Youth4Mountains Series: The role of technology and innovation in mountain youth entrepreneurship

Can innovation be promoted in remote areas? Mountain areas can achieve centrality and attract young entrepreneurs thanks to collaboration between research, industry and policymaking. During this workshop, we will talk with young people who have decided to stay in their territory to develop innovative projects, offering work and new opportunities to these areas.

Global Himalayan Expedition (Ladakh – Himalaya , India) – Jaideep Bansal
Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) is the one of the world’s unique impact organizations using the force of tourism coupled with technology to bring sustainable development to the remotest communities of India, as recognized by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). GHE is working in the remote inaccessible locations by merging the elements of sustainability, education, adventure tourism, homestays and solar based electrification. The organization has been commended by the world’s leading organizations including the UN and the WEF, for its efforts to combat climate change and create resilient mountain communities through its development interventions.

Tree Flowers Solutions (Bragança – Terras de Trás os Montes, Portugal) – João Gonçalves
Tree Flowers Solutions is a Portuguese start-up located at the countryside region, devoted to to R&D, production and selling natural extracts and ingredients with innovative properties, for industrial application. The company aims to place itself in the forefront of this industry sector through its differentiation growth, distinguishing itself from its competitors by the sustainable development of its products. Both their mission and vision are focused on the circular economy pillars together with the quest for new partnerships aiming at the development of new processes, biobased products and ingredients.

Humtour project (Carpathian Region, different Countries) – Ágnes Szabó-Diószeghy
Humtour LLC is a social enterprise which offers village and wildlife tours, team building programs highlighting the surrounding nature, local traditions and offers its guests a chance to engage with local communities. The company also leads international responsible tourism projects.

Humtour comes from “Humanitarian tourism”. The name and the idea of Humtour first came up in Venezuela when Ágnes was working in a volunteer program and during later travel adventures, which gave her the chance to get to know the local people, culture, and the history of her destination.

Limes Farm (Vallecamonica – Alps, Italy) – Andrea Domenighini
LIMES farm is an innovative startup that enables innovation and innovative communities in remote areas. Its proprietary technology allows it to manage buildings, like coworking spaces, in a sustainable and always-on way. Parallel to that, LIMES supplies a blueprint of practices to aggregate local companies, professionals and institutions into a community. Their misson is to valorize the talents of the territory supporting them in the start-up and development phase of their business, thanks to mentoring services, economically sustainable spaces and stimulating the contamination of professional skills.

Moderator: Ansgar Fellendorf, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Ansgar supports the mountain team of the UNEP Vienna Programme Office in the area of regional governance, climate change adaptation and sustainable mountain development. Primarily, he works on the implementation of the programme Adaptation at Altitude: Taking Action in Mountains that aims to strengthen and mainstream climate change adaptation in mountain regions. He closely cooperates with partners in the South Caucasus and East Africa, on identifying innovative adaptation solutions in the mountains, fosters regional dialogue and helps with further project development as well as event planning. Previously, Ansgar worked in natural hazard management, disaster risk reduction, ecosystem services and climate change adaptation in the Alps at the Austrian Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Regions and Tourism. Amongst others, he holds experience in policy development, governance processes and transborder networks such as the Alpine Convention and the EU Macroregional Strategy for the Alpine Region. He graduated with a MSc degree in Environmental Technology and International Affairs from the Diplomatic Academy and University of Technology Vienna.