Past Conventions

• 1st Convention – Frankfurt, Germany, March 2015

  

  The convention in Frankfurt was the very first event of the IEM Caring Foundation. There were many ideas, that had been collected in our network, of what we could achieve together. As a conclusion, we decided to not focus on one big project, but to become a platform that people could bring their ideas in.

  The event was the first to gather academia, alumnus and students, which gave us a unique variety of perspectives. Everybody shared their experiences and learned from each other, which was so powerful that it lead us to organise a convention again.

• 2nd Convention – Oirschot, The Netherlands, October 2015

  

  During the Oirschot Convention, participants presented their ideas and research in groups.

  Participants challenged each other during the discussion and reflection sessions to sharpen their ideas and grow their dreams. The event shaped the idea of what a convention could be. Main realisation was the value of bringing practitioners into the events in order to reflect on real-life stories and cases.

• 3rd Convention – Madrid, Spain, March 2016

  The convention focused on Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainability areas. It was the first convention we started to listen to practitioners and their experiences. During the convention a diverse group of alumni, professors and students participated in working groups and reflection sections.

• 4th Convention – Kescked, Hungary, October 2016

  

  During the convention in Kescked, participants had a chance to reflect on “What can you do in your life?” We listened to social entrepreneurs from Hungary and reflected on how it could be possible for us to create impact in our life.

   

• 5th Convention - Sofia, Bulgaria, March 2017

  

  During the 5th Convention, Social Entrepreneurship and United Europe were the two main topics of the convention. Bulgarian entrepreneurs shared their experiences with participants during the morning and in the afternoon participants reflected on their role to keep Europe united. A pre-Convention took place for the first time in order to enable interested participants to listen to the stories of even more local social entrepreneurs. It was the first time external participants joined to the conventions.

• 6th Convention- Geneva, Switzerland, September 2017

  

  Inspired by the unique Geneva geography and 600 years of building bridges between communities, we interpreted Crossing Borders in a broad sense: country borders, industry borders, language borders and organisational borders during the 6th convention.

  The convention was a mix of workshops, lectures and experiences. Some inspiring speakers from the Geneva region joined us to share their stories and expertise. On the other hand, the first European Talkshow took place. Young people of 12 different nationalities joined the discussion around topics such as being European and purpose of Europe.

  A pre-convention took place for those interested and available on Friday during the day. Participants had chance to visit CERN and got inspired from multicultural working atmosphere.

• 7th Convention - Ericeira, Portugal, March 2018

  

   

• 8th Convention - Brussels, Belgium, September 2018

  

  The participants got to learn about social entrepreneurship in Brussels and took part in a series of workshops aiming to combine a caring approach with a business approach. The first day a seed was planted as they identified 4 projects through a hackathon that will be developed in the future namely:

  – Cleaning the oceans, rivers and land: How might we use technology and change consumption habits to reach a wasteless planet and clean up the damage already done by 2028 without negative social impact

  – Digital Divide: How might we support the slow technology adapters towards being aware and integrated with the technological development

  – SMARTphone Fest: How can we organise a festival that promotes the responsible use of smartphones

  – How might we raise awareness and action to impower small farmers in Macedonia to create new products and enter the European market

  The second day the soil was prepped through a series of workshops and the ideas were fertilised by getting feedback on the identified projects from locals and travelers.

  On the last day of the Convention the projects germinated on a local festival about social entrepreneurship and farmers and the projects were pitched to each other and to locals.

  We hope the projects take root in the future and help lead the change towards a more caring society!

• 9th Convention - Skopje, Rep. North Macedonia, March 2019

  

  The 9^th Caring Convention took place in Macedonia’s capital city, Skopje. With the convention being centred around the field of impact United Europe, the participants got deep insights into Macedonia’s history, political views and current state.

  The second day of the convention yielded with great productivity and lots of fruitful discussions. It started out with the presentations from three local speakers. Kristijan Rizov, a postgradute student of history at the Saints Cyril and Methodius University, talked about the historical overview of Macedonia according to school books. During his presentation, the participants deepened their knowledge about the history of Macedonia and common misconceptions about the territory.

  Next was Ivan Jovanov, Executive Director at LEAD (NGO), who talked about what Macedonia expects from the EU. Being a part of many researches, Ivan presented interesting outcomes regarding the topic. The participants learnt the reasons why Macedonia wants to be a part of the EU, and not just because it’s a country in Europe. Last was Miroslav Draganov, Executive Director at the Institute for Human Rights. He talked about the opportunities for Macedonia joining the EU and how having Macedonia will benefit the EU.

  After the presentations and Q&A sessions, the participants joined minds in a constructive workshop. Divided into groups, they discussed the pros and cons of Macedonia joining the EU and later shared them with the group. The workshop was followed by a talk show with the above mentioned speakers and Biljana Vankovska, a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy. Each of them expressed their own point of view regarding Macedonia’s accession to the EU in a respected, factual and diverse manner. This was the fourth talk show, which is a production of Dialogue Monkeys, a public channel for people to discuss a peaceful and sustainable future for Europe and its neighbours.

  With the closing session the participants shared their ideas on how to further develop the IEM Caring Foundation and how to make sure the points discussed at the convention will be put into action towards a more caring society!

• 10th Convention - Kyiv, Ukraine, September 2019

  

  As the political situation had calmed, the 10th Caring Convention took place in Kyiv, Ukraine from September, 27th to 29th 2020. It was hosted by Beetroot. The topic was “Ukraine, a country of change”.

  Throughout the event the participants enjoyed presentations on the history of Ukraine by historian Mariia Yurchak, “A gap between the city and the village” by Victor Artemenko, the current political and socioeconomic situation of Ukraine by Natia Jikia and a personal story on what it is like to work in the financial sector in Ukraine by Kristian Andersson. 

  Many local players took part in the event such as Urban Space 500, a group of 500 people who gather and invest 1,000 USD per person to create a social restaurant. The profit from their activities goes to city projects for the development of Kyiv.

  Participants also got the chance to hear the inspiring stories of both Andreas Flodström, ESTIEM Alumni and founder of the social enterprise Beetroot and Joris Hoogerdijk, one of the founders of the IEM Caring Foundation.

  Additionally, Sweden’s new Ambassador to Ukraine, paid a visit and the participants had the chance to have a Q&A session with Sviatoslav Yurash, the youngest member of the Ukranian parliament.  He, together with other speakers, took part in the latest European Talk Show.

  At the closing and feedback session the participants shared their insights and impressions of the Convention and had the chance to present and discuss ideas and projects they are working on, so that all participants got informed what is alive in the IEM Caring Movement.

• 11th Convention - Istanbul (Virtual), May 2020

  

  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic we had to adapt the setting for our 11th Convention, leading to our first virtual IEM Caring Convention. It revolved around the topic of social entrepreneurship, and more specifically social entrepreneurship in Turkey, as Istanbul was the location we initially had planned to host the convention.

  The Convention started with a presentation about Turkey and how it supports and shapes its local social entrepreneurs. Throughout the weekend several social entrepreneurs presented their companies and ideas such as the smart waste management platform Evreka, the WeWalk smart cane for the visually impaired and Turkcell, a turksih telecommunications platform invested in supporting social entrepreneurship locally. Furthermore, participants from all over Europe and even beyond were invited to share their view on social entrepreneurship and what examples they could provide from their countries.

  It was an inspiring and encouraging event, and despite the virtual format, participants could still connect and exchange their thoughts and experiences.

• 12th Convention - Virtual, January 2021

     

  With the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and a very positive experience from the previous virtual Caring Convention, we decided to host another virtual Convention, giving many more people the opportunity to participate. With people from different walks of life we discussed and explored the topic of sustainable finance.

  The event was filled with presentations and workshops about how to ethically spend money, providing a global overview of key players in sustainable finance, assessing the ESG impact of individuals, how to identify truly sustainable businesses and the dilemma between profits and positive impact that banks especially face.

  Among other things, participants got to learn from the experiences of Laurie Pazienza on corporate greenwashing and sustainable businesses, Astrid Bijlsma on sustainable investments and James Spence and Sophie Think on impact investing and green energy at the Libra Project. Everyone shared resources with each other such as books, articles, movies and others and continued informing each other after the event.

  Closing the event, participants got to discuss how they would like to implement the knowledge they gained, what will help them achieve it (the wind in their sails) and what might hold them back (the anchors). We also shared where on the map we would like to create a positive impact, with most indicating of course that they would like to have an impact everywhere!

• 13th Convention - Helsinki, Finland, October 2021

  

  During the 13th Convention, several sessions were held around the topic of carbon neutrality. Participants first got to learn about Finnish NGO Compensate who helps companies and individuals measure and offset their carbon footprint and The Upright Project, which measures the net impact of 27.000 companies around the world.

  Prof. Dimitrios Moshou and Prof. Xanthoula Eirini Pantazi from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) shared their research and involvement in European research programs on climate mitigation in agriculture before the Helsinki Regional Council shared their strategy for carbon neutrality in 2030 for Helsinki-Uusimaa.

  Participants also got to learn about Finnish culture through sitsit, sauna, good food and great company! They left home inspired to implement what they learned in their work and daily life.

• 14th Convention - Berlin, Germany, April 2022

  

  Berlin, as many large cities across the world, is experiencing how factors like climate change, economic turmoils and shifts in demographics affect living conditions in urban areas.

  With a focus on contemporary and future housing solutions, participants got to learn about the impact of climate change on life in cities and possible solutions to combat the issue of lack of housing space in urban areas, such as high rises. Furthermore, participants learnt that over time and with increasing welfare, the number of square meters of living space per person has significantly increased (e.g. in Germany people now use about 2.5 times as many square meters per person as 60 years ago). Additionally, the event provided insights regarding modular living spaces, renovation practices and what it means to live a fulfilled life in a society. Imbued with the knowledge shared by the experts, participants got to design their own living spaces and share insights with the group. Having experienced Berlin in its many layers, everyone gained a new appreciation of how to live together and share the space we have.

• 15th Convention - Istanbul, November 2022

  

  After the ESTIEM Council Meeting, the 15th Caring Convention was hosted on the topic of Sustainable Tourism.

  We explored Turkey’s economic dependence on tourism and heritage protedction, discussed sustainable tourism, and practised how we could shape our travels to have the least negative impact. We had many new ESTIEMers joining and getting to know about the IEM Caring Movement, it was a pleasure hosting such a diverse group!

• 16th Convention - Virtual, May 2023

  

  The 16th IEM Caring Convention, brought together 22 participants from across the globe. The convention provided a unique platform for engaging discussions on the social and ethical impact of AI.

  With a focus on fostering a caring and responsible AI ecosystem, the convention explored various dimensions of AI’s influence on society and its potential implications. Participants delved into topics ranging from bias and fairness in algorithms to privacy concerns and the future of work in the age of automation.

  Our guests, Martin Boeddeker and Robert Cartwright, provided us with a deeper understanding of the complex issues surrounding AI and its ethical implications. Which was well picked-up by our participants who layed out a series of important values that should applied in the AI context.