LF09 | Looking Back on 2022 and Forward to 2023

Mission-driven innovators to watch in 2023, and a selection of projects we're cooking up. Happy New Year!

Good riddance?

Photo by zero take on Unsplash

2022 had been a dark year in many respects. Not just war in Europe, but one in danger of going nuclear. An increasingly unliveable environment. Biodiversity collapsing, societies polarising and closer to home, a flailing UK seemingly intent on self-immolation.

But, in the spirit of Looking Forward, let’s find the cracks where the light gets in; America rejected Trumpism (for now), the world started to reconnect after Covid cut us all off, Australia turned teal, the Elizabeth Line opened, Slow Horses, the popping crypto bubble, while wrenching for individual investors will likely have silver linings, and heck, nuclear fission happened.

Inspiring entrepreneurs to watch in 2023

A highlight of 2022 has been meeting mission-driven entrepreneurs - mostly startups but also non-profits, consultants and investors - who are working on bold ideas and I predict will giant strides in 2023. It’s hard to narrow it down, but here’s 10 to watch:  

Care Daily (USA). Winner of the Aging2.0 OPTIMIZE 2022 pitch event, this sensor integrator has built up expertise in energy tracking and has now pivoted to be a platform giving older people independence.

Givers (USA) Very tightly run startup focused on helping family caregivers manage their finances and also get paid, by tracking spend and sharing savings via reimbursements. A win-win-win model. 

ixo (Switzerland) ‘The Internet of Impact’. A wildly ambitious blockchain based platform to enable people to identify and purchase impact and / or outcomes in different areas, starting with the environment.

Modern Union (USA). A new model to allow therapists to operate as a cooperative (a nascent DAO) giving them more control and funding. 

Proof (USA). A platform allowing companies to more easily identify and measure ESG and impact outcomes, with a vision to move into a marketplace for impact.  

Prufrock Ventures (USA). A new, well-funded venture studio powered by Facebook and Amazon alums who have big plans to deliver new consumer-focused products for the longevity economy, starting with a new model for aging in place.

Regen Melbourne (Australia). A mission-driven catalyst, funded by philanthropy, to source, refine and implement big systems change ideas for reinventing Melbourne, starting with making the main river (the Yarra) swimmable again by 2030. 

Streat (Australia). A social enterprise that gives jobs and purpose to homeless people, and is developing a transformational, systems change food network - Moving Feast. 

TapRoot (USA). A startup designed to democratize and decentralize high quality dementia care, elevating caregivers with contextually relevant, timely advice, and building a unique database of real-life best practices for care.

Wicked Lab (Australia). A consultancy that provides knowledge, tools and support to deliver systems change efforts, based on the PhD and framework developed by the founder, Dr Sharaon Zivkovic.

A bulging bag of projects for 2023

Looking Forward, and our sister consulting arm, Fordcastle, is working on a number of projects that are driving the Looking Forward agenda. Here’s a selection:

• Longevity Metrics: Exploring a Pin Koro Index to measure how well societies deliver on their citizens’ ability to ‘live long and die short’, rather than just convert nature and human labour into economic value for corporations (aka GDP). 

• Care Economy: Exploring ways using new tools such as DAOs to give caregivers twice the salary, more self-determination, career prospects and more relevant jobs, and increase the number of people engaged as caregivers.

• Tontines: Developing a new financial product as a modified pooled life annuity, that combines a financial insurance, longevity coaching and community service.

• Tokenized Communities & Brain Capital. Developing a DAO to funnel capital to promising projects / startups in the ‘brain capital’ space, while also raising the profile of cutting edge, evidence-based research and emerging innovators. 

• Impact Marketplaces and Purpose Pathways: Developing an insights platform and marketplace (an evolution of Hive) that incentivises people to share insights about products and services and builds a marketplace to support caregivers.

• Living Labs. Building Living Labs (for Institute of Aging and another local authority) that recognise, value and empower older people as creators and designers not just consumers. It’ll also help improve the local community. 

We’re Looking Forward to working with many of you on these projects in 2023, and will use this site to spread the word here, advance the LF agenda, and profiling some of the emerging innovators shaping the world for the better.

Here in Australia we’re jumping into 2023 ahead of most of you, so wish us luck, and see you on the other side.