Six-hundred top entrepreneurs, academics and policymakers – under 40 years old – are meeting in Tokyo for the Young Global Leader Annual Summit

Georg Schmitt, Public Engagement Tel.: +41 79 571 8287, Email: georg.schmitt@weforum.org

· The World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders (YGLs) gather in Tokyo, Japan, from 18-21 October 2016

· Group to tackle food shortages, spinal cord injury, health of girls and women in the developing world in a community-wide effort to increase impact of YGL initiatives

· More information is available at Young Global Leaders

600 of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs, innovators, academics and policymakers are meeting in Tokyo this week to address some of the world’s toughest challenges. The World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders community will work on initiatives started by its members, including:

· The Druid Collective, which helps technology start-ups and fast-tracks funding for a cure for paralysis. The technology stimulates the spine and could be commercially available by 2018 (see adventurer Mark Pollock stand for the first time since he was paralysed). The organisation also helped drive ground-breaking organic solar technology and advises European policymakers on translating outstanding science into globally successful technology companies.

· The Maverick Collective, a philanthropic community started with Melinda Gates to allow women to commit their expertise and finance for girls and women in impoverished places. Since they started in May 2016, activists have mobilized $30 million to help more than 300,000 girls.

· Aerofarms, high-tech indoor farms that use 95% less water and 1% of the land required by conventional, commercial field farms. Its creator, David Rosenberg, a member of the Young Global Leaders (YGLs), started the business in 2010 with support from fellow YGLs.

· Apolitical, a company that connects entrepreneurial public servants with the people and resources they need to be more effective. It supported a former doctor who got banks to invest in essential services for children, an anti-corruption drive in Sri Lanka, and a programme in the US that brings high-flying technologists and entrepreneurs into government and is being replicated in Singapore and Australia.

· Rising Tide Capital which helps struggling individuals to build businesses, transforming lives in underserved communities, including the formerly incarcerated, minorities, unemployed and working poor, and immigrants and refugees. YGL connections enabled a $200,000 donation from the Blackstone Innovation Grant.

All of the impact initiatives were generated through support from other Young Global Leaders (YGLs), a community of scientists, policymakers, business leaders, designers, artists and civil society leaders, all under 40, who are shaking up the world around them. A full list of YGL impacts can be found here.

They are gathering in Tokyo, Japan, from 18-21 October in the run-up to the World Forum on Sport and Culture, an event that launches the cycle towards the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The YGLs will work on community impact and the leadership skills required for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Notes to Editors:

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· The hashtag for the YGL summit is #ygl16. For the World Forum on Sports and Culture, you can follow updates via #wfsc.

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· For more information on how to follow the meeting go here.