Opening ImpactFest, 7 November 2024

Welcome impact entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, students and all the other impact makers here today.

That was a spectacular opening of the ninth edition of ImpactFest, here in the Fokker Terminal. This year under the theme of: Uniting impact makers worldwide. The performance by what I shall, for now, call ‘the waste orchestra’ sends a clear signal: this is no ordinary conference – but a festival in which you, the participants, are the main act.

I am Jan van Zanen, Mayor of The Hague, international city of peace and justice. This year we are marking the fact that the first international peace conference was held in The Hague 125 years ago. The start of more than a century in which The Hague has grown to become the home base of many international organisations and institutes active in the fields of peace, non-violent conflict resolution and international law.

Hundreds of NGOs, service providers and businesses have grown up around them. The Hague city council nurtures and encourages the networks that have emerged within that cluster. Nine years ago we started developing an ecosystem for companies combining the principles of doing good and doing business. That became the ImpactCity programme.

Justice is about initiatives that begin with lofty international agreements, like the Sustainable Development Goals, but ultimately have to be turned into concrete actions. This includes innovative companies capable of formulating a business case that has a positive impact on people, society and the environment. ImpactFest showcases the growth and success of the ImpactCity ecosystem. It demonstrates that The Hague is the right environment and has the necessary contacts for impactmakers to be successful.

Today’s ImpactFest 2024 is dedicated to five related themes:

• The circular economy for putting the least possible pressure on the environment and resources, but also as a basis for sustainable prosperity for as many people as possible.
• A sustainable food supply chain that respects the environment and peoples health, also in the long term, and provides for lasting food security.
• The energy transition as a necessary condition for successful climate policy.
• Healthy, climate-proof and resilient cities.
• And, of course, peace; from the absence of war to just relations worldwide.

All the parties required to achieve this are here today. Policy and decision makers, businesses and NGOs. From The Hague, but also from other parts of The Netherlands and abroad. We are going to take full advantage of this gathering. With a programme in which – as already mentioned – you play the main role. With numerous smaller sessions in the various meeting spaces around this terminal. Along with opportunities for informal networking for promising future cooperation.

My thanks to the organisers and supporters who have made this edition of ImpactFest possible. With special thanks to the sponsors of this event: the Provincie Zuid Holland, Rabobank, Stichting DOEN, RVO (The Netherlands Enterprise Agency), Pels Rijcken and Unknown Group.

I wish you a fruitful day.