Sometimes we have to take the leap of faith

On behalf of the WDBE2020 organising team I want to thank all the amazing 522 attendees for joining us in this years’ virtual summit. I also want to thank all of our dear partners, keynote speakers and the community behind the magnificent presentations we were able to witness during our 2-day Summit.

The global ecosystem of forerunners of the digital built environment showed us that there is a shared vision and ambition to make our urban future more sustainable through digitalisation. And many of the innovations solving the current common big problems are actually coming from our industry.  

We started building the WDBE2020 Summit a year ago when we launched it at the end of our 2019 event in Helsinki. Our goal was to organize the event as a physical conference together with Estonia and we worked for six months to deliver a new, more experimental concept to inspire the global audience. As the COVID-19 crisis started, we made the decision to go with the theme of the year and to redefine the whole summit experience – not to cancel or postpone it. 

What could be an alternative to the way we have been accustomed to meet and greet in the real world? We’ve spent the last two days inside one of those alternatives. 

When we redrafted the new plan for WDBE2020, we reached out to the VR studio Zoan to create a new kind of digital platform for a virtual summit. We even managed to get Epic Games to help us with the pioneering idea. With a tight timeline, our global ecosystem helped us to put everything together on time. And what a journey to the world of virtual interaction it was.

As a CEO of KIRAHub, a non-profit association boosting sustainable digitalisation of the built environment in Finland, I feel relieved and humble. I am proud of my team, our organising team and our ecosystem. I am convinced that with the solutions presented at WDBE2020, we still have hope for a better world. The beautiful story and experience of WDBE2020 did not unfold entirely as planned, but we did it together, creating something totally new – a ‘first in the world’!

Hopefully we will see you all at the future WDBE events and in the post-events in the coming weeks.

The future is not given – we just have to work together and sometimes take the leap of faith. No matter what happens. This is the only way to discover the best alternatives.

The Illusion city is not so far away – if we can imagine it, we can work together to achieve it!