Conference News: Ready for Departure?; What’s NEXT for Reuters; Sustainable Brands Seeks Speakers

A Toronto Departure: What was previously known as Canadian Music Week has been reimagined as Departure Festival & Conference, scheduled for 6-11 May in Toronto. Departure will explore the global creative community that is innovating across music, art, comedy, and technology. Its organizers explain: “Our audiences have grown alongside CMW for the past 42 years and have been integral to our success. By expanding our offerings, while staying true to our roots in music, Departure will create an inclusive and vibrant environment that will also attract international artists and creatives of the younger generation, allowing for a deeper, more diverse conversation.” Bridging the gap between tech and entertainment, Departure will also be joining forces with Elevate, a non-profit that unites world-class innovators to catalyze transformation in the Canadian tech ecosystem, to develop conference programming.

What’s NEXT for Reuters: Reuters will be hosting a new edition of their live journalism event bringing together “policymakers, business leaders and forward thinkers who are tackling the greatest challenges and opportunities facing society, business, and the world at large.” In addition to their flagship event in New York in December, Reuters launched NEXT Singapore in 2024 which was well received. In 2025 they will add to the lineup with NEXT Abu Dhabi on 22 October. The conference will still be by-invitation-only but a bit more intimate than the US version of the event. 

Submission Opportunity: Sustainable Brands (SB) Conference (13 – 16 October in San Diego) gathers approximately one thousand leaders who are described by the event organizers as “courageous optimists reshaping the future of commerce worldwide.”  If you have a case study about how you are delivering sustainable business value through innovation for environmental and social benefit, you should make a speaker/topic suggestion for the 2025 conference agenda before the 28 March deadline. Please ensure that your idea aligns with one of the five conference tracks: Transforming Materials and Supply Chains; Selling Sustainability; Catalyzing Innovation and Regenerative Design; Enabling Behavior Change; Governance, Metrics and ROI & Impact.

Lunchtime Learning: Last June the Atlantic hosted their seventh annual People v. Cancer conference in NYC and online. The agenda highlighted patients, doctors, researchers, scientists and caregivers on the front lines of cancer and rare-disease care. The goal of the event is to explore “strategies for prevention, healthy survivorship, and the race toward a cure.” You can still watch the sessions to hear conversations on topics such as how clinical trials are saving lives; precision oncology; survivorship care; and the healing power of music.

Coming Up Next Week: GSMA’s MWC/Mobile World Congress gets underway 3 March in Barcelona, featuring keynotes from major telcos, country leaders, and government officials. In addition to covering technology and ecosystem innovations, MWC demonstrates through their Diversity4Tech programme how diversity drives economic growth. Convened by the Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society, self-proclaimed “epicenter of healthcare innovation” HIMSS runs 3-6 March in Las Vegas. The Montgomery Summit is presented by March Capital 4-5 March in Santa Monica, drawing more than 1,200 entrepreneurs, investors, and executives to discover important innovations in business and technology. Held in NY’s financial district, Bloomberg Invest (4-5 March) convenes allocators, dealmakers, and investors from across the globe for content and conversations led by Global Finance Correspondent Sonali Basak. SXSWedu celebrates 15 years of teaching and learning impact when it’s held 3-6 March in Austin. Designed as an exclusive forum for the strategic minds driving Europe’s most influential organizations, MIT EmTech Europe brings insights from MIT Technology Review to Athens from 5-6 March, to help leaders explore the power of AI advanced materials, biotechnology, and digital ecosystems to drive sustainable progress.