Jakarta, Bangalore, Mexico City, and . These are among many so-called Day-Zero candidate cities, where taps could soon run dry due to water scarcity.

The causes are myriad: drought, encroaching sea water, poor management, pollution, and population growth all combine to put freshwater supplies in peril. But while those causes vary, experts agree, Cape Town was only among the first to face a “Day Zero” scenario.

Here in the megacity of more than 10 million (with 30 million in the surrounding region), Jakarta is a bright beacon of warning for the accelerating urban struggle for sustainable water and sanitation systems…

In order to unlock the trillions of dollars necessary to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and drive environment, social, and economic stability in a disruptive era, business leaders and CEOs need to be much more active in integrating for-profit enterprises and purpose-driven initiatives. That’s one of the key conclusions from the April 2019 Leaders on Purpose summit in Washington D.C.

Moderating the panel on blended finance, where different forms of capital are mixed to de-risk large-scale investment, J. Carl Ganter, CEO founder of Vector Center, guided the conversation between panelists Marisa Drew, CEO, Financial Inclusion, Credit Suisse, Keiko Honda, CEO…

Part One: Steve, our resident mouse, has alluded us again.

We’ve had this “mouse house” trap and, every time we’ve put it out Steve, the mouse, has always disappeared for a few weeks: like he knew we were gunning for him. I assumed this was a coincidence. Now, I truly believe he is that smart.

Picture it, a calm Wednesday evening, Law and Order: SVU on Netflix — Olivia investigating a sex-worker found in a suitcase near the Hudson — and, out comes Steve. He waltzes across the living room: not a care in the world. My partner, Kimberly, and I look on.

He spots us. And, quickly retreats to…

The first quarter of 2019 has already shown dramatic shifts in the world of water and climate risks. It’s been a heady two months of activity within the global community of top business leaders, policy makers, influencers and climate experts, with the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos and Digital Life Design’s (DLD) Munich conference.

My sessions at both only reinforced my belief that we are facing a rare moment in human history when people, creativity, values, and technology must unite to shift a precarious direction — all while water crises remain the world’s most profound risk.

At DLD-Munich…

The world needs to stop simply responding to humanitarian crises and to start pro-actively preparing for and attempting to prevent crises before they happen with better data and better analytics, that was the resounding message throughout the 2019 Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week (HNPW) in Geneva, Switzerland.

“We cannot wait until crises are visibly causing suffering and costing lives — we need to act early and invest in prevention…” said Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Ursula Mueller, during the opening session. …

From obscurity to reaching the G7 agenda, ocean plastics has quickly come onto the world stage as one of the gravest threats to the oceans and sea life. What can be done to fix the problem, how can companies, governments and the public correct their course, and respond effectively with the speed necessary to avert disaster?

That was the topic of the session, “Bye Bye Plastic,” led by J. Carl Ganter, Vector Center’s CEO, at the Digital, Life, and Design (DLD) Conference in Munich January 20. …

Vector Center has expanded its advisory board, adding Måns Hultman, a Swedish serial entrepreneur at the forefront of Europe’s data revolution.

Hultman led the business intelligence firm Qlik from its early startup days in 2002 to 2009, setting the stage for its $2 billion IPO in 2010. He met J. Carl Ganter, founder and CEO of Vector Center, at a World Economic Forum (WEF) session in China a decade ago, when Qlik was named a WEF Tech Pioneer.

Today, the Swedish serial entrepreneur is a partner at Zobito and a special advisor at 83North. He served as a board director…

“Water is increasingly a trigger, weapon and casualty of conflict — with significant humanitarian consequences,” concludes the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report Wold Humanitarian Trends and Data 2018. In analysis contributed by Vector Center, the new report explores the links between water and conflict as both a challenge and an opportunity in humanitarian crisis.

Water has not traditionally been considered a primary driver of global conflict; instead, it has been viewed as a compounding variable that exacerbates existing social, economic, and political tensions. …