Public Lecture: Opportunities in times of alchemy. Sustainability and regenerative businesses

THE EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED

"I am often asked what the business case for sustainability and social responsibility is. My reply is that I'd love to see the case for the alternative," says Hrund Gunnsteinsdottir, a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum and a 2016 Yale World Fellow.

In this talk, Hrund will explore the paradigm shift taking place, the role of alchemy and how it is shaping business, investments, the air we breathe and the lives of future generations.

Hrund Gunnsteinsdottir is the director of Festa - center for social responsibility and sustainability in Iceland. She is the former chair of the board of the Icelandic Technology Development Fund, Iceland's largest public grant innovation fund. She is the co-director and script writer of the documentary InnSæi - the Sea Within (2016), which explores the art of flourishing, leading and innovating in an age of distraction and transformation and was shown worldwide on Netflix. Following the bank collapse in Iceland in 2008, she designed and directed an innovative, cross-disciplinary university program, which was recognized by the Nordic Council for responding efficiently to the needs of 21st century work market. As a consultant, Hrund has worked for various private and public organisations in Iceland and works regularly for the UN, specifically on gender and post-conflict reconstruction. Hrund was the program manager for UNIFEM in Kosovo after the war, a statistician at the UNECE, and had a permanent position with the UN Secretariat, from which she resigned in 2004. Hrund has worked in the arts, including short films, a three-dimensional book of poetry and a play that premiered at Reykjavik’s Art Festival. Hrund is a public speaker and has served on various boards related to innovation, the arts, education and human rights. She is a Yale World Fellow, was named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2011 and World Economic Forum Cultural Leader in 2017. Hrund holds a BSc from the University of Iceland, an MSc from the London School of Economics and a diploma from Harvard Kennedy School.