A Rewarding Partnership: New SingularityU Chapters and Chapter Renewals

author
Dharmishta Rood
published
Jan 24, 2019
category

SingularityU Chapters facilitate vibrant local innovation ecosystems, whose participants focus on furthering the SU mission of leveraging exponential technologies to solve humanity’s grand challenges. Today, we are delighted to announce 15 new Chapters and 13 Chapter renewals, bringing the total of SingularityU Chapters worldwide to 142 in 66 countries.SingularityU Chapters engage their local communities in lively gatherings to explore how to apply exponential technology to create positive social impact. Chapters attract stakeholders from a wide range of industries and professional experiences, such as entrepreneurs, policymakers, designers, academics, and business and NGO leaders. And by attending Chapter events, participants gain access to a growing network of impact-driven peers, mentors, and potential collaborators.As we launch the new and renewing Chapter teams today, we’re also happy to announce that this quarter’s Chapter application window is now open. To learn more or start your application, visit su.org/chapters/apply.

New and returning SingularityU Chapters

It’s exciting to see the formation of Chapters in new communities, and we’re celebrating the fact that West Africa’s Burkina Faso, Europe’s Luxembourg, and Southeast Asia’s Malaysia have joined the SingularityU Chapter roster. We’re also pleased to see that Brazil (13), India (5), and the United States (22) have experienced even more growth. Moreover, several Chapters have formed completely new leadership teams, and we’re excited to welcome these dedicated volunteers into their new roles.Today, we’re officially welcoming new Chapters in Basel, Switzerland (SingularityU Basel); Contagem, Brazil (SingularityU Contagem); Durban, South Africa (SingularityU Durban); Erie, PA, USA (SingularityU Erie); Grand Rapids, MI, USA (SingularityU Grand Rapids); Gurgaon, India (SingularityU Gurgaon); Jundiai, Brazil (SingularityU Jundiaí); Kolkata, India (SingularityU Kolkata); Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (SingularityU Kuala Lumpur); Luxembourg, Luxembourg (SingularityU Luxembourg); Melbourne, Australia (SingularityU Melbourne); Nuremberg, Germany (SingularityU Nuremberg); Ottawa, Canada (SingularityU Ottawa); Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (SingularityU Ouagadougou); and Raleigh Triangle, North Carolina, USA (SingularityU Raleigh Triangle).

SU Leadership Forum

We’ve also renewed licenses for Chapters in Bangalore, India (SingularityU Bangalore); Belo Horizonte, Brazil (SingularityU Belo Horizonte); Cape Town, South Africa (SingularityU Cape Town); Dublin, Ireland (SingularityU Dublin); Eindhoven, The Netherlands (SingularityU Eindhoven); Johannesburg, South Africa (SingularityU Johannesburg); SingularityU Kyiv (Ukraine); London, United Kingdom (SingularityU London); Los Angeles, CA, USA (SingularityU Los Angeles); Miami, FL, USA (SingularityU Miami); Recife, Brazil (SingularityU Recife); Singapore (SingularityU Singapore); and Warsaw, Poland (SingularityU Warsaw).You can browse our full Chapter roster on our website. Each new and returning Chapter was selected in Q4 of 2018, and you can find more information about our announcement in our press release.

The Chapter leadership teams in their own words

Our global Chapters flourish thanks to the collaborative volunteer leadership teams who work hard to bring together local innovators and leaders in regular gatherings that attract expert speakers and encourage impactful discussions.

SingularityU Bangalore (India) Renewal, new team

Siddharth Moitra

"We hope the community can get great insights into what is really important for us as a human race, they can see how a small group of people can affect billions with the exponential mindset."—SingularityU Bangalore Chapter Leadership Team, SingularityU Bangalore

SingularityU Basel (Switzerland)

Bruno Pfeiffer, Jennifer Cain Birkmose, Thomas Brenzikover

SingularityU Belo Horizonte (Brazil) Renewal

Anna Martins, Filipe Ivo, Felipe Reis, Paola Carvalho, Roberta Assumpção

SingularityU Cape Town (South Africa) Renewal, New team

Mic Mann, Patricia Gomes

“Amplifying the community in Cape Town is a fantastic challenge which allows me to spread the knowledge. I really believe that we are going to recruit people to take part in our “Force for GOOD.” Increasing the awareness of GGC and promoting further discussion on exponential technologies will accelerate community transformation.”—Patricia Gomes, Leadership Team Member, SingularityU Cape Town

SingularityU Contagem (Brazil)

Cecília Araujo, Ednelson Rodela, Fabiano Birchal, Fabio Veras de Souza, Janayna Bhering, Jose Rubinger, Pedro Vaz, Washington Silvestre

“As part of its strategic planning, Contagem is positioned as an innovative, sustainable, and safe city. This is the new SU cohort in Minas Gerais. We are here to build the future together!”—SingularityU Contagem Chapter Leadership Team, SingularityU Contagem

SingularityU Dublin (Ireland) Renewal

Andrew Hagan, Conor Nolan

“I remain very enthusiastic about the potential of the Chapter here as Ireland continues to develop, and look forward to harnessing the potential, interest, and great talent and minds on the Emerald Isle.”—Andrew Hagan, Chapter Leadership Team Member, SingularityU Dublin

SingularityU Durban (South Africa)

Kyle Fraser, Mic Mann, Prasenjit Sinha, Vino Govender

“As a catalyst for change, SingularityU South Africa runs custom education, innovation, and impact programmes that help others leverage rapidly accelerating technologies—including artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, blockchain, and digital biology—in innovative ways to unlock solutions that can positively impact millions of lives.”—SingularityU Durban Chapter Leadership Team, SingularityU Durban

SingularityU Eindhoven (The Netherlands) Renewal, New team

Anneke Veldink, Ingrid Van Tienen, Johan Treur, Nanny Huismans, Pim den Boer

“We believe we can contribute to solving the global grand challenges at the regional level by elevating current technological developments. By organizing local events where changemakers, problem holders and solution seekers, leaders and inspiring people are connected, we want to start making a change.”—SingularityU Eindhoven Chapter Leadership Team

SingularityU Erie (USA)

George Espy, Nick Samsel, Jordan Fuller, Karl Sanchack

"The foundation of this Chapter deepens the relationship between the City of Erie and Singularity University and allows us to leverage the Singularity community network to drive progress towards our initiatives. We hope that this relationship will provide our community with the insight it needs to realize its true potential."—SingularityU Erie Chapter Leadership Team

SingularityU Grand Rapids (USA)

Mary Brown, Jan Mathorne

“SingularityU Chapter events are designed in the spirit of Singularity University’s mission, yet powered by local leadership teams, who are at the forefront of driving ideas, impact and change using exponential technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges in their home communities.”—Jan Mathorne, Chapter Leadership Team Member, SingularityU Grand Rapids

SingularityU Gurgaon (India)

Armaan Kalsi, Hemant Sagar, Jaspreet Bindra, Rahul Khanna, Soaib Grewal, Tej Kapoor, Vivek Narain

“I believe the time has now come for my country to aim for ‘10X Moonshots’ directed toward solving large problems around urbanization, poverty, environment, health, and education. I am based out of Gurgaon, one of India’s tech and innovation hubs, and I look forward to partnering with SU to leverage this ecosystem and solve these problems.”—Jaspreet Bindra, Leadership Team Member, SingularityU Gurgaon

SingularityU Johannesburg (South Africa) Renewal

Mic Mann

SingularityU Jundiaí (Brazil)

Avelino Nader, Rodrigo Azevedo

"We are very excited about this opportunity and we will work hard to make this Chapter a relevant hub by bringing to the community the awesome exponential world."—Rodrigo Azevedo, Chapter Leadership Team Member, SingularityU Jundiaí

SingularityU Kolkata (India)

Gyanesh Chaudhary

“The vision behind the Kolkata Chapter of Singularity University is to nurture innovations—in products, strategies and services, that positively impact the lives of people living in the Indian state of West Bengal, with an ability to scale and impact billions of people worldwide in the next 10 years.”—SingularityU Kolkata Chapter Leadership Team

SingularityU Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

Aditya Tuli, Heislyc Loh, Wen Shin Chia

"We are thrilled to start the first Chapter of SingularityU in Malaysia, our passion to keep growing through communities is what brings us together. Through bringing this Chapter to Kuala Lumpur our aim is to bring changemakers together and start new conversations, rooted in the belief that the power of exponential technology and abundance thinking can create real positive change.”—SingularityU Kuala Lumpur Chapter Leadership Team

SingularityU Kyiv (Ukraine) Renewal

Andrii Dligach, Galina Novikova, Igor Novikov, Maryna Maksymenko, Ron Fridman, Volodymyr Bandura

SU Leadership Forum

SingularityU London (UK) Renewal

Christophe Pechoux, Dzera Kaytati, Maxson J.Y. Tee, Mitesh Soni, Niki Dembitz, Olga Savina, Robert Evans, Sri Sharma

SingularityU Los Angeles (USA) Renewal, new team

Ewane Masango, Nathan Huie, Sheryar Adil

“In that liberating spirit, the SingularityU Los Angeles Chapter Inaugural event will be on February 1st to honor National National Freedom Day. Visit https://global.su.org/chapters/los-angeles for more info.”—Ewane Masango, Chapter Leadership Team Member, SingularityU Los Angeles

SingularityU Luxembourg (Luxembourg)

Charles-Louis Machuron, Fabrice Testa, Marc Serres, Marina Andrieu, Pascal Steichen, Younis Hijazi

“Our Luxembourg Chapter—which is part of the SingularityU Benelux community—is focused on three Global Grand Challenges: space, security, and governance. Our aim is to bring more people to the positive mindset of exponential thinking!”—Younis Hijazi, Leadership Team Member, SingularityU Luxembourg

SingularityU Melbourne (Australia)

Abhinav Shrivastava, Cameron Jackson, Cerasela Tanasescu, Grant Downie

“We believe that by collaborating with SingularityU we’ll be better able to connect our community with passionate and like-minded people who believe in the power of innovation, abundance, and disruption. Through our past experiences with SingularityU, we were able to make interesting connections within the industry and above all assist our startups in their personal and professional skills development.”—SingularityU Melbourne Chapter Leadership Team

SingularityU Miami (USA) Renewal

Ana Benatuil, Carl Hildebrand, Jasmin Rohman, Jocelyn Cortez Young, Natasha Tsakos, Richard Greco, Yuda Saydun

SingularityU Nuremberg (Germany)

Andreas Gruss, Andreas Konrads, Jörg Dombrowski

SingularityU Ottawa (Canada)

Jane Howe, Jonathan Connelly, Kevin Armstrong, Tanya Woods, Tejas Sawant

"Our Chapter's focus is ultimately about bringing SU's incredible network and forum to thought leaders in government, industry and civil society in Canada's capital. Ottawa has always been a hub of innovation. Introducing a SingularityU Chapter here is a great way to connect people across different industries and talk about bold ideas, big challenges, and exponential thinking. Our Chapter leaders are thrilled to be part of this launch and initiative to advance the conversation about our shared future.”—SingularityU Ottawa Chapter Leadership Team

SingularityU Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)

Guibien Cléophas Zerbo, Jean Baptiste Millogo, Lawakilia Wilfried Drabo

“We believe that technology can efficiently support community development and launching the SingularityU Ouagadougou Chapter will permit us to bring the SingularityU community footprint and impact community to Burkina Faso. Our community will be exposed to exponential technologies and find ways to solve Global Grand Challenges Burkina Faso faces.”—SingularityU Ouagadougou Chapter Leadership Team, SingularityU Ouagadougou

SingularityU Raleigh Triangle (USA)

Otto Kumbar

SingularityU Recife (Brazil) Renewal

Henrique Castelletti, Jones Albuquerque, José Luiz Lima Filho, Mariana Nacarato, Onicio Leal Neto

SingularityU Singapore (Singapore) Renewal

Barbara Guerpillon, Charlie Ang, Dave Lim, Jack Sim, Justin Gadbois, Lee Chon Cheng, Soon Joo Gog, Steven Tucker

"Since the launch of our Singapore Chapter two years ago, we have introduced exponential thinking to probably thousands in Singapore. We will continue to inspire people to solve Global Grand Challenges, not just for the Southeast Asian region, but on a global scale—given the strong innovation, science, and technology base here.”—Charlie Ang, Chapter Leadership Team Member, SingularityU Singapore

SingularityU Warsaw (Poland) Renewal

Jacek Grzelewski, Jowita Michalska, Katarzyna Staroslawska, Magdalena Marchwicka

“Creating a SingularityU Chapter in such a dynamic environment as Poland was a great decision. From day one, we were amazed how many people are eager to learn and share their knowledge on exponential technologies. We already had hundreds of participants, speakers, and start-ups involved in our various events and Global Impact Challenge competition. We are strongly motivated to change the way local business thinks of itself regarding Singularity University’s idea of doing a greater good and making an impact.”—SingularityU Warsaw Chapter Leadership Team, SingularityU Warsaw

How you can get involved

Are you interested in engaging members of your local community in thoughtful conversations about exponential technologies? We invite you to explore the current Chapter locations, and if you don’t see your city or country represented, apply to lead one! You’ll find more details on the application process in our press release or on our website.