This summer was filled with milestones for the Material Change community. We held our first in-person event, bringing together dozens of Fellows, instructors, partners and investors for two days of impact in Toronto. And following our 2023 Summit, we attended the Creative Destruction Lab Super Session 2023: a thought provoking two-day event held by one of our closest partners.
The Material Change Institute is proud to partner with CDL, an organization that drives meaningful progress in health, climate, technology and other areas critical to our future. In addition to our shared emphasis on these themes, our two organizations share a commitment to empowering diverse individuals across the asset management landscape. As Sonia Sennik, executive director of the Creative Destruction Lab, powerfully notes, “Brilliance is evenly distributed and opportunity is not.”
The powerful synergy between our two ecosystems was really present at CDL Super Session 2023. At the two-day event, our Fellows connected with 1,000+ members of the CDL community, learned from experts and applied unique experiences to challenges in AI, data privacy and digital health. Like our summit, the CDL event was filled with critical discussions about the most pressing issues of our time.
“Sitting shoulder to shoulder with the father of reinforcement learning and the mother of autonomous robotics — and aligning divergent outcomes with and contrary to their world views — is what our industry needs,” says Ayori Selassie, a Class I Fellow.
Christy Fernandez-Cull, a Class II Fellow, also emphasized the value of the event and our partnership with CDL. Says Christy, “A convergence of mentors, VCs and subject matter experts under one roof to engage across the topics of digital health, AI and data privacy — asking controversial but pivotal questions — is nothing short of amazing.”
We were also privileged to have Sonia Sennik, CDL’s executive director, share insights during Day One of our 2023 Summit. She discussed CDL’s ecosystem, the Lab’s next milestones and the value of our partnership as we continue to shape a new investment landscape together.
“The relationships between MCI Fellows and CDL Mentors are powerful vehicles to expand the community of global investment professionals,” says Sonia. “We look forward to welcoming a new cohort of MCI Fellows into our ecosystem this fall through our impact-driven partnership with Material Change Institute.”