Once a year we gather all our think tank´s fellows – whom we call Transformers – at our home in Vaduz. The building, over 100 years old, is the perfect spot to fuse the old and new, to transform what we’re used to, and allow new creations and ideas to arise.
We kicked off our first ever Transformers’ Day with a background talk with local and international media about what we have accomplished so far and how we plan to push impact and transformation further in the next year.
After 1pm, people slowly started to arrive at – as we love to refer to it – their new additional “family home in Liechtenstein”. Our headquarters in Vaduz is a house built in 1911 and there’s been a lot of refurbishing done in the last few months. It was a touching moment, seeing all these beautiful human beings gather in front of “THE HUS” in the middle of Liechtenstein on that sunny day.
The exclusive “SPIRITS” part of our Transformers’ Day took place in a special room where Michèle Granwehr created a unique piece of art.
Connecting the dots one by one, she created the whole work with paint supplied by Airlite which, using nothing more than light to activate its pollution-clearing properties, cleans the air.
Christopher kicked off the afternoon, obviously moved. “Almost to the day one year ago, Rudi and I founded THE HUS.institute and had a gathering in this very room. Back then, it was just a ruin”. Now standing in the freshly renovated first floor of this old building and seeing all the faces of inspiring, like-minded people, he needed a minute to get his feelings straight. “It means a lot to Rudi and me and hopefully to all of you as well that we’re all here right now. It’s our mandate, before machines might take over some day soon, to take care of our world so it becomes a healthy and sustainably prosperous place again. Let’s continue this mission together, growing ever stronger with each day.”
As of 18 August by 9am, THE HUS.institute’s new website was launched. He introduced to the assembled Transformers their new internal platform for making contact in favour of big actions.
Christopher then gave the word to Anton Golub – freshly committed Transformer in our think tank, and founder at Lykke. He explained that blockchain will disrupt how society and businesses trade money and soon any asset available. Anton pointed out that: “Today, very few people are aware of the genius of the blockchain and its ability to reengineer the financial architecture – it is still in its early days and the community that invented it has hardly grasped the scope of the innovation, how its discovery will transform our society. But the genie has been released from the bottle and it cannot be stopped”. He explained how blockchain itself works with clear examples. Lykke provides an application – the so-called Lykke wallet which is a digital representation of the user’s assets – that will empower people to enter the global economy, protect their privacy, and provide the capability to issue their own assets and currencies.
“We are committed to sharing our knowledge and expertise, and we invite both THE HUS.institute and the Principality of Liechtenstein to join our endeavours”. Word! Thank you for enriching our Transformers’ Day, Anton.
Now, what was it about the magic paint? Arun Jayadev of Airlite, also a recently committed Transformer, came to Vaduz from London to tell us more about his company. He got everyone in the right direction by asking what their basic needs are. It’s definitely food, water, shelter and so on; but then he presented a slide that made everyone smirk: “Try counting your money when you hold your breath” – Clean air definitely is a basic need as well. He explained that “Airlite’s technology is activated by light, breaking down and eliminating NOx molecules to remove harmful pollution from the air. It also creates a powerful barrier to keep airborne dirt from sticking, while simultaneously eliminating bacteria and stopping mould and odours from forming”.
One of the most harmful groups of pollutants are the NOx gases — nitrogen monoxide and nitrogen dioxide — caused mainly by motor vehicle traffic. Breathing these gases can negatively affect oxygen levels in the blood and can cause inflammation of the airways, allergies, bronchitis, and asthma attacks. NOx gases are responsible for the formation of smog, acid rain, and ground level ozone, all of which are associated with adverse health effects in humans and the environment. Arun truly caught everyone’s attention and we’re totally at one with him: “Healthy is the new wealthy”.
Due it being 30 degrees outside, the small cozy room got a little warm.
A yoga-breathing session calmed us down after all the inspirational input. Ready for the next part of our Transformers’ Day, we all gathered outside to capture a group picture full of love.
For our Transformers’ Day we had also planned a public panel at the University of Liechtenstein. We gathered around 60 international people at the University of Liechtenstein to hear about the initiatives that had been presenting their ideas the day before at the Government of Liechtenstein – you can read about and see it here.
Just as we arrived back to our home, a big thunderstorm came up through the Rheintal valley. And that was it for the plan of spending a summer’s evening outside – so we had to improvise and pretty much stuffed everyone into our snug living room(s) with their perfectly cozy and easy-going vibe. We had live music, lots to drink, and pizza delivery – a home party of the fun kind. We had a blast. Literally until the police came…
Thank you everyone.
