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Our festival curators, speakers, demos & performers

THE HEAT 2024 brought alive the optimism of climate-tech — with future-food tastings, product demos, music, art, expert workshops and storytelling. Here are some of the creative minds who worked on content.

Our speakers

There were no dull panels or over-long keynotes at THE HEAT 2024.
Instead, festival-goers experienced short, lively presentations from some of the key people leading the battle to decarbonise our planet.

HENRIETTA MOON

CARBO CULTURE

TESSA CLARKE

OLIO

LIZ GILLIGAN

MATERIAL EVOLUTION

DAVID KIM

CYANOCAPTURE

ANNA ALEX

NALA EARTH; PLANETLY

IRENA SPAZZAPAN

SYSTEMIQ

NICK ZUMBÜHL

NALA EARTH

OLIVER FRANKLIN-
WALLIS

AUTHOR, "WASTELAND"

MARTIN WEBER

ONE•FIVE

SIMON MUNDY

FINANCIAL TIMES;

AUTHOR

ANASTASIA
VOLKOVA

REGROW AG

RAFEL JORDA
SIQUIER

OPEN COSMOS

DANNY DORLING

GEOGRAPHER, AUTHOR

PAUL SHEARING

ZERO INSTITUTE

CONNOR TESKEY

BROOKFIELD ASSET
MANAGEMENT

PARMY OLSON

BLOOMBERG; AUTHOR

Our product demos

It’s a festival. Not a conference. So participants got hands-on at THE HEAT.

CARBON CAPTURE

BY CYANOCAPTURE

OFF-GRID POWER

BY COLD ELECTRIC

ENERGY FROM SPACE

BY SPACE SOLAR

FUSION SHOWCASE

BY FIRST LIGHT FUSION

MANGROVE DRONES

BY INVERTO EARTH

OCEAN-FARMING
ROBOTS

BY SAMUDRA OCEANS

100m°C TOUR

BY TOKAMAK ENERGY

FUSION SHOWCASE

BY PROXIMA FUSION

ELECTRIC
SPORTS CARS

BY HEDLEY STUDIOS

VR-CONTROLLED
ROBOTS

BY EXTEND ROBOTICS

MYCELIUM TENT

BY MAGICAL MUSHROOM CO

ROBOTIC UNDERFLOOR
INSULATION

BY Q-BOT

Our future-food tastings

Festival-goers tasted tomorrow’s food — including innovative approaches to meat, cheese, chocolate and more, curated by future-food expert Daniel Skaven Ruben.

ALT-CHOCOLATE

BY WIN-WIN

NEW PROTEINS

BY FERMTECH

DAIRY 2.0

BY BETTER DAIRY

PLANT-BASED FOODS

BY JULIENNE BRUNO

EDIBLE PACKAGING

BY NOTPLA

PLANT-BASED
CHEESE

BY WILLICROFT

Our workshops

Festival-goers broadened their knowledge in compelling interactive sessions led by experts.

ARIA

BY THEIR CLIMATE TEAM

PROXIMA FUSION

BY FRANCESCO SCIORTINO

PLANET WINTER
SCHOOL

BY THE PWS TEAM

CITY.SOLUTIONS

BY URBAN IMPACT &
STARTUP GUIDE

DEEPSENSE

BY STAFFAN QVIST & FINN ARETZ

CONTRARIAN
VENTURES

BY RUTA SKARULSKE

THIRD
DERIVATIVE/
AURUM IMPACT

BY EMILY ROGERS &
MATS MULTHAUPT

OCEAN
CULTURE LIFE

BY TAMSIN RAINE &
MATT PORTEOUS

Our New Materials showcase

There was the chance to get hands-on with sustainable alternatives to leather, textiles, rubber, fabric dyes… This showcase, curated by looms.world‘s Ksenia Starikova, celebrated the most exciting innovations in new biomaterials.

OTTAN

Bio-composites from
food and ag waste

PACT

Biomaterials made from collagen

FIBRITECH

Biomaterials from
cellulose fibres

FABA-FORMA

Bean waste repurposed
by Nikoleta Dimova

RESELO

Birch bark to disrupt
the rubber industry

FIIBA

Banana waste to replace
cotton and viscose

ARDA
BIOMATERIALS

Beer waste into
leather-like materials

KELPI

Waterproof coatings

NETTLE CIRCLE

Regenerative natural fibre
from nettles

THE TYRE
COLLECTIVE

Capturing tyre wear to
minimise microplastics

OSTREA DESIGN

Low-carbon eco-materials
from the sea

TRACELESS

Novel biomaterials from
plant waste

NUATAN

Bioplastics for design

ATELIER LUMA

Bioregional design

BINDETHICS

Better adhesives

Our festival curators

The talented team that put THE HEAT 2024 together.

DAVID ROWAN

THE HEAT's head of content

DANIEL SKAVEN RUBEN

THE HEAT's future-food curator

NATHALIE NAHAI

THE HEAT's music curator

LEONORA CHANCE

THE HEAT's art curator

HUGO PAQUIN

THE HEAT's partnership curator

MARIANA MELA

MARTINS

THE HEAT's curator of participants

EMMA SOUTHWELL-

SANDER

THE HEAT's energy-tech curator

KSENIA STARIKOVA

THE HEAT's new-materials curator

TRISTAN
COPLEY SMITH

THE HEAT's climate-film curator

PATRICK MEIER

THE HEAT's climate robotics curator

MICHELLE MILES

THE HEAT's logistics curator

JOE ROWAN

THE HEAT's curator of stories

FREDDY
SANCHEZ

THE HEAT's curator
of images

JULIETTE
DEVILLARD

THE HEAT's curator
of social interactions

NILS
SÖDERSTRÖM

THE HEAT's curator
of pitch coaching

RABIN
YAGHOUBI

THE HEAT's VOYAGERS
Band curator

Our musicians, performers & art

From drumbeats to DJs and films, we brought the festival vibe to THE HEAT 2024.

DEMBIS THIOUNG

SENEGALESE DRUMMING

HOT POETS

LIV TORC & CHRIS REDMOND

BLANCHE ELLIS

MUSICIAN & ARTIST

ARNO ZIMMERMANN

DJ

STUART GOLDSMITH

COMEDIAN

ART: COLD FLUX

BEN CULLEN WILLIAMS

FILM FESTIVAL

"HOT TAKES"

SANDILANDS

DJ

ART: THE BELLS

MAGICAL SOUNDSCAPE

SOUND MEDITATION

BY EDO PERRY

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Henrietta Moon

Henrietta Moon is the CEO and co-founder of Carbo Culture, drawing down CO2 and storing it in a functional, stable form for thousands of years. Originally from Finland, Henrietta speaks five languages and has lived in four countries.

Tessa Clarke

Tessa is co-founder and CEO of Olio, an app tackling the climate crisis by solving the problem of waste in the home and local community. Olio does this by connecting people with their neighbours so they can give away rather than throw away their spare food and other household items, and lend and borrow instead of buying brand new. They also have over 100,000 volunteers who collect unsold food from local businesses such as Tesco, Iceland and Holland & Barrett, and redistribute it to the community via the Olio app. Eight million people have joined the Olio community to date, and each month over 3 million items are successfully shared.

Liz Gilligan

Dr Liz Gilligan is founder and CEO at Material Evolution. She and the team are working on decarbonising the cement industry at scale using both a hardware and software solution.

David Kim

David is the CEO/founder at CyanoCapture — a climate-tech company using synthetic biology to make industrial-scale CO2 removal affordable worldwide.  The core technology uses genetic engineering to manipulate the photosynthetic machinery found in cyanobacteria to bring down the energy cost of carbon capture below 350 kWh/T CO2.

Anna Alex

Anna Alex is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor dedicated to addressing significant challenges in climate and nature. She recently founded her third company, NALA Earth, which quantifies biodiversity and nature for businesses. Prior to this, she established Planetly and Outfittery. Anna’s Wild&Free Animal Fund supports organisations combating livestock farming.

Irena Spazzapan

Irena leads Systemiq Capital, the climate-tech VC spin-off from the world’s largest pure-play climate advisory firm Systemiq. She built the current team and led most investments in Fund I, including companies like Charm Industrial and Brimstone, which are directly involved with CDR. In 2022, Irena led the spin-out of Systemiq Capital from Systemiq with a launch of Fund II, continuing to back early-stage companies across the UK, EU and North America. The restoration of climate through carbon and methane removal is one of the fund’s focus areas alongside decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors, climate biotech and software as a service.

Nick Zumbühl

Nick is one of the co-founders & CEO of Nala Earth, a software platform that enables businesses to make the complex world of nature & biodiversity manageable. Nick is an economist and data scientist who has previously worked at BCG Gamma building net-zero solutions for large financial institutions.

Oliver Franklin-Wallis

Oliver Franklin-Wallis is an award-winning journalist and the author of “Wasteland: The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, And Why It Matters”. His work often covers the environment and technology, and has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, WIRED, and British GQ, where he is a features editor.

Martin Weber

Martin is co-founder of one • fıve, an AI-powered packaging innovation platform. Utilising new biomaterials, one • fıve empowers decision-makers at major consumer brands to achieve their ultimate packaging solutions — from pre-development to full-scale industrial production — without compromising performance, affordability or sustainability. Martin is an active seed investor with a portfolio of over 30 companies and several early-stage funds.

Simon Mundy

Simon Mundy is the Moral Money editor at the Financial Times, covering environmental and sustainability issues for the award-winning Moral Money platform and the wider FT. He began his reporting career in Johannesburg, where he covered Southern Africa for the FT before a period writing on the London financial sector. He then spent seven years in Asia, heading the FT bureaux in Seoul and Mumbai, before two years travelling through 26 countries on six continents to research Race for Tomorrow, a book on the global scramble to respond to climate change.

Anastasia Volkova

Anastasia is co-founder and CEO of Regrow Ag, shaping the category of agricultural resilience. She has 10+ years of software experience and more than a decade of experience in academia and business. Anastasia holds a PhD in aerospace engineering and has been named a 2023 UBS Global Visionary, one of BBC’s “Top 100 Women” and is on the TIME100 Next list.

Rafel Jorda Siquier

Rafel Jorda Siquier is the founder and CEO of Open Cosmos, a company that designs, manufactures, and operates satellites to help solve the world’s biggest challenges. He is an aerospace engineer from UPC with a Master’s degree in space technologies. The company, founded in 2015, has raised nearly $60 million in investment, has achieved annual contracts of over €100 million, and employs more than 100 people distributed between the UK, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Open Cosmos has dozens of satellites contracted for activities as diverse as telecommunications, Earth observation, navigation and science, and is one of the few companies in the world that maintains a 100% success rate in multiple launched satellites. Additionally, it leads the OpenConstellation, aggregating satellites from the UK, Spain, Portugal and elsewhere, which is growing into one of the largest constellations of shared satellites.

Danny Dorling

Danny Dorling is a professor in the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford. He was previously a professor for a decade at the University of Sheffield, and before then at the University of Leeds. He has also worked as an academic in Newcastle and Bristol. He was born and brought up in Oxford. In 2020 he published “Slowdown: The End of the Great Acceleration—And Why It’s Good for the Planet, the Economy, and Our Lives”; and in 2021, jointly with Annika Koljonen: “Finntopia: What We Can Learn from the World’s Happiest Country”. He slowed down for a year in 2022, and his 2023 book was titled: “Shattered Nation: Inequality, and the Geography of a Failing State”. In 2024 he publishes two books: “Seven Children” and “Peak Injustice”. Danny is a patron of the road-crash charity RoadPeace, of Heeley City Farm in Sheffield, and of the educational campaign group Comprehensive Future. In his spare time, he makes sandcastles on beaches with clean streams and the right kind of sand. He errs towards being optimistic about the future, because his academic work suggests, to him, that this is the most rational stance to take – despite what you may see around you.

Paul Shearing

Paul Shearing is Professor of Sustainable Energy Engineering at the Department of Engineering Science, and director of the ZERO Institute, at Oxford University. He holds the Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Battery Technologies.

Connor Teskey

Connor Teskey is president of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global investment firm with approximately $1 trillion of assets under management across renewable power and transition, infrastructure, private equity, real estate and credit. Brookfield focuses on investing in real assets and essential service businesses that form the backbone of the global economy. Connor is also the head of the company’s Renewable Power & Transition business, which focuses on accelerating the global transition to a net-zero economy. The strategy invests in the expansion of clean energy, the acceleration of sustainable solutions, and the transformation of companies operating in carbon-intensive sectors to more sustainable business models.

Parmy Olson

Parmy Olson is technology columnist with Bloomberg covering the recent AI boom. She’s a former tech reporter with the Wall Street Journal and Forbes and the author of We Are Anonymous, Inside the Hacker World of Lulzsec, Anonymous and the Global Cyber Insurgency. Her latest book, Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT and the Race That Will Change the World, is longlisted for the 2024 Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award.

Samudra Oceans

Samudra Oceans is a London-based startup pioneering the future of ocean farming. Utilising robotics and artificial intelligence, the company aims to revolutionise the scalability of marine agriculture — seaweed, oysters, crustaceans, etc — to drive efficiency and sustainability in the industry. Their smart robots gather valuable insights on farm health and send critical alerts, enabling informed decision-making. This innovative approach significantly enhances operational efficiency and sustainability in marine agriculture at an affordable cost.

Hedley Studios

Hedley Studios, formerly The Little Car Company, designs and manufactures drivable, scaled-down electric versions of iconic classic cars in partnership with brands like Bugatti, Ferrari, and Aston Martin. Each vehicle is hand-built in the UK, blending precision engineering with artistic craftsmanship to create functional automotive collectibles. One standout project is the Tamiya Wild One MAX, a full-size electric car inspired by the 1980s RC model, reimagined for real-world driving.

Q-Bot

Q-Bot has developed a robot that can spray insulation to the underside of suspended timber homes, reducing home energy bills and CO2 emissions by up to 20%. Q-Bot is creating jobs in an area that was previously ignored, as installation was so time consuming and difficult.

ARIA: the UK's Advanced Research + Invention Agency

ARIA is a new kind of R&D funding agency. It funds scientists and engineers to pursue research at the edge of the possible. ARIA was established by the UK Government in January 2023 with high levels of autonomy – granted via the ARIA Act. From climate change to AI, society faces enormous challenges and opportunities that can be uniquely addressed by science and technology. ARIA was created to activate the UK’s world-class R&D in new ways, to meet these head on.

 

Bridging the funding gap for nature restoration

An interactive “fishbowl” workshop led by Sergey Ivliev at Vlinder Climate, Sergei Nozdrenkov at Wildflow, Frederick Leuschner at GreenTrade and Cecilia Ma at Norrsken VC. This session will explore the critical funding challenges facing nature restoration projects and discuss innovative strategies to bridge this gap. With ecosystems under increasing pressure, the need for sustainable financing models is more urgent than ever. This interactive discussion will bring together experts and participants to share insights, propose solutions, and explore new pathways for mobilising capital for nature restoration efforts.

How to pilot your solution in cities

Urban Impact and Startup Guide are teaming up in this workshop to help you discover piloting opportunities in cities with the help of their latest venture, city.solutions. You will learn how to find, select and win challenge-based innovation programmes and openly share some of our war stories with each other!

Navigating science-tech risks and due diligence

A deep dive into preparing for fundraising readiness for science-tech founders, and robust due diligence practices for climate investors.

Taking capital from climate/impact VCs — truth and myths

The session will delve into the realities of securing capital from climate and impact VCs. It will equip founders with essential knowledge of what climate tech venture capitalists expect, how they contribute to value creation, and how they assess and understand the impact generated by the startups they invest in.

Scaling CDR: Stories of failure and fortitude

t’s not always rainbows and butterflies in the world of carbon direct removal (CDR). Join experts from Third Derivative, Aurum Impact and UNDO as we dive into why CDR is essential—and unpack the unexpected hurdles that come with scaling this critical tech. Engage with UNDO, an enhanced rock weathering start-up, as they share the unique challenges they’ve faced, and learn how setbacks have shaped the path for CDR startups. Let’s break the stigma around setbacks, learn from each other’s struggles, and embrace the challenges of early-stage innovation together!

Amplifying Your Voice: Storytelling for Impact

Ocean Culture Life’s mission is to empower a global community of ocean storytellers and guardians to inspire, educate, and protect. As a marine-focused charity, OCL champions the conservation and enhancement of marine ecosystems, aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14. Its founders are Tamsin Raine and Matt Porteous. Tamsin is a storyteller and environmental advocate who spent over a decade in advertising and communications before dedicating her career to giving a voice to the ocean. As co-founder and CEO of OCL, Tamsin leads a passionate community of storytellers and guardians committed to marine conservation. Matt set out to harness his lifelong fascination with human stories, nature and travel, creating a global community aimed at promoting positive narratives about the oceans and their inhabitants. Matt’s passion for storytelling is captured in his ability to weave visual narratives of profound depth, bridging personal experiences with universal truths. His photographic work, which ranges from intimate moments to grand adventures, explores deep emotions and respects the Earth and its oceans. Each of his photographs is more than a moment; it’s a transformative piece of art that speaks directly to the soul.

Ottan

Ottan is a green-tech company that develops bio-based building materials upcycled from food and agricultural waste. Ottan’s materials are technical architectural surfaces designed for wall coverings, furniture, and a variety of products, contributing to sustainability in interiors.

PACT

PACT produces elegant and sustainable biomaterials from natural resources such as herbal extracts, oils, and minerals. Its product Oval is made from natural collagen from sustainable freshwater fish farms, and is free of any harsh chemicals.

FibriTech

FibriTech produces advanced biomaterials that can be shaped in almost any way you want. Its product FibriAgri is an ecological peat-free substrate for growing plants, and provides space for optimal air and water content. Its other product, FibriSorb, is an oil sorbent made from natural cellulose fibres sourced from renewable forests, which selectively absorbs oils, fuels and petroleum-based liquids while repelling water.

Faba-Forma

Faba-Forma is a closed-loop design system that promotes beans by creating a second income stream for farmers, rewarding their labour and giving back to nature. This discarded material is converted into fully degradable interior modules with a 3D clay printer. All colourings used in the designs are acquired from other plant and vegetable waste from the same farms, such as beetroot skins, butterfly peas and charcoal, keeping the process sustainable.

Reselo

Reselo has developed a cost-effective process to turn residues from the pulp and paper industry (birch bark) into a sustainable and patented bio-rubber. It is implementing its rubber directly in major markets like footwear and the automotive industry in order to have the greatest impact.

Fiiba

Fiiba is a next-generation textile developer that produces yarn and fabrics for fashion from agricultural banana waste. It uses solar power to ensure consistent quality of its soft fibre, and provides free organic fertiliser as a natural byproduct of the extraction process to ensure zero waste circularity. It causes zero deforestation, uses no plastic, water, land or insecticides, and plans to bring 1 million farmers out of poverty by 2030 by paying for their waste.

Arda Biomaterials

Arda Biomaterials transforms waste into animal-free, plastic-free, and scalable materials for the fashion, automotive, home goods, and further industries. Its product New Grain transforms protein-rich spent grain from beer breweries and whisky distilleries into novel leather-like materials that it hopes will replace plastic leather and reduce reliance on animal leather.

Kelpi

Using seaweed and natural plant-based oils, Kelpi has created unique, biodegradable coating materials for paper, card and fibre which provide the sort of barrier to water, oxygen, greasy and acidic contents that could previously only be achieved by fossil-fuel plastics. Kelpi has signed up some of the largest companies in the world as clients, such as L’Oréal, Diageo and Waitrose.

Nettle Circle

Nettle Circle produces eco-friendly nettle fibres for the textile industry. Its HILAYA nettle fibres aim to reduce the impact of industry, support biodiversity and promote regenerative agriculture. It is currently exploring different applications for its nettle fibres, from textiles and composites to insulation and beyond.

The Tyre Collective

The Tyre Collective is a London-based cleantech startup that captures tyre wear from vehicles. Tyre wear is the second-largest source of microplastics in our oceans and a major source of air particulate pollution. Using its patent-pending electrostatic technology, the Tyre Collective aims to accelerate the shift towards zero-emission mobility and close the loop on captured waste.

Ostrea Design

Ostrea Design produces a low-carbon and 100% recyclable mineral material made from oyster, mussel and scallop shells. Founded in 2020, Ostrea emerged from an encounter with oyster farmers and a realisation: every year in France, this sector produces nearly 250,000 tons of shell waste, of which only 5-10% is recycled, with the rest sent to landfills. Ostrea has the same properties as a natural stone and emits only 3 kilograms of CO2 per square metre produced, compared to 97 kilograms for PVC or 48 kilograms for ceramics.

traceless

traceless is a natural biomaterial derived from plant leftovers of industrial food production. It is naturally regenerative, plastic-free, home- and garden-compostable, and fully bio-based, avoiding food conflict or deforestation risks. Thanks to the resource-saving extraction technology, 91% of CO2 emissions are saved in production and disposal compared to virgin plastics.

Nuatan

Nuatan makes products from bioplastics for a wide range of applications, including interior design, fashion accessories, housewares and consumer electronics. Nuatan materials are 100% bio-based, fully compostable, and are designed for durability. Nuatan is developed by crafting plastics! studio, an award-winning design research studio founded in Bratislava in 2016.

Atelier LUMA

Atelier LUMA, a programme of LUMA Arles, has been exploring bioregional design practices in the south of France and elsewhere since 2016. In contrast to territories, which have human-made borders, bioregions are defined by ecosystems and environmental conditions, and by how people have lived in and alongside them. Currently establishing new partnerships around the world, Atelier LUMA is guided by the idea that production systems must be scaled to match local resources and needs, and as such all of the materials presented in this exhibition were created by combining locally available material and human resources.

BindEthics

BindEthics has developed innovative food-waste-derived bio-adhesives to replace formaldehyde-based glues used to make engineered wood products such as furniture. Formaldehyde-based adhesives, the industry standard in a growing market that moves £16bn a year, are toxic, carcinogenic, and the reason why wood panels are not recyclable. Ecohesive, BindEthics’s sustainable solution, reduces the CO2 footprint by 80% and allows the final piece of furniture to fall within the circular-economy cycle.

David Rowan

David Rowan is founder of VOYAGERS and chief curator of THE HEAT. He was founding UK editor-in-chief of WIRED and wrote the book “Non-Bullshit Innovation” (Penguin). David also runs the VOYAGERS Climate-Tech Fund.

Daniel Skavén Ruben

Daniel is founder of Solvable Syndicate, founding editor of FoodTech Weekly, operating advisor to Mudcake / Nordic FoodTech VC / Blume Equity, angel investor in 30+ startups, advisor to 15+ food-tech and bio-economy startups, and mentor at accelerators Big Idea Ventures, Katapult and Norrsken.

Nathalie Nahai

Nathalie Nahai is an artist, musician and founder of the Flourishing Futures Salon. Author of the bestselling book, Webs of Influence, she works at the intersection of psychology, technology and the arts.

Leonora Chance

Leonora Chance is a cultural strategist who is head of brand communications at WeTransfer and its commissioning arts arm WePresent. She has spent the past decade working with creatives, brands and institutions on building their reputation and shaping projects across the creative spectrum.

Hugo Paquin

What started off as a marketing career in the corporate world turned into a mission to support climate-tech founders solving what I believe is the most pressing issue of our era: the rapid collapse of our natural world. A large part of my time is devoted to enabling dialogue, fostering collaboration, creating inspiration-inducing, action-triggering events and experiences that I hope will lead to a better tomorrow. Another big part goes to enjoying the here and the now with my wife and two kids, most likely playing outside near our home in Hamburg, Germany.

Mariana Mela Martins

Mariana is the VOYAGERS Community Builder, responsible for building valuable connections between the 3,500+ people in the VOYAGERS community of people working on impactful things in climate tech, health tech and more. Her role includes organising three-day adventure weekends in magical places; local dinner meetups in 24 cities; online workshops and networking; direct introductions between VOYAGERS; and other online and offline activities that build peer support.

Emma Southwell-Sander

Emma oversees the development and management of the Energy Tech Cluster at Harwell, which is supported by the Science Technology Facilities Council at UK Research and Innovation. She has been instrumental in building on the strong foundations of the Cluster with innovative energy-technology companies, UK public bodies, academia and industry to share knowledge, focus on funding streams and concentrate on areas of growth. Key to the Energy Tech Cluster’s success is taking its primary focus and ensuring that across collaboration with a multidisciplinary focus approach is actively supported.

Ksenia Starikova

After some years in design and innovation consulting for global brands and lately transforming the Design Hotels platform into a more conscious business, Ksenia is currently focused on impact and sustainability advisory within looms.world, exploring new ideas of circularity and the role of creativity in climate change.

Tristan Copley Smith

Tristan is an award-winning filmmaker, founder and anthropologist focused on accelerating climate action. He is co-founder of the London-based production company Possible Studio, and has published films and stories with The Guardian, Al-Jazeera and the Huffington Post. Tristan is a Shuttleworth Foundation grant recipient and MIT Innovator Under 35.

Patrick Meier

Dr Patrick Meier leads the Climate Robotics Network and previously served as Strategy Lead for Robotics at the Swiss Institute of Technology (EPFL). He is a 5x founder with 15+ years of leadership experience in humanitarian- and climate-tech. Patrick is also a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and was born and raised in Africa.

Michelle Miles

Michelle is the event lead at Fusion Events, an agency based in Oxfordshire that specialises in managing events that have sustainability at their core. Working in the events sector for 20+ years, she has experience managing an unusual variety of events, including festivals, award ceremonies, conferences and technology showcases — all of which feed into THE HEAT’s varied programme. Michelle is an IEMA associate member.

Joe Rowan

Joe Rowan is VOYAGERS’ Chief of Staff and THE HEAT’s Programme Curator. He is helping to put together the agenda, including finding speakers, and helping with the general logistics of the festival. He’s also writing stories about participants for THE HEAT’s social media.

Freddy Sánchez

Freddy Sánchez is a Costa Rican artist and photographer living in Barcelona, Spain. Classically trained in realist painting in Florence, he brings a unique eye to his subjects and captures arresting compositions that tell a rich story.

Juliette Devillard

Juliette is the founder and CEO of Climate Connection, an ecosystem-builder organisation that runs 40+ events per year to bring together changemakers working at the intersection of climate and innovation. Prior to this, Juliette spent 5+ years in the US working in early-stage deeptech and climate startup creation. She is also a leadership coach, a public-speaking coach, and a passionate advocate of the need for greater awareness and support for founder mental-health resources.

Nils Söderström

Nils, who is working with our pitching startups to hone their stories, is a serial entrepreneur with 20+ years experience as founder, business developer and company leader. He crashed a few companies, but also made a number of successful exits. Today, he helps early startups, growth and large companies accelerate and scale through increased revenue, targeted sales and smart investments. And it all starts with honing your perfect pitch!

Rabin Yaghoubi

Rabin Yaghoubi, who has creatively crowdsourced the VOYAGERS Band for this evening’s entertainment, is the chief corporate development officer at Aleph Group, the global leader in powering digital media growth in over 130 emerging markets. Previously, he was chief commercial officer at Babylon Health, ran strategic partnerships for Google in EMEA (including launching key products like Maps and Shopping) and managed DoubleClick’s media business globally. Rabin is a prolific angel investor and advisor, having acted as EIR at Seedcamp, Europe’s leading early-stage fund, and invested in and advised over 50 early and late-stage digital businesses.

Dembis Thioung

Dembis Thioung, Griot by blood and Baye Fall at heart, is a mesmerizing keeper of ancestral West African rhythms and a creator of new ones. A Senegalese master drum-maker, percussionist, educator, and community gatekeeper, he specializes in the powerful ancestral technology of Dundun, Djembe, Sabar, and Asico drums, bridging tradition and innovation through his artistry. In the UK since 2010, Dembis has collaborated with artists and companies across Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Founder of PENCHMI: the African Drum + Dance + Chant Portal, he creates spaces for community connection and spiritual exploration. Lead member of BENE TALLY BAND & friends, he summons a collective of artists bringing the magic rhythms and the spirit of Africa to stages. He is also known for his GRIOT+BAYEFALL DRUM BLESSING, a solo act that blends rhythm, spirituality, and storytelling, performed at the Soho House, Cafe Oto, Peckham Levels, Jamboree and Dalston Curve Gardens. www.dembisthioung.com

Hot Poets

Hot Poets is an ambitious, award-winning, internationally focused CIC, working to powerfully communicate climate-change science and action through spoken-word poetry. They do this by creating dynamic arts and science collaborations with top climate-change organisations, scientists and world-class artists, including UNFCCC’s Resilience Frontiers, The Met Office, LSE, RSPB, UCL, Southbank Centre, The Gaia Foundation and 3M. Their poems have been viewed, heard or seen over 6 million times, presented at the Southbank, NBC UNIVERSAL, TedXLondon, and COP26, 27 and COP28 in collaboration with the UN. By giving science a story, Hot Poets has positively impacted the work of scientists, farmers and academics across the world.  

Liv Torc is world-shaping, creativity-championing poet, performer, producer and UN consultant, who seeks and delivers creative solutions to the pressing problems of our time. Co-Artistic Director of Hot Poets and producer of the poetry stage at WOMAD, Liv has performed at Glastonbury Festival, UNESCO in Paris, TEDxLondonWomen and R4’s Poetry Please. Her published books include Show Me Life and The Human Emergency. 

Chris Redmond is a writer, musician and multi-artform facilitator. Co-Artistic Director of Hot Poets, founder of Tongue Fu, his career spans 30 years and 20 countries, with collaborators including Kae Tempest, Lemn Sissay, Irvine Welsh and Hollie McNish. His poetry and music has featured on BBC Radio 1-6, ITV, Sky Arts, CBBC, in The Guardian and Independent.

Blanche Ellis

Blanche Ellis is a multidisciplinary artist and musician. With intricate lyrics, folk in her fingers and blues in her voice, Blanche sings mostly in intimate spaces, using music as a way to weave connection and community. “Acapella and harmony, the naked voice and the rhythm of the body, are home.” Blanche has performed her songs from her first home, Camden Town, London, across the UK, USA and Europe, solo and in a variety of musical collaborations. Blanche lives in Barcelona, where she paints, sings and hosts musical gatherings to which all are welcome.

Arno Zimmermann

Growing up in the vibrant culture of post-reunification East Germany, Arno fell in love with electronic music at kindergarten. At high school, he started a daily radio show, DJing and organising parties in Dresden and Berlin. Arno balances his engineering career with his DJing passion, his sound ranging from downtempo electronic and house to trance and rave, tailored to the time and setting. He is known for creating unforgettable experiences in intimate clubs and house parties. Arno draws inspiration from Berlin’s legendary techno clubs, such as RSO, Watergate, Sisyphos and Golden Gate, and infamous park raves or festivals, like Nachti and Fusion, infusing his music with a unique and sustainable energy.

Stuart Goldsmith

Stuart Goldsmith is an internationally award-winning comedian, podcaster, speaker and comedy expert. His TV credits include performing stand-up on Conan, hosted by comedy icon Conan O’Brien. He has performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the New Zealand International Comedy Festival and the prestigious, invitation-only festivals Just For Laughs in Montreal and SXSW in Texas. His 2023 solo stand-up show Spoilers won the prestigious Best Show 2023 at Leicester Comedy Festival and was one of the best-reviewed shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023, where he played to sellout audiences. The Times praised Stuart’s “excellence” and his “intelligent, well-crafted act” and The List said: “He’s especially, piercingly funny on the hypocrisies we all indulge in.” Stuart performs his climate comedy at eco festivals and at corporate events internationally. The purpose is to engage attendees in the important issue of sustainability and climate change; to send out a call to action and alleviate our collective dread by tackling a very serious subject via a very entertaining medium. He has appeared at high-profile climate festivals including Net Zero Festival and Blue Earth Summit in the UK and GreenBiz in the US. Stuart hosts the internationally renowned “Comedian’s Comedian” podcast, with over 25 million downloads. stuartgoldsmith.com

Sandilands

George Sandilands is a globe-trotting DJ known for celebrating music from around the world. With a passion for diverse sounds, he seamlessly mixes beats, jazz and grooves inspired by tropical rhythms from Latin America, Africa and Europe. His eclectic sets blend lounge vibes, electronic beats and global grooves, captivating audiences and keeping them dancing all night long. George has a knack for bringing together a rich tapestry of musical genres, including funk, e-soul, hip-hop, latin, amapiano, jazz and electronic sounds, which reflects his deep appreciation for global music culture. His carefully curated sets are a celebration of musical diversity, inviting listeners on a journey across continents through sound. George has been featured at numerous festivals and events, such as Womad Festival, Gala Festival, Secret Garden Party, Snowbombing, Shambala and Boomtown Fair. His ability to connect with audiences and create an unforgettable atmosphere has made him a sought-after DJ on the international festival circuit. Whether he’s spinning at a laid-back lounge or an energetic festival stage, George’s music transports listeners to distant lands and brings the vibrant sounds of the world to life.

The Bells

The Bells are a series of sounds that contain specific frequencies and patterns, creating a non-verbal mode of communication. By playing them, the listener and surrounding environment are naturally put into a state of harmony & balance. Regular listening of these sounds can re-awaken our innate abilities. The more people that listen, the more we can build a mosaic that creates solutions for the planet that we have never thought of before. Up until this year, The Bells have only been available via private sessions in Los Angeles. Now, on occasion, they’re available to everyone as a livestream made possible by generous partners. As such, The Bells have made their way to over 40 US states and 70 countries. During THE HEAT, you will have a unique opportunity to experience The Bells in the relaxation zone. The experience will last for 15 minutes; however there is so much more to discover. Please inquire to learn more or arrange for a personal experience for you or your community.

Sound Meditation and Saving the Planet

Take a break for reflection and relaxation by joining this session on Sound Mediation and Saving the Planet. The session, led by Edo Perry, will incorporate instruments, breathing techniques and meditation to reset you for the days to come (which requires no prior knowledge or any other action other than just…being). Edo is the VOYAGERS Bay Area chapter lead and CEO and cofounder of Elements. Based in San Francisco, Edo has been working in climate for 12 years — in NGOs, political campaigns, ecosystem building, lecturing and mentoring at universities. He worked at Apple on sustainability and most recently joined as an advisor to a climate-tech fund. Edo has guided sound-meditation sessions for six years and believes that these sessions allow you to connect to yourself and others in more harmonic ways.

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