Café des Sciences: Connected, naturally

Learn from ecopreneur Hans Galliker and educator Song Shu about ecovillage practice, sustainability research and holistic balance through Eastern philosophy.

Ecopreneur Hans Galliker and educator Song Shu share ecovillage experience, related cutting-edge scientific references and how Eastern philosophy helps to achieve a holistic balance between nature and humans. Their eclectic backgrounds allow them to illustrate their findings ranging from zero-waste efforts, to The Internet of Mind over to DIY holacracy system for organisational self-management.

Sustainability practices and research to foster ecovillages

Chengdu-based Swiss Ecopreneur Hans Galliker lives at Huadao Ecovillage where he supports sustainability-oriented initiatives such as implementing a zero-waste strategy or fostering resilience of the whole ecosystem. The ambitions go beyond an earthy circular economy and increasingly interweave into the digitised knowledge economy. For Huadao and other meaningful organisations is Hans Galliker deploying private clouds, business software or also organisational self-management solutions. For those to be modular, safe and scalable is Hans and like-minded idealists finding inspiration by holistic approaches including Free Software, holacracy and combinations of decentralization-, encryption- and virtualisation technologies.

Hans aims to share his experiences with the audience covering both, hands-on works and related research.

Elevate your ecological consciousness with the Internet of Mind

Song Shu, since birth connected with a companion tree planted by his parents, grew up in a symbiotic relationship with nature. A stark contrast to his later years, when he pursued an urban life in Chengdu with study and career in the IT segment. Regardless of the professional success did he feel uprooted and sensed fundamental spiritual shortcomings in our modern civilisation which accentuated unsustainable economical and social development.

Influenced by Taoist studies grew Song Shu an ecological consciousness and gained trust for a big career change – to become a nature educator and start his life education company NatureDao. In the meantime the IoT (Internet of Things) specialist got reconnected with nature and established a productive harmony between the two worlds. In his upcoming book “Internet of Mind” defines Song Shu a systematic structure consisting of the layers Personal, Group, Nature and Culture and the perspectives Technique and Consciousness which helps organisations to establish wholesome relationships and more resilient solution design. Song Shu is going to take the Café des Sciences audience on a journey with insights, research and a rewarding way to connect, naturally.

Event Rundown

18:00-18:30              Registration

 

18:30-18:35               Opening Remark

(Ms. Cissy Sun – Head of Art-Science at Swissnex in China)

 

18:35-18:40               Welcome Speech

(Ms. Conny Camenzind – Consul General of Switzerland in Chengdu)

 

18:40-19:00              Presentation – Sustainability practices and research to foster ecovillages

(Mr. Hans Martin Galliker – Independent ecopreneur-in-residence at Huadao Ecovillage)

 

19:00-19:20              Presentation – Elevate your ecological consciousness with the Internet of Mind

(Mr. Song Shu (Yingbing Zhou) – Manager and educator for NatureDao)

 

19:20-19:40              Discussion, Q&A

 

19:40-20:30             Networking Reception

Speakers

About Hans

Hans grew up on a farm in Beromünster / Lucerne, moved to Zurich soon after finishing his agricultural apprenticeship and swapped his pitchfork with a keyboard. During most of his decade in the IT industry he was selling B2B datacenter solutions. While doing so he studied business communication and during an exchange semester in Beijing in 2008 he witnessed food scandals making headlines and the dire need to reverse the environmental deterioration. This was coinciding with his new-found interest in organic agriculture and environmental technology. Hence Hans rebooted his life, moved to Shenzhen and became a self-designated “ecopreneur” with the mission to support the sustainability movement by entrepreneurial means. The most visible project so far has been the conscious fashion brand NEEMIC which in 2011 he started together with Swiss designer Amihan Zemp in order to promote eco-friendly fabrics and cultural exchange. The venture failed financially yet left Hans with plenty of experience and deeply embedded in Beijing’s creative- and sustainability circles, from where he kept pursuing his mission.

Hans for example helped FREITAG to popularise their up-cycled bags in China in the role of F- riend of the Brand, the Spittoon Art Collective to manage their organisation, and last but not least the Beijing Linux User Group to grow their community. More recently Hans co-founded the social enterprise Urban-Rural Bridge which promotes permaculture and is preparing the launch of a farm-to-table app for cooperatives including simple farm management. Since 2019 is Hans Galliker ecopreneur-in-resident at Huadao Ecovillage near Chengdu in order to foster their sustainability-related efforts.

About Song Shu

Song Shu grew up in Xichang / Sichuan, in an idyllic home next to a river and a mountain. He moved to Chengdu for his studies at Southwest Jiaotong University and graduated with a Master degree in Communication Engineering. He then embarked to work in the technology sector for more than a decade, dedicated to microelectronics and networking, with a focus on IoT (Internet of Things). Meanwhile he published his first book called “Technology and Applications of Wireless Sensor Networks” (2006).

While Song Shu already during his high-school days felt a a passion for education, in 2015 he followed his dream, revamped his career to become a nature education professional in order to raise nature awareness among our society and education systems. At the same time he also started his entrepreneurial journey. Song Shu’s first venture, as co-founder of a sustainable agriculture platform, stalled in 2017. But his second venture keeps flourishing; QingyiZiran (情意自然) provides solutions on the foundation of the NatureDao principle, which teaches Taoism-inspired methods for the sensory exploration of nature. These developments are going to culminate into his upcoming second book which will be published under the name “The Internet of Mind” (心联网).

Co-organized with:

Café des Sciences

Café des Sciences is a new format at Swissnex in China offering a monthly platform for Swiss Spotlight Scientists and Startups to present their projects and connect with the local community. The lectures will offer a casual setting in which speakers can present their work and engage with the attendees during a Q&A period. Audiences are welcomed to enjoy the networking reception with Swiss flavour after the talk. The lecture is scheduled to take place every third Thursday each month at Swissnex in China or our partner spaces.