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X-ITE项目汇集了全球创新者

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乔恩·斯通

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乔恩·斯通
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乔恩.Stone@salamzone.com

Three-day bootcamp focused on efforts to solve the world’s biggest problems

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访问ing innovators pose with members of the 项目X-ITE team.
访问ing innovators pose with members of the 项目X-ITE team.

饥饿, 贫困, crumbling infrastructure 和 inadequate clean water 和 sanitation are all serious issues facing millions of people around the world. In 2015, the United Nations established 17 goals — known as the 可持续发展目标 来解决这些全球性问题. 上周末,科罗拉多州有能力帮助解决这些问题.

yzcca88游戏登录网址的 项目X-ITE 飞往丹佛的航班, 为期三天的技术人员训练营, 工程师, 科学家和其他创新者. 在一起, 他们与来自前线六所大学的专家合作, 30家私营企业, seven nonprofit organizations 和 five public-sector groups from Colorado.

“We have some of the greatest innovative 和 entrepreneurial minds in the world within our state, 我们在一起玩得很好,埃里克·米蒂塞克说, X-ITE项目的执行董事. “我们有一个真正支持和相投的生态系统, 和 you can see it in the caliber of people that came out to support 飞往丹佛. 这在其他城市是看不到的.”

All that support was channeled into helping 17 innovators push forward with their solutions to addressing some of the thorniest issues bedeviling our planet.

劳伦·弗莱彻,生物碳工程公司
劳伦·弗莱彻,生物碳工程公司

One of the innovators, Lauren Fletcher, a former NASA engineer, created the company BioCarbon工程 在英国. They are designing drones to automate the process of replanting trees. The goal is to plant one billion trees a year using the quadcopters.

“我们的重点是生态系统恢复,”弗莱彻说. “Drones are an enabling technology that allows us to do that job in a way like never before.”

Fletcher says using the drones for this process is more cost-effective, reduces worker-injury rates 和 allows accessibility in hard-to-get-to areas. 在飞往丹佛训练营的途中, he worked with local experts to create a framework for bringing his company to the United States, 特别是科罗拉多, which has been impacted by the pine beetle infestation 和 wildfires.

祖莱娜·扎哈林,生态学家
祖莱娜·扎哈林,生态学家

Another innovator is creating a sustainable toilet system that turns human waste into a natural fertilizer. Zuraina Zaharin的系统,被称为 Ecoloo, was developed in collaboration with her Swedish business partner, Imad Agi. Ecoloo does not use water 和 has already been installed in 16 countries, with plans to exp和 production to a million toilets per year.

“Our solution is perfect when dealing with disaster relief 和 refugee camps,” Zaharin said. “我们希望实现的不仅仅是销售解决方案. 这不是yzcca88游戏登录网址销售解决方案, 而是要改变现状,解决水资源问题, sanitation 和 hygiene issues that are a pressing issue in our world.”

Ecoloo was selected last year by the UN Foundation as one of 10 groundbreaking innovations.

另一位参加周末训练营的参与者, 梅根·史密斯被任命为首席技术官.S. 奥巴马政府. She has played a vital role in working with innovators from around the world who are tackling the 可持续发展目标. She reminded participants why Colorado was the perfect place for innovators to convene.

“飞往丹佛的都是那些才华横溢的人, productive 和 long history of capable people from the team here in Colorado meeting with extraordinary entrepreneurs,史密斯说. “It’s everyone coming together to accelerate the products these entrepreneurs are working on.”

At the event’s opening night kickoff at WeWork in downtown Denver, Colorado Gov. 约翰·希肯卢珀(John Hickenlooper)强调了美国最近的一项调查.S. 新闻与世界报道 排名 显示科罗拉多州排名第一. 这个国家的经济. He also discussed the culture around entrepreneurship that exists in the Denver metro area.

“This is a very important sign that Denver 和 Colorado are becoming the first stop for some of the most innovative 和 vital entrepreneurial efforts in the world,杰比·霍尔斯顿说, 学院院长 Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering 和 Computer 科学 在杜. “The global entrepreneurs now have a team in Colorado who will work with them on specific objectives 和 serve as long-term partners for their efforts.”

These teams will continue to work together remotely over the course of the next six months, 和 a progress report will be presented at the UN global headquarters in New York City in September.

“There was no blueprint for an event like this,” Mitisek said. “We tapped our counterparts at other universities across the Front Range. We knew inherently that Colorado was the perfect place to pull together cross-disciplinary groups that could function at a high level in support of big ideas. 这招奏效了.”