Ep 1. Civic Engagement & Democratic Resilience feat. Esther Soma and Oksana Matiyash

ISF IN FOCUS: The International Strategy Forum, a program of Schmidt Futures, bets early on the next generation of problem solvers with extraordinary potential in geopolitics, innovation, and public leadership to strengthen progress and security amid technological innovation and a changing world order. In this episode, ISF Director Helen Zhang introduces the program at its first-ever Global Summit, which brought together 117 rising leaders from North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. We discuss how ISF and its network of fellows are tackling some of the hardest problems in science, society, and around the world.

How are business leaders thinking about solving hard problems and scaling their companies in an era of geopolitical competition and economic uncertainty? In this episode, Kimberly Yao, a Chinese-Filipino entrepreneur and the Co-Founder and CEO of CloudEats, and Melvyn Lubega, the founder of South Africa’s first unicorn, Go1, discuss what it’s like to build and grow new businesses, and how they’re thinking about the challenges and opportunities of today’s new technologies and tense international dynamics.

Conflict in Europe, great-power competition in the Indo-Pacific, the emergence of critical and emerging technologies, and tensions around the world make today’s geopolitical environment more dangerous than at any time since the Cold War. How are democracies navigating these challenges to their security and defense? In this episode, Ulrike Franke, a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and David Rader, the former Deputy Director of the Office of Global Investment Review at the U.S. Department of Defense, discuss the views from Washington and Berlin and how democratic leaders can work together to secure their interest and values in the 21st century.

Technology is changing our world every day. How are leaders from the private and public sectors thinking about critical and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and more? In this episode, Ilana Wisby, the CEO of Oxford Quantum Circuits, based in the United Kingdom, and Geo Saba, the chief of staff for Representative Ro Khanna, from Silicon Valley, discuss their perspectives from the boardroom to the halls of Congress, and what it will take to ensure that new technologies are a force for good.

Ukraine and South Sudan: What can civil-society leaders from two different countries teach us about overcoming challenges in some of the most difficult parts of the world? In this episode, Esther Soma, a policy and gender expert from South Sudan, and Oksana Matiyash, the CEO of Teach for Ukraine, discuss their countries’ histories and creative ways that South Sudanese are working for a better future in a country that routinely ranks as one of the least free in the world and how Ukrainians are demonstrating democracy’s strength in the face of Russia’s war of aggression.

Welcome to Future in Focus, a podcast from Schmidt Futures. We’re launching this series with five conversations featuring Schmidt Futures’ International Strategy Forum and eight of our fellows from around the world. Working on five continents at the frontlines of today’s most pressing challenges, these fellows are charting the future of technology, innovation, democracy, and security. Tune into the series to learn more about their work, and follow Schmidt Futures at www.schmidtfutures.com.