World ocean day

With a mission rooted in access and inclusion, BridgingTheGap’s programming at SDG Disrupter Summit: World Ocean Day Edition will focus on meaningful discussions and inclusive, intergenerational solutions to protect our waters and marine life for the future of all island nations and generations.

There are 50 free spots for young attendees in Bermuda or able to travel there to participate, alongside other stakeholders, in action-orientated programming exploring important SDG 14-focused topics including ocean biodiversity, renewable energy, coastal resiliency and sustainable practices on June 8 2023.

The SDG Disrupter Summit brings together thought leaders focused on community, culture, and social impact. Event organizer and former Bermuda National Team player, Kevin Richards felt that there was a need to have meaningful discussions with local leaders in the public and private sector by leveraging the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals [UN SDGs] as a common language that leaders can use to galvanize our community and align around common objectives. 

Once this alignment is achieved, Bermuda will be in a position to introduce disruptive technologies and innovative economic models that allow us to build a circular economy rooted in regenerative finance, that is tailored to Bermuda’s unique strengths and builds on decades of established innovations and culture.

 Hosted by the Bermuda Football Association, the 40-person thought leadership roundtable, included Vance Campbell, Minister of Tourism & Cabinet, Dr. Ernest Peets, Former Minister of Youth, Sport & Culture, and Drew Pettit, Director of the Environment & Natural Resources, focused on the concept of establishing a network of small-scale vertical farms at local football clubs in Bermuda to go beyond football. 

This initiative aims to have a positive impact on local communities across the island by deploying innovative solutions directly into our communities, and was enhanced by international guests from the US, Europe and Canada who brought global insights and expertise to the discussion. The event started with a warm welcome from the BFA, as well as a virtual surprise welcome from international football legend Clarence Seedorf. Mr. Seedorf, representing the Black Impact Foundation, congratulated Bermuda for convening such an influential group, taking the initiative to leverage sport to drive innovation and build a healthy, sustainable future for our community. 

The amazing discussion identified a grassroots opportunity that leverages sport to deliver innovative solutions to our community to combat food insecurity, and rising healthcare costs to reduce antisocial behavior amongst our youth and expose them to innovative solutions.

   2022 SDG Disrupter Summit Day 2 began with the Blue Economy thought leadership roundtable at the Ignite Bermuda Hub Space. The morning began with Bermuda Asset Management [BAM] sharing their 2022 journey, traveling to Bahrain, the UAE, New York and London to speak at climate and UN events on how island nations can transform their ecosystems through policy change, sustainable investment, innovative design and technology adoption.

The Blue Ocean Prosperity Program [BOPP] Implementation Manager, Cheryl Mapp shared a video illustrating the draft plan before Walter H. Roban, Deputy Premier and Minister of Home Affairs, spoke to attendees about the vision for Bermuda’s blue economy. Attendees then entered into 2-hours of Q&A and discussion focused on how the country can best leverage the 200 square mile economic exclusive zone around the island to build a sustainable blue economy, diversify job prospects and build resilience and sustainability to protect future generations.

  Networking continued between sessions, until the third and final thought leadership roundtable began, focused on Digital Health Transformation. Hosted by the Bermuda Health Council [BHC], attendees were joined by the Bermuda Hospital Board [BHC], Bermuda First, Argus, BF&M, Data Innovation Labs [DIL], CariGenetics and MAPay, who led the roundtable discussions, showcasing technology solutions that could transform Bermuda’s health system. 

The healthcare discussion addressed challenges that we face transitioning to a data driven healthcare ecosystem. DIL CEO, Sol Girouard, took a deep dive into how data science & artificial intelligence can help public and private stakeholders integrate with one another to create a dynamic population health ecosystem throughout Bermuda.

CariGenetics CEO, Carika Weldon, shared insights on the inherent inequities in our system that stem from a lack of diversity and inclusion in genetic research. These biases leads to problematic drug diagnosis and treatment options for non-Caucasian populations locally and around the world. The discussion explored multiple technologies that have been developed by Bermuda companies to disrupt this dynamic. 

 MAPay CEO, Michael Dershem, shared details of his blockchain technology solution enabling individual ownership of personal health data. This technology can empower people so that they can access their own health data and share it when traveling or changing physicians. He also looked at how digital payments can significantly reduce the cost of health and streamline the reconciliation process for hospitals, insurance companies, doctors and pharmacies.

Aquaporin, a publicly listed biotechnology company in Denmark, sent CEO, Matt Boczkowski to Bermuda to engage in the roundtable discussions on both days of the Summit. Mr. Boczkowski expressed his excitement about deploying world class water filtration technology in a society that has a longstanding water conservation culture with infrastructure for collecting water in every home.  

This passionate and dynamic multiple stakeholder discussion showed the engagement and enthusiasm that the public and private sector have to continue to evolve our healthcare ecosystem by leveraging technology to bring efficiency and innovation. While illustrating the challenges facing insurance companies and the structural headwinds facing the hospital, this discussion showed that work has already begun within the BHB and BHC to make Bermuda the leading jurisdiction for innovative healthcare deployment across an entire population and throughout society.

 The first annual SDG Disrupter Summit concluded with a cocktail reception on Tuesday evening at Ignite presented by MLP, hosted by the Bermuda Innovation & Technology Association [BITA], a new association focused on fostering and promoting an inclusive, robust and competitive technology and innovative ecosystem in Bermuda.

The ground-breaking Summit addressed extremely important issues that impact Bermudians of every walk of life. The need for a multi stakeholder approach across the public and private sector was clear and the roundtable format gave attendees the platform to share their views and discuss solutions from local and international experts. The SDG Disruptor Summit was a great opportunity for different stakeholders to collaborate and share insights on innovative new technologies to solve problems that will impact Food Resilience, Blue Economy and Healthcare Innovation. The compelling roundtable discussions were enhanced by a cadre of international guests from the US, Europe and Canada who brought global insights and expertise to the conversation.

Sponsors for the SDG Disrupter Summit included: Bermuda Asset Management, Ignite Bermuda, BITA, Let’s Disrupt Digital, Meta License Plates, Flor de Cana Rum, Ecoverse, CrossTower Bermuda, HLB Bermuda Advisory and Accounting, TechBeach, PennyFly Entertainment, EatUp Events, and Eden Magazine. 

This annual event will return in October 2023, with a special ocean-focused preview edition on June 8, in support of World Oceans Day and a special 3-day December 5-7 edition in Dubai during COP28.