Chemical major BASF is to connect people and ideas in six locations worldwide at its Creator Space tour, a global event that aims to address the challenges of energy, food and urban living. The first stop, in Mumbai, is to take place from January 16 to 23, with a focus on water sustainability.
The tour is part of BASF’s global co-creation programme, Creator Space. Led by local, interdisciplinary, internal and external teams from areas such as architecture, art, design, science, government, technology and sustainability, each city stop in the tour would explore a locally relevant topic.
Following Mumbai, the tour would move to Shanghai, New York, Sao Paulo, Barcelona and Ludwigshafen. Topics would range from sustainable consumption, to housing of the future, to intelligent solutions along the energy value chain.
Sanjeev Gandhi, member of the board of executive directors, BASF SE said in a statement that the company was keen to connect people and ideas to make meaningful contributions to society in accordance with the company’s corporate purpose.
Access to clean water is one of the most pressing issues in the rapidly growing metropolis of Mumbai. Almost a fifth of the world’s population lives in India, but the country has access to only 4 per cent of the world’s fresh water resources.
Ideas about how to improve water accessibility, water quality, policy and behaviour are to be developed in customer innovation workshops, jamming sessions with employees and the public. At the Creator Space tour in Mumbai, more than 250 water experts, business professionals, non-government organisations (NGO), academia would discuss solutions.
A collaborative project with Save the Children, an NGO, using the innovative empathetic design methodology to tackle issues in the space of water would also be initiated. Research and development events fostering dialogue between young scientific talent and experienced researchers from academia and industry are also on cards.