I also knew that the Villars Institute was going to be taking some Villars Fellows to the event, and he made sure I was one of them. Now I not only get to go but I get to be the Team lead for the Villars Fellows. I am so much looking forward to getting so many people in international affairs and seeing how finance can help play a role in making the sustainable transition.
Challenge Mallorca: As mentioned above, my absolute last race in triathlon this year is going to be Challenge Mallorca, which is a Middle distance better known as a half Ironman.
Minerva Course Finished: When being a Villars Fellow, you get to take three courses with Minerva about System thinking. I am in the middle of the second one and by the time we get halfway through this month, I will have finished the second part. The learning on how systems work on a very meta level. Learning them and then looking at real-life systems and seeing that they are everywhere is just fascinating.
Gala Dinner: When we get to the 28th of October I have been working at the Swiss Start-up Night for about 3/4 of a year and have been enjoying myself very much. Less than a week before we get to the main event from the Entrepreneur Club Winterthur (ECW), the Startup Nights, we are going to have the Gala Dinner. The reason I am writing this dinner down and so many others I have had throughout the last month and will come in October. Is because it is like a dinner we can look at what we have managed to pull together throughout the year concerning events and what startups have gained from being at our events. I truly feel that my time at the company is well spent.
Setting the SUN up: On the last day of the Month, I am going to Winterthur so that we can start setting up the Startup Nights. And then on the 2nd and 3rd it is go time. Seeing what a year's work brings together.