With the addition of each new Fellowship, the Material Change Institute’s community increases and becomes more vibrant, rich and impactful with the larger community. Our Fellows are the heart of our ecosystem, but it takes all of us — our passionate instructors, domain experts, mentors, partners, alumni, corporate sponsors and board members — to drive lasting change. That’s why we are thrilled to have our Fellows participate each year at Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) and attend CDL’s 2024 Super Session. This enriching event reinforced our close partnership with CDL, an organization that has supported the Material Change Institute since our inception in 2021.
Like last year, CDL Super Session and Material Change Summit were both in Toronto. Our Fellows attended CDL’s Venture Workshops on June 18 with insightful talks led by Alison Sunstrum, Doug Sinclair, Rhiannon Davies, Salar Javid, Shahram Tafazoli and Allen Lau. On June 19, Super Session was held, where speakers Chris Hadfield, Sendhil Mullainathan, Katherine Homuth, John Martinis, Shivon Zilis, Suzanne Gildert and Christian Weedbrook, sparked deep dialogues about some of the most critical issues among deep tech as well as hundreds of one-on-one meetings and hours of high-value networking.
Kim Carson, a Class IV Fellow who began her one-year Fellowship a few weeks before attending the Super Session, has already experienced the value of our collaboration with CDL. Says Kim, “A highlight of the Material Change program is the partnership with CDL. The partnership provides a unique opportunity to engage in deep tech innovations that push the boundaries of what is possible for the future of social impact and entrepreneurship.”
A Melting Pot of Passionate Speakers, Mentors, Fellows and Founders
CDL’s annual Super Session event drew nearly 1,000 attendees to celebrate the graduation of the organization’s 2023/2024 cohort of deep tech startups. By participating in the events, our Class III and Class IV Fellows had the unique opportunity to network, attend meaningful sessions, and swap ideas with founders, mentors, investors, partners and esteemed guests from across 13 international CDL sites.
Our Fellows saw immense value in the experience, which reinforced both the challenges and opportunities we have as investors.
“I have participated in accelerators before, both as a founder and as a judge/mentor, but nothing comes close to the scale of Creative Destruction Lab,” says Class IV Fellow Dheera Ananthakrishnan, MD. “The ‘drinking from a firehouse’ metaphor fits perfectly here, with both the founders and the mentors. The caliber of both was incredible. I came away from the CDL Super Session with hope for the world.”
Super Session followed our multi-day Material Change Summit. During our flagship event, Class IV Fellows collaborated with the graduating Class III cohort, all while gaining critical insights from domain experts and speakers.
Sally Morris shared incredible knowledge of angel investor groups, including how to structure them and how to develop quality processes for deal sourcing, due diligence and investment decision-making. Fellows also gained key insights into AI and investment strategy from Nathan Shedroff, one of our longest-serving instructors and board members, and then Brice Scheschuk led a session on the VC investor model, power law returns and the “mighty middle.” Brice also shared his expert advice on building resilience as an investor, both personally and across an organization.
Sonia Sennik, CEO of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) highlighted CDL’s incredible impact to date, it’s overall ecosystem and the partnership and collaboration with Material Change. On the Summit’s second day, Patrick Lor, Managing Partner at Panache Ventures, discussed early stage venture investment and a contrarian investment strategy. To close out the Summit, Cameron Sinclair spoke about the current and future needs of global design, investment and social impact for humanity. He shared how a reframe of human-centered design to humanity-centered design could have large implications on design solutions and outcomes.
Participating in Material Change Summit and CDL Super Session provided our Fellows with incredible opportunities to make dynamic connections and accelerate their learning. It was also a powerful, fitting capstone to an impactful year for Class III, which reached the end of their one year program and graduated during the week-long events in Toronto.
The connections forged between our Fellows, mentors, faculty and the wider CDL community are a testament to the rich community we’ve built together — and the power of true partnership in sparking material change.