AI Magazine Issue 10 2018

8 Acquisition International - Issue 10 2018 rally around a cause, our system will be designed to highlight this and prompt businesses, politicians and other leaders to act. If, for instance, 500 users object to the use of plastic bags in a local convenience store, the manager of that store will receive an automatically generated email from the platform and the store’s overall We Don’t Have Time rating will be negatively affected. However, if the store goes on to do something about it, our users will appreciate this and improve the store’s rating. “These mechanics will work for large corporations, organizations and politicians as well, generating an even greater impact. Imagine being able to influence Wal-Mart to remove plastic bags in all their stores. Or if 10 million people came together and put pressure on fund managers to divest fossil fuel-related assets. In short, we want to leverage good behaviour in terms of environmental sustainability and CO2 emissions, amplifying the positive marketing value of good behaviour, but also the negative value associated with bad behaviour. We want it to cost more, in terms of revenue, public support and reputation, to not work on lowering emissions and improve environmental sustainability, whereas those who lead the way should be recognized for this. Our vision is to create a race towards environmental sustainability and CO2 neutrality, making it the core priority for businesses, politicians and organizations worldwide.” Thanks to his skilled team of technology experts, Ingmar has been able to build an innovative platform, the launch of which will help drive greater awareness of the damage we are doing to the planet. Working towards this goal is what drives the team, as Ingmar highlights. “As a technology company, we are dependent on much sought-after, and expensive, technical competence and to continuously work hard on QA. It takes time to find, educate and manage the development team. However, once we have found team members, we work hard to retain them and work closely with them to ensure that we create a platform that will literally change the world. “One of the main advantages of working directly with the moral and ecological challenge of the climate crisis is the motivation of the team. It is not the pay check that drives us, it is the chance to build something that makes a real difference for the world. That creates an incredibly dynamic atmosphere, where people really commit to the cause. It’s important to foster that commitment and involve the staff in the strategic work. Post-launch, we will be dependent on a committed user base, and it will be very important to implement their feedback and nudge them towards being active on our platform. Our success hinges on building an active community around our core values.” Funding has always been an issue for charitable causes such as this, and as such Ingmar outlines how his organisation works to finance its endeavours and drive support for people around the world. “To ensure that our ambitious, value-driven agenda is not compromised, we have set up a ‘good cause company’, which means that the majority voting rights of the company belong to a charitable foundation. This foundation also owns the brand We Don’t Have Time, and receives a revenue-based fee from the company. If our platform is successful, these revenues will be substantial, and the foundation can use these funds to support people and organizations that fight the climate crisis.” With such an important aim in mind, Ingmar and the team at We Don’t Have Time have a challenging and exciting future ahead of them. In his concluding comments Ingmar outlines how the organisation will continue to work towards its core goals and drive users towards an understanding of this most important of issues. “Looking ahead, the future is not linear, especially not as some technologies develop exponentially. We have seen how the last ten years have revolutionized how we live, work and play. The next ten years will bring even greater transformations. With that in mind, at We Don’t Have Time our aim is to continuously develop and adapt our platform, but it would be presumptuous of me to speculate about this in closer detail. Our core, though, will remain, namely to empower our users to put pressure on world leaders so that they move faster towards an emission-free world and environmentally sustainable solutions and policies. “Ultimately, the fight against the climate crisis is the single major global battle of this century. I would say it is a larger crisis than all the wars of the 20th century combined, and a greater challenge than the moon landing. How we deal with it will define the human race for centuries to come. We want to be the social media platform at the centre of this struggle.”