THE CONVERGENCE PROJECT
The Convergence Project is the action outcome of the World Frontiers Forum. It combines the innovative efforts of a global, interdisciplinary team of young pioneers who work with partners in industry and government to effect change toward meeting UN Sustainable Development Goals — starting at a human impact scale of hundreds of thousands and aiming at a scale exceeding 10 million.
2019 YOUNG COnvergence PIONEERS
Agnieszka Kurant
Interdisciplinary & conceptual Artist
Conceptual artist, Agnieszka Kurant examines how complex social, economic and ecological systems can operate in ways that confuse distinctions between fiction and reality or nature and culture. Read more
catherine mahugu
Technology Innovator, Founder and CEO
Catherine is the founder of Wazidata, a design- led innovation company which works to solve complex challenges with a focus on people. Concretely, the company - named after the Swahili word for open (wazi)- is a sort of consultancy agency which looks to help international development by bridging the digital divide and providing equitable access to technologies through the application of design thinking concepts and methodologies. These design thinking concepts are designed to teach individuals to identify patterns and opportunities for concept development by brining alternative perspectives to their work. To do this, Wazidata conducts human-centered design Workshops and need specific services. Read more
Sandra matz
Computational Social Scientist
Sandra Matz takes a Big Data approach to studying human behavior in a variety of business- related domains. She combines methodologies from psychology and computer science – including machine learning, experimental designs, online surveys, and field studies – to explore the relationships between people’s psychological characteristics and the digital footprints they leave with every step they take in the digital environment (e.g. their Facebook Likes or their credit card transactions). Read more
david opio
Founder and CEO of Ensibuuko
David Opio created Ensibuuko, a mobile and web application that integrates SMS and mobile money services, to handle savings and make loans to smallholder farmers in Uganda. Read more
padmini pillaI
CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT
Padmini Pillai is an immunoengineer who is bridging the gap between advances in immunology and the development of new biomaterials to treat human disease. Padmini received her Ph.D. in Immunobiology from Yale University, where she revealed how innate sensors orchestrate an antiviral response to fight influenza infection, and how death from the flu could be caused by the immune response to the infection rather than the virus itself. Read more
ari sokolov
Co-founder and Trill's CEO
As a result of her interest in the impact of social media on young people, specifically as it relates to the LGBTQ+ community, earlier this year Ari sent an anonymous poll to thousands of teens around the world via Tumblr. After receiving the results, she was saddened to find that social media was a place where many LGBTQ+ youth felt isolated and alone. Read more
2018 YOUNG PIONEERS
The 2018-19 convergence project, Foods That Matter, addresses the issue of malnutrition.
A Market Solution for Micronutrient Deficiency?
The World Frontiers Forum’s “Foods That Matter” Convergence Project Builds Bridges to Sierra Leone, Nigeria
ARDY ARIANPOUR
Ardy Arianpour is CEO & Co-Founder of Seqster, the first consumer driven healthcare technology platform that utilizes A.I. to enable individuals to aggregate their EHR, genomics and fitness data in one place and share with their family creating a multi-generational health record.
ANDREW BASTAWROUS
Dr Andrew Bastawrous is an eye surgeon and Co-Founder and CEO of Peek Vision, a social enterprise which develops technology to bring better vision and health to everyone. He has worked and undertaken research in over twenty countries, and has been voted one of the world’s thirty most influential people in public health. He is a TED Fellow, Rolex Laureate, Ashoka Fellow and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.
Oscar Ekponimo
Alleviating hunger has always been at the top of his agenda. At university, he and friends set up Blue Valentine to distribute warm meals to indigent street kids on 14 February. In 2013, this initiative evolved into SalvageHub, the precursor to Chowberry that earned him the International Telecommunications Union Award for technology innovation. Ekponimo also runs Food Drive, an ad hoc Chowberry initiative where he and other volunteers collect products within a week of expiry and distribute them to orphanages and homes for the elderly.
reese fernandez-ruiz
As a child, Reese Fernandez-Ruiz moved around often with her missionary mother. Exposed to the suffering of others, she was inspired to find solutions to solve social problems. Fernandez-Ruiz went on to win a scholarship to attend Ateneo University where she took a degree in management. Deeply committed to helping others to improve their lives and alleviate poverty, she has used her skills to train people to become social entrepreneurs, giving them the means to confront many challenges, from rebuilding housing after a cyclone to teaching organic agriculture to farmers.
Emilia Javorsky
Javorsky's grad school mentor turned the ability to freeze and remove subcutaneous fat into a cosmetic-services business. Now she's trying to do the same on the medical side. Her work has led to a company that is testing a method for freezing fat anywhere in the body, with potential to treat conditions like sleep apnea and type 2 diabetes.
tavares strachan
Tavares Henderson Strachan is a contemporary, conceptual artist whose multi-media installations investigate science, technology, mythology, history, and exploration. He lives and works in New York City and Nassau, Bahamas. He also the 2018 Frontier Art Prize winner.