Introducing kyu House

In a few days’ time kyu will be opening the doors of kyu House at COP28 in Dubai. This will be just the first in a series of initiatives marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of kyu.

kyu was created to be a source of creativity to propel the economy and society forward. This remains our purpose — our North Star, and each one of these words has a special meaning to us in the collective. We exist to deliver creative, real-world solutions to the world’s biggest problems. 

And one of the biggest problems the world is facing is climate change.

It is a fact that climate change is not just a planet problem — it is a human problem. On first reflection, this may sound like an obvious thing to say. But it’s a vital distinction. For it is a sad fact that the positioning of this crisis as a planetary problem drives endless statistics that have accomplished very little to the fixing of the crisis. No one doubts the importance of scientific research, but the information it produces is simply not adequate to solve the problems it identifies.

And so it is with climate. Until the world treats this existential issue as a human problem I fear the catastrophe that the significant majority predicts will be inevitable. For history tells us that humankind only truly gets to grip with issues when the human race, or sections of the human race, themselves are threatened.  

kyu’s collective creativity is geared towards solving societal problems, and we will be at COP to demonstrate the impact we can and need to make, as institutions, companies, and individuals, if we are to regain control of our existential issue. We will be at COP to inspire the creation of new movements and to promote our learnings of how great things can happen when issues are presented through new and more compelling lenses. To show how we can borrow from the experiences and momentum of other human needs to start to truly change the dynamic in the climate challenge.

During the week of December 3, we will be running a full program of events at kyu House through our kyu brands ATÖLYE, BEworks, IDEO, Gehl, Lexington, Neol, Public Digital, and SYPartners to showcase how our creativity can change the lens through which we address climate, and thereby make a material difference to what we need to do. And to show that this approach is to serve a multitude of interests, including those of society, business, industry, and government. 

We aim to engage, excite, and inspire. Binding stakeholders together is essential, attitudinal change is necessary, and big, bold cultural transformations are not just possible, but pivotal. 

The climate has been worsening and the devastating effects have been acutely felt in far too many places. But I believe there is still a window of opportunity for climate change to be slowed, and to do so, we must sprint — not walk.