Four Oxford Martin School academics conducted a lively interactive presentation at the World Economic Forum’s 8th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, held in Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, from 10-12 September 2014. Led by the School’s Director Professor Ian Goldin, they asked: What can we learn from nature? The Annual Meeting of the New Champions convened more than 1,500 participants from 90 countries under the theme ‘Creating Value through Innovation’. This was the 12th IdeasLab hosted by the Oxford Martin School at a major meeting of the World Economic Forum.

Professor Cameron Hepburn (Institute of New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School) examined the pressures on our economic and ecological systems, asking how we can learn from nature to prevent climate change.

Professor Goldin addressed systemic risks, asking how we can learn from nature to manage our interdependencies and build resilience. Tim Kruger (the Oxford Martin Programme on Geoengineering) then looked at whether we can find a safe cure for climate change, or whether the cure would be worse than the disease. Professor Vlatko Vedral (Oxford Martin Programme on Bio-Inspired Quantum Technologies) closed the presentation by questioning whether we can mimic nature in order to reduce our energy cost of information processing. Following their fast-paced presentations, each academic led a small group discussion to explore further the challenges and opportunities put forward in their talks.

Click here to see more images of the interactive presentation on Flickr.