 What kind of world do I want to live in? I think about this question a lot For our generation and for specifically my group of people, which is refugees The circumstances might dismantle any vision of the future that we have You're trying to rebuild, you're trying to make a future for yourself and then the climate related disaster come and you start again It's not about how it's affecting you, it's about how it's affecting you your entire life The first step to understand is that we're all a part of it None of us are going to be left out by the crisis We're at a stage where if we don't act now, we there won't be very much left There are generations that will never see certain things that we grew up seeing in real life We have to start treating this like the emergency it is To achieve the 17 sustainable development goals, we have to go from an intention to a serious commitment Business leaders really need to rethink how they conduct their business and invest in creating systems that are climate friendly The action I would like to see is accountability Structures being put in place where countries aren't just asked to do something But they're kept accountable to the decisions that they make There has to be that strong collaboration between government, between corporations, between youth activists to drive change forward The world I would want to live in is a world where imagining the future is not a privilege I want to live in a world where people do not give up on hope Hope that a positive change is possible The fact that you're listening today means that you are willing to make a change Thank you, welcome and thank you for being with us today We are here to talk about digital inclusion, which of course now is an absolute prerequisite for pretty much every other kind of inclusion Financial inclusion, inclusion in healthcare and education And we're here to talk about a really big global collaborative project called the one billion lives challenge Which has been put together by the Edison Alliance And it has some really big goals to address the SDGs by getting a billion people access online by 2025 So we have an amazing panel of people here to talk about this and I'd like to introduce them Before I do that, I just want to say to all of you, we are all very looking forward to hearing your questions And there will be plenty of time for you to ask questions to the panel So please throughout the panel hit the chat button and you can ask your questions and I will pass them along to our panelists So first today we have Hans Vestberg, who is the chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications And before that he was the president and CEO of Ericsson, another multinational telecommunications company We also have Ruth Perrette, who comes to us from Alphabet and Google where she is senior vice president and chief financial officer We have Badar Jafar, who is here from the UAE and he is the CEO of Crescent Enterprises and Crescent Petroleum And he also founded Pearl Initiative, which is a non-profit committed to promoting corporate transparency in the Gulf region And finally we have Dr. Precious Maloya-Metzepe, who is here from South Africa She's the founder and CEO of the Investment Fund, African Fashion International And she's also the founder and CEO of the Metzepe Foundation, which focuses on education and women's empowerment Thank you all so much for being with us today So Hans, I'd like to start with you, can you give us an introduction to the Edison Alliance and to the One Billion Lives Challenge And what was it created to do and how is it going so far? Thank you Catherine and thank you for hosting this So it's actually started many many years ago, I think that many of us have seen the importance of digital inclusion to be part of our society Wherever you're born, wherever you come from, you should have the same possibilities And of course digital inclusion is the 21st century infrastructure Mobility, broadband and cloud is actually making lives and possibilities for anyone wherever they are So actually it started already some 2007 or 2008 or something when I had learned about the Millennium Development Goal Start working with that and saw the connectivity so important And of course I was part of formulating the SDGs and some might remember that I was fighting hard for goal 18 That every, that we should have a universal connectivity for every 6% on this planet Of course it's 17 goals, so that didn't really happen But what happened was of course that we understood that in all 17 goals the infrastructure behind it is in many cases mobility, broadband and cloud To access all 6% of the world being able to give them services However we will continue with that and as the pandemic developed we understood that reaching the SDGs is even harder right now With economic downturn and this tough and pandemic that we had So in a conversation with the World Economic Forum we agreed that we need to kick off a multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary, multi-segment work To see that we are making this planet more inclusive because it's more important ever to do a job, education, financial inclusion Healthcare using the digital we have so we decided that in the beginning of the year to launch the Edison Alliance with some 4-5 partners From the public, private, leading companies from all around the world, somewhere representing here of course Root is part of it But many others but it's also the public sector, governments and NGOs and of course organizations like the Broadbank Commission, GSMA is part of it The whole idea is of course not only doing advocacy, it's also making commitments and not only that Also sharing the best practices for everyone involved to see that We are focusing mainly in the beginning on financial inclusion, healthcare and education And today as you rightly said our commitment from this Edison Alliance right now which is the work together with WEF and all their partners And the 45 champions we have is to commit to improve one billion lives by increasing affordable digital access to healthcare, finance and education by 2025 And we have already kicked off, we have already given out a lot of commitments but we are far away from there to change the one billion lives But clearly as we know their word right now, a vast majority of the world are not connected, half of the world, 3.8 billion people doesn't have the connectivity today They have actually coverage in many cases but they need affordable services, devices and of course in some cases the technology literacy is too high So it's a multi-disciplinary work that works from accessibility, affordability and usability of it And I'm fortunate to have all these great champions from public and private sector to be part of this commitment that we launched today And our job is to make this digital gap to be much smaller, having more people on the earth, having the same opportunities regardless where they're born, where they live, where they come from They should have the same opportunity, maybe it's not going to be a hospital and a school that I had 5 minutes from where I was brought up It might be a virtual school and a virtual healthcare but they should have the same opportunity to compete and be part of our society And that's what we are launching here today with the one billion but the Edison Alliance that was formed in the beginning of the year And we are much more to do until 2025 but I have to say I'm encouraged with all the support and all the team that is working on this Including the World Economic Forum supporting this enormously important project that we're embarking on So that's the sort of the history of it where we are today and I'm extremely fortunate to be the chairman of the Edison Alliance But I'm relying on all the partners and the champions to do this and make this happen across the globe So can you give us some examples of the types of commitments you're talking about? So I mean obviously there are financial commitments But what else are you securing from companies and governments and what are you hoping to get partners to commit to? Yeah, I think that I have a couple of examples I can talk about MasterCard and they will bring another 500 million people to the digital economy by 2025 Verizon my company we're committing to invest three billion dollars across a five-year span for use and small businesses and individuals in the need of connectivity And the list goes on including Universal Cape Town, the Apollo hospitals from India, Qualcomm of course Ruth will talk about what Google is doing So I think we all are rallying together but it's also sharing advocacy, talking to governments, where are the public and private starting and ending So it's a lot of commitment, it's not only financial, it's also where you're actually going to educate youth that we are doing and others doing on the illiteracy of technology Having technology access to websites, understanding how to read websites, making them simpler to use There's a lot of things sometimes we make very simple talking, the accessibility of the technology is the only thing but it is affordability and its usability And I think all the champions that we're working with are trying to make that happen and especially focusing then on healthcare, education and financial inclusion There are many other areas as well but we wanted to be narrowing down the scope from the beginning in order to see that we make a real impact on this And that's the commitment of one billion people being part of it Yeah, this certainly makes sense to me as the first three priorities but that's a good segue to you Ruth Can you tell us about what Google is committing to doing and I'm also curious in how you're thinking about how those commitments are aligning to the SDGs Absolutely and thank you for having me, it's a real privilege to be here and I think it's such an important conversation You know if the pandemic did anything it put a big spotlight on inequities in society it amplified them but they were not new And to Hans's point we've been focused on many of the solutions prior and I think the critical nature of what we're talking about here today Is we all need to come together because it's by working with one another public sector, private sector NGOs that we can really focus and accelerate the delivery of these solutions So just to pick up on two of the areas that Hans mentioned first on digital inclusion and education This has been a prime focus for us at Google for quite some time Back in 2015 we launched a digital skills training program called Grow with Google And initially we started with IT job training, IT support job training, one of the fastest growing areas for jobs And our view was that we could take people with no experience and within three to six months give them the training they needed to get the jobs of the future And what we concluded was that this was so effective we wanted to create a certificate so that there was something that was portable that really documented what people had achieved And then we recently have expanded our program so it's not just IT support but we also do project management, data analytics, user experience So there are a number of different career paths and again with no pre-training you can get the training and the certificate within a short period of time I think the most important part and very much to Hans's opening comments we need to work together so we said let's create a consortium We now have over 130 companies who accept this certificate and Hans thank you for Verizon's leadership here, B of A is involved, Deloitte and many others, Walmart And we're excited to invite anybody else in so that again we're building a community that accepts these types of digital skills training and we've seen in practice the transformative nature it has So super excited about it, two examples for small businesses in the U.S. one in three small businesses said they would have failed in the pandemic if they didn't have digital skills So this is the kind of training that we can provide and it's the backbone of economies globally The second for individuals, I was in London a couple of weeks ago at one of our digital skills training programs I was actually at Arsenal Football Club where there was a job program going on And we brought together some people who had gone through our training program and I'll never forget the last person who spoke He came to us, Conway from Zambia had come to the U.K. he was studying in the U.K. and he couldn't get a job at the end of it And he actually said he gave up on the idea that he could get a job and then he went in and went through the Grow with Google digital skills training program And it was such a great way to end the day because he said he got a job, but he also got confidence that he had a role in the future And I love this comment in the opening video, imagining the future we need to let people see that they are part of the future and that's exactly what he said in this session So invite anybody who wants to join in this type of program and aligning with other digital skills programs that they have The second area that's super important is on health. I mean we've all been living through this and one of the areas that's been so core to us at Google is making sure that we're amplifying high quality information So people know where to go and that means really teaming up with the best in cloud World Health Organization and others and amplifying their information It also means doing everything that we can to help facilitate distribution of vaccines so working with COVAX as an example And again, these are examples where individually, yes, we're committed and we're doing a lot and we find that as we team up public sector, private sector, NGOs as Hans said is in your opening comments We're going to have much, much bigger impact at a much more accelerated pace and so we look forward to continuing to execute against this and seeing progress towards the billion goal So I'm curious. I mean we Hans mentioned at the beginning that part of the problem is people who don't have access at all to the digital world But a big problem is affordability and that's true even in the most developed economies and even in the US When you're thinking about some of this problem solving how much are these solutions kind of portable around the world and how much are you needing to think about things very tight to the places that you're trying to solve the problem Yeah, it's a great question and I think fortunately phones are quite ubiquitous and the ability to train people what we're trying to do is make this as easy and portable as possible And so the digital skills training program is an online program and it's available, it's free, you can get online and learn it And we're also providing support for those who go through a program and they need incremental financial support because they're working through how do you get a certificate It is a key part of it and I think that one of the things that we're really focused on is what is really placed to Google strengths and that is giving people the jobs and skills of the future And so one of the things that we've done as we've evolved our program is we started with substantial training, millions of people trained around the globe And then we said what we really want to look at is measure who the percentage of people who got a better job or higher pay as a result of it So this is trying to open pathways to the future for them and most certainly to your point it's about making it as broadly available as possible Great. Okay, so Badr, this is all going to cost a lot of money. So that's what I would like you to talk about is what are the innovative and sustainable methods of securing capital we can use to support all of this How do we deal with competition? How do we deal with getting the right money with the right patients for the right projects? So allow me to make an overarching observation which is that we mustn't get carried away with the narrative that digital empowerment is somehow an end in itself Addressing, of course, the global challenges that humanity and our habitat faces is the ultimate goal, right? So technology is a means to that end And technology in itself isn't the agent of change either. We, the connected people are the true agents of change And history will judge us on whether we use these tools for the collective betterment of humanity and our habitat or for the exacerbation of our own flaws I am far less accomplished than my fellow panelists to apply on specific opportunities within the sector itself But what I'd very much like to see is a strategy that's built around an overall purpose of equipping our youth predominantly, particularly underrepresented and underserved With the digital tools that they need to be effective change makers. So empowering them to be the change that they want to see in this world And this statement of purpose or theory of change or whatever we choose to call it should help to guide all stakeholders to come together towards a unified objective Of creating a digitally empowered global community with, as has been said, inclusive access to all essential services, financial, educational, medical and of course entertainment And with a heightened sense of awareness and sense of shared responsibility to transcend borders both physical and social in aid of our common objectives and global goals And of course the opportunity as again has been mentioned is massive. Right as we know only half of the global population is estimated to be using the internet Leaving as has mentioned about 3.8 billion people offline. Also the global proportion of women using the internet is lower compared to men and the divide is growing In less developed countries, less than a quarter of people are reported to have digitally relevant skills compared to more than three quarters in developed countries When it comes to big data, for example, Africa and Latin America account for less than 5% of the world data centers So if we are to solve our global challenges and meet the STGs in eight or so years time, we need to access all the human capital available and the creative minds and hearts out there And we can only do that with the pace that's required through digital empowerment On investment models, today I think the business case for connecting the unconnected aside from the moral or social imperative is really a no brainer I mean an estimated 70% of new value created in the economy over the next decade will be based on digitally enabled platforms Historically, I think governments have been the main financiers for digital infrastructure. However, long term private capital in this space is significantly on the rise I mean just taking India as an example, pre 1990s telecom infrastructure was funded solely by the government But after the liberalization and privatization incentives in the 90s, 85% of the subsequent spend on digital infrastructure has been by private players What was of course key is and it relied on a conducive regulatory and commercial framework that enabled private capital to enter and flourish And today with trillions of dollars of capital chasing yield in a zero interest rate environment, long term stable tariff based investment opportunities like digital infrastructure is super compelling So while there's always room I think for more creative investment models and tools I think the more significant question to ask here is perhaps twofold is holding back more private patient capital from plugging the gaps wherever they exist and how can we accelerate the establishment of compelling and transparent regulatory and investment frameworks to catalyze more investment in digital infrastructure How would you start to answer both of those questions so what what do you think the main thing holding holding back that capital is and what's the most urgent solution that that needs to be put into place to encourage it So I'm no expert but I from a Middle East and North African standpoint I think it's what I mentioned which is that enabling environment that conducive regulatory environment and also commercial frameworks to encourage those capital flows I think another challenge that we face in the region is sometimes government monopolies businesses that are primarily owned by or majority owned by government who exclude the private sector from engaging and perhaps investing in this for one reason or another So those are some some obvious I think ways we can we can help to unlock private capital and I imagine that some of those challenges are similar and other developing regions of the world Yeah I'm sure that's right so so precious we're gonna end with you and I'm really excited because at courts we cover African innovation a great deal and we we put together and at the list of innovators in Africa that's actually coming out tomorrow and it's all women And the amazing thing thinking about it today is that almost everybody on that list is working with inclusion in one of these areas and and they're doing amazing things So I'm curious to hear more from you like thinking about this from a regional perspective what are some of the challenges that are particular to South Africa and to Africa more generally and and what are the opportunities there because they know there's there's been so much work on these These issues there and then in particular I'd love for you to talk about this question of women and and equity when it comes to digital inclusion That's a lot Thank you very much I'll try and cover as much as I can but I think if I may start with the gender you know a question now we are very far from gender equality when it comes to accessing the digital economy and as things stand women will lose out on the fourth industrial revolution gains that are being made if and that's purely for two reasons one is because most women participate at lower occupation bands than men and also we know that these bands you know involved with repeatable tasks which are most likely going to be replaced Secondly with women being not well represented in leadership and senior management positions all over the continent you know that that is a problem Girls not being more involved with stem subjects than boys means that there will be less voice and agency in shaping and you know the impact of the technologies that come out without the voice from women and girls So I think it is very very important in this day and age to ensure that women are well represented within this digital inclusion discussions that we have and what we are doing at the motorcycle foundation is we have started programs in stating that to 2017 we started a program called Girls in Stem where we teach girls from high schools already expose them and their teachers we're currently working in 64 schools where we're exposed young girls and their teachers to women who are already in the stem fields and in the stem careers that we hope will encourage them to choose subjects that will ensure that they follow stem career paths in future you know as engineers, scientists and mathematicians I think the inclusion of girls in stem fields is very very important but equally important is to for us to ensure that postdoctoral studies postgraduate studies we have women represented in the stem fields as well as in research We need more women involved in research and I'm happy to hear you saying that you have a cohort of you know women that are doing very great things and hope to hear about that announcement tomorrow Now moving on to the challenges I am with the University of Cape Town and very proud that UCT online has also been represented in the prize that was announced earlier today with the uplink But as we went through the pandemic we saw first hand how students who some of our students we support students with BESERES in K7 University and most of our students come from poor homes so when we were able to offer them laptops so they could work at home Offer them data so they could access lectures and be able to present their assignments on time. The challenge was that they were now not in contact with teachers and their colleagues you know they missed that ecosystem So I like the point that was made that digital is not going to solve all our problems we should not forget the psychosocial dynamic you know particularly for students that come from poor communities And I'm very excited about the Edison Alliance because I believe we will be able as a collective to solve challenges that people from poor communities face For me one of the big issues is also prize support for particularly youth, prize support for mobile data particularly for youth and marginalized communities Affordable data compact I guess I don't know but it would be fantastic to hear from Hans what the big companies are doing around coming up with a compact of affordable data that would be made available for these poor communities as well as youth Because right now what separates the poor and the wealthy in digital inclusion remains that the prize points Hans that's an interesting question do you want to take that one on? Yeah no I think you're absolutely right I mean you need to go to the use cases I mean I'm just going to give you one quote I mean the ITU the Broadband Commission just came out with an annual report of digitalization And the interesting fact and I think that is telling is that 3.8 billion people are not connected but 85% of them have broadband coverage So it's more about the affordability and having use cases or application that is usable I mean we all love to have streaming services and look at TV but here we're talking about essential services for citizens in every country in the world And that's why we're precious is saying we need to see that we co-develop applications for healthcare, education, financial inclusion and seeing that we have price plans that's full of that And services and accessibility of technology that is supporting that the only way to do that in a good way is actually mobility broadband because of the scale of it and cloud services The only way to bring it efficiency to you so I think I agree with what Jaffar said as all of that the means is of course the application and the usage but the foundation has to be there and the foundation is actually the mobility broadband cloud Which I claim is 21st century infrastructure because we will not have brick and mortar as we had for every citizen in the world in order to capture everyone to have the potential So I see actually a collaboration with governments very much when it comes to those price plans and we see the Edison Alliance has already started sharing a couple of important things One is that we see subsidies or broadband services to low income families in countries like the US but in many other countries as well As important as we know food is always number one there's no discussion about that but you know suddenly with the digital inclusion actually being able to access it is high necessity to be part of our society The other thing that we have launched in the Edison Alliance which I'm proud to be part of as well is that the financing of digital inclusion We see bonds coming out in the market where you can use your leverage as a global corporation Ruth and I would know it because we're borrowing a lot of money and we can actually put money towards green bonds, digital inclusion bonds today because those tools did not exist before They're equally good as any other bond but we can dedicate money to it and we have financers that are coming in And we just released from the Edison Alliance the playbook for doing that and it's a lot of companies starting doing both green bonds but also digital inclusion bond So that means that the money that we spend is actually invested for getting digital inclusion so there are new ways but I agree with precious that we need to find the right models For the right type of citizens so they get the services and that's what we want in the Edison Alliance We want to share that, we want to share what Ruth is talking about when it comes to inclusion and education and getting better jobs by being included That's what is important for us So Ruth there's actually a question from the audience about ESG bonds and how those relate to Google's goals for the next billion users Can you talk about that a little bit more? Yeah, I'm delighted to and building right off of Hansa's comment So last year we issued a $10 billion bond of which $5.75 billion was designated to support sustainability efforts Five of those were around climate change, three of them were around social issues, affordable housing, racial equity and COVID related small business support And the reason I wanted to issue this as a sustainability bond really hit on a number of the things that we were talking about My view was that it was important to put out publicly what we were doing and then you're held accountable to report on that on a regular basis It opens up and supports the creation of this very important new asset class There's obviously no silver bullet to solve the problems that we have in front of us, we have to bring a lot of different elements together Investors want to participate in it, there isn't enough product in which to invest So it's a really smart opportunity for corporate issuers, for government issuers A sustainability bond is a way to access new capital and enable others to invest in the initiatives that you delineate It has to be done in a high quality way, I think listing what is it that you're doing, the accountability, the auditing of it It's all important to really protect the quality of these investments and commitments But I'm really excited about it and it is an open market and one that's evolved from green bonds Which are important in and of themselves to this broader set of social issues under the umbrella called sustainability bonds So there's a question about rural connectivity which I'm interested in And I'm not sure which I think all of you would have really interesting perspectives on this So please let me know if you want to answer this But the question is specifically about how to finance global rural connectivity to tap all of this potential But I'm also curious about what the particular challenges are there, we've talked about different contexts But what are the challenges that are in rural areas now and how are they different in the past And what needs to be done from a finance perspective but also just in terms of business models and partnerships In order to actually deal with those challenges this time Anyone want to jump in on that? I can just mention one thing that I think you're facing when you're rolling out net That is the power grid is actually not equally distributed as the technology grid When it comes to mobility broadband that is far greater the grid than the power And of course that is posting a challenge especially in the rural areas Because that means that you need to use generators or diesel or whatever which is not good So I think that's one of the challenges because it's become not only good for environment But it's also not sustainable over time to do that So I think the power grid is one because then you need to charge your phone so whatever device you have as well So that's things that you need to fight in the rural areas across the globe and improve And of course with the sort of green energy coming in we need to have more and more of that To see that the rural communities can get green energy And that's what Ruth talked about when it comes to doing green bonds or sustainable bonds The ones that can do it and have the means like root and Google And I would say Verizon we have also done a green bond very clear The money we need to go to we are accountable for it So I think that's a way to do it and use the responsibility that large corporations have in this area But that's a challenge in the rural areas to get this out And then of course devices is still too expensive in many cases that we need to work with that And that if it's a pad or a phone or whatever the device that you communicate is still too expensive Even though we're driving down the price dramatically We use the same technology regardless of where you are in the world That's why we're so many people that are connected today but we still have a way to go Bader from a finance perspective how do you think about this question of rural connectivity? Just a point I'd like to make about the business dimension overall While digital inclusion is I think more often than not spoken about at the human level I think it's important to consider that it also exists at the business level In many ways the dynamics of both digital divides mirror one another As we know there is a significant gap between the digital capabilities of SMEs And large enterprises or digitally native tech startups And this is prevalent globally but more so in emerging markets and rural areas Like the MENA region where as we know SMEs account for over 90% of all businesses And are a major source of desperately needed job creation and economic growth The digital gap between businesses has also widened during the pandemic Especially in areas where I think critical matters for cost effectiveness Things like enterprise resource planning and supply chain or customer relationship management And there's also an internal skills gap that I think prevents businesses from identifying And implementing digital solutions that are increasingly required to compete Larger businesses I think as well as governments have a role to play here Including through the creation of upskilling incentives and networks Ultimately of course the answer lies beyond digital connectivity of SMEs Again digital technology must be seen as a tool to enable and empower small businesses To scale their businesses and enhance their productivity creating new jobs and economic opportunities As a medicine alliance partner we as Crescent Enterprises are looking to work to scale up SME Digital capacity in the Middle East and North Africa region by encouraging digital training And upskilling and also building a data culture within SMEs across our own supply chain And enhancing their access to new technologies and knowledge networks So the rural power grid challenge that Hans mentioned is a good example of a place Where there's a lot of on the ground innovation where that's happening And we have a question from the audience about how the Edison Alliance is keeping track of the bottom-up innovations That can really boost digital inclusion but that are often hidden from larger institutions Like the institutions that are leading some of this work So I wanted to start with you Precious and hear your insight on how to make sure that the innovations that are happening Sometimes in very small companies or very local situations are getting fed back So that a very large collaboration like this can take advantage of them and scale them Thank you for that question I think that you know I've just been traveling on the continent in the last eight months I've traveled to 12 African cities and I'm just amazed at the dynamism and energy of young people on the continent And we need to be tapping into this energy right now So your question on how we then tap into that innovation from these young people is very important And I think that at the stage institutions such as universities, you know as I said you city chancellor Are important points of collecting and working and identifying these young people And ensuring that with their innovations and protected they're able to be accommodated and mainstreamed Into bigger collaborations as we have in the Edison Alliance At the moment as a foundation we are in talks with a company where we want to also provide Rural Wi-Fi infrastructure for our communities And what is important for us is to ensure that ultimately the network ownership and maintenance of the infrastructure Is with the communities themselves because that way we will be then ensuring that this is truly truly inclusive And lastly I just want to say that as part of trying to ensure that you know digital finance particularly is accessible to women and young people What we have invested we've made a huge investment in a digital bank that is one of the fastest growing in the region with more than 20,000 people signing up every month And what I like about them is that they work with women particularly women in rural communities who educate young people Marginalize people about how to access banking facilities how to use the banking facilities and they also ensure that when it comes to lending to these small businesses They do not use particularly women owned businesses they do not only look at assets but also look at sales to ensure that they can borrow And lastly they look at disaggregate data to ensure that whatever solutions they provide will answer to the needs of the particular economy So sadly we are so close to being out of time but so I have one final question and really you know this can come from any of you and please feel free to jump in I have three minutes left so I'd love to hear from as many of you as we have time for but really you know stepping way back to try to sum this up What do you think is the greatest challenge right now and I'm thinking about this in the context of the pandemic so that's obviously you know exposed a lot of this it's it's created clarity over the need It's made a lot of things harder but it's it's an opportunity it's made a lot of things possible that weren't possible before so what is the biggest challenge and what's the biggest opportunity What how will we know other than than being able to count off these one billion people how will we know that this effort has really succeeded a year or two from now Ruth let's let's start with you and we'll see how far we get So I think you're absolutely right that the the opportunity is that what we've been through is so awful that if we don't come together now when are we going to come together And so this really is the time to have this call to arms we've got to fix these issues there was a recent study that came out that Stanford University We're involved in and said there's something like three quarters of kids from 16 to 25 are terrified of the future that's the future we've all built it is our obligation to address it so I think that's the Greatest opportunity which is we've got to mobilize we have to build on one another all of the comments that we've talked about here today it really is the same group underserved underrepresented that are constantly at the bottom on education on jobs on health on every element and so through multiplicity of programs digital skills training health initiatives education initiatives climate change it is only through all of that that we're going to solve this and I think the most important is put aside our parochial what's our program come together and build on one another and drive to solutions and to your core of your question and then hold ourselves accountable how many lives are we actually improving where are we seeing the progress and so that's what we're committed to do and look forward to working with others on this and Hans do you have a final thought for us on that No I couldn't agree more and what Ruth is saying and I think that what we have experienced the last 18 months across the globe you know is devastating to see but it also probably accelerated the leap from technology to the 5 to 7 years usually we can progress with technology but now we have an even wider gap and that also means we have a wider gap for it to reaching the SDGs so I think the audience are working together and there's an understanding of the science exactly as Ruth said it's not about inventing a lot of new things there will be that as well but it's also building on the great things that many people are doing in corporations public private and do it together in a better way and I'm so encouraged what I've seen because there's no one that I ask that wouldn't say hey I want to be part of it I can do whatever I can do in my capacity I will do it and that encouragement I think is driving me and many others in there is an alliance to take this forward so I'm encouraged and of course I encourage you to listen to my fellows here on this panel and the questions I will see that many people are really excited to help on this and it's such an important thing well thank you all of you for the work that you're doing and for being here with us today and telling us about it and thank you to everyone who's here watching and listening and of course there there are many more fascinating and important panels for you to watch on top link and I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the day wherever you are