INNOVATION IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD

Dieter Brockmeyer is no stranger to a rapidly changing environment. In an interview with Kyle Galea, Dieter elaborates on the role of the Diplomatic World Institute power of wholistic innovation, modern politics and everything in between.

What is the mission of Diplomatic World and how does it illustrate the changing geo-political and technological environment?

Diplomatic World is driven by the spirit of “We are all connected”. That means problems can only be solved in a joint effort. This was the core from the beginning when the magazine was launched more than 20 years ago and established itself as a recognized opinion platform in the Brussels region where heads of state and other stakeholders can express their vision of the future of our planet. However, there are limits as a magazine to act. Therefore, we founded the Diplomatic World Institute in summer 2019, a think tank to take direct action. One of our first initiatives was to launch the Wholistic World Innovation Trophy, WWIT in short.

Of course, the pandemic starting only a few months later changed everything, delaying projects but also providing new opportunities. The newest kid of our group’s family is Diplomatic World Media, a streaming platform extending the reach of the magazine and the institute globally. Only a few years earlier this would have been much more difficult, and I think this illustrates very well the impact of new technologies: It brings us closer together – and with increasing speed. Not everybody likes it, and it challenges the old global order. We want to get our voice heard to act as sort of a moderator in this situation.

NOT EVERYBODY LIKES IT, AND IT CHALLENGES THE OLD GLOBAL ORDER.

How do you expect the changing geo-political environment to affect technological innovation?

We see a lot of skepticism rising towards new technologies. Of course, this will change nothing. Once a new technology is out you either make the best of it, or somebody else does to your disadvantage. Maybe you can slow it down a little, but that’s the utmost you can do. Therefore, banning cryptocurrencies will only have the opposite effect in the long run. Introducing your own currency is smarter. We can see an emerging struggle on who will control the crypto and blockchain space. My fear is the same may happen that we saw with the upcoming internet. I remember well the hopes for universally free and educated societies and look at what the situation is today.

MY FEAR IS THE SAME MAY HAPPEN THAT WE SAW WITH THE UPCOMING INTERNET. I REMEMBER WELL THE HOPES FOR UNIVERSALLY FREE AND EDUCATED SOCIETIES AND LOOK AT WHAT THE SITUATION IS TODAY.

Which cutting edge technologies do you believe will have the most significant effect on democracy and how?

This is hard to predict. There is a lot happening now. There sure is a lot of potential in the blockchain, decentralized banking, or the Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, DAO in short. These and others are very interesting approaches for sure, however, the proof of concept is still missing for all of them. I like the idea of “automated democracies”. However, it can also be used for autocratic systems. Blockchain too is a potentially dangerous technology depending on how it is used. The only thing that seems to be certain is that the upcoming decades will be highly dynamic and full of surprises. I’m afraid, not only pleasant ones.

What is Wholistic innovation and how does a broader comprehension

of the ongoing technological revolution benefit us?

Already the magazine claims to interlink diplomacy, politics, business and culture since they all are connected. This is a universal truth, anything I launch in one sector also has impact on the neighboring one. Way too often we must realize that the “neighboring effect” is the opposite of our positive intentions. We often realize it too late. We must be much more aware how everything interacts. We need innovation, lots of it, in all sectors to tackle the global challenges, not only with climate change. A lot will be technological, but this also requires that we adapt to sometimes rapidly changing situations.

What do you think is the core message of your book Pandemia’s Box and how do you think that the debate it seeks to spark will take shape?

The matter is highly complex, therefore it would be arrogant to claim to have come up with any solutions. It’s an analysis trying to show where we should think more wholistically towards having a positive impact on the planet. I can spark debate, and this may lead to solutions. Since I’m not the only one taking this path, chances are likely that all these initiatives together will have a positive impact.

IT’S AN ANALYSIS TRYING TO SHOW WHERE WE SHOULD THINK MORE WHOLISTICALLY TOWARDS HAVING A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE PLANET. IT WOULD BE FATAL TO DRAW THE LESSON THAT GLOBALIZATION IS WRONG, BUT WE NEED TO THINK ABOUT IT DIFFERENTLY.

What do you think are the best lessons we could learn from the ongoing pandemic?

We already learned a lot about what went wrong in globalization during the last decades. It would be fatal to draw the lesson that globalization is wrong, but we need to think about it differently. Our problems are global, and they can only be solved by working together globally. We are at the beginning of a long steep road. We must take it if we want to live in a pleasant world – and on this planet. We only have this one.

WE ARE AT THE BEGINNING OF A LONG STEEP ROAD. WE MUST TAKE IT IF WE WANT TO LIVE IN A PLEASANT WORLD – AND ON THIS PLANET. WE ONLY HAVE THIS ONE.

Tell me about Ghaf Capital. You're quite a new kid on the block and already made so many investments over the last year. Tell me about Ghaf Capital, who are your partners and why now?

Ghaf Capital actually is the first UAE based and homegrown venture capital firm. We're not a fund. We are actually four family office investment professionals that work together and it's mainly local families. Well-known entrepreneurs with great networks. I joined them last year just to add a more international flavour to the team.

Our focus is really Web 3.0 so we invested in that infrastructure. We invest in the building blocks that create the next generation of the internet going from games to NFTs to DeFi infrastructure but also to exchanges where we recently invested in the first African crypto exchange, CoinMARA. Basically it's completely across the board. The goal is really to provide to the entrepreneurs. We invest in added value and on-ramp into the UAE or broader Middle Eastern ecosystem.

So why is it important for projects to have their on-ramp to the Middle East?

The Middle East is a very important market in terms of demographics. It has very young clientele. The average age is much lower than in many other parts of the world. The adoption of mobile technologies and crypto in particular is higher than in other parts of the world and at a faster rate.

So it's important to provide entrepreneurs access to these regions but it's not only that, it's also the setting up of companies. We are very well connected to the infrastructure of the UAE and we can provide the companies with this assistance. On top of that, obviously we have connections not only in the Middle East but also beyond in terms of marketing and contact to exchanges.

There's a lot of excitement about Gameify. Do you see that as a valuable segment to invest in or do you think it's just hype and it will all go away?

If you think about it, what we are seeing here with web three is the evolution of the internet. So we have actually the next layer of the internet where creators, builders, and users, basically all part of the infrastructure. Play-to-earn is a great example for that.

I remember when one of my first startups was in the classic free-toplay game space in the year 2000. Everybody was screaming in the old industry, “what is this free to play?”, “How can this be a viable business?” Now it has become mainstream.

They are pretty annoyed about that because they don't want to give away some of their part of the pie. So I think it has a lot of legs because it involves the users as much as the creators and infrastructure providers.

Are there games out there that you want to give a shout out to, that you iinvested in, that have a great UI UX and also a great game to play because it's also good to have a game where people can earn?

Absolutely. We invested in a number of NFT based play-to-earn games in our portfolio. But one project that I particularly liked because of its long-term vision is Cross The Ages.

The reason why I invested in this company was particularly because of the team. They have assembled a group of fantastic artists. I think it's roughly 70 people in the artist space, who worked for brands like Harry Potter, Marvel, League of Legends, Game of Thrones, and so on. So really people who know this industry deep inside are part of the core team.

The vision of Cross The Ages is to create seven novels written around seven books, basically that are going to be gameified. It's a long-term project. It's not just a quick coin flip it's something that's supposed to become the future type of game for the metaverse. It's evolving and it bridges the gap between crypto, between collectors and between the gaming industry.

So it's beautiful and has some elements of DeFi, but also some elements of collectibles and NFTs. So it's exciting to see that, but the main reason why I invested in that is really the team and the long term vision.