A global innovation eco system is in formation: each of us have the choice to let it be driven by others and hope for the best, or we can choose to engage so that more people have the opportunities that those of us thriving today, have been afforded.

This gathering brought together people from around the world to meet with like-minded people from Silicon Valley and across the United States to develop a franchise for humanity, that will serve as a launching pad for communities around the world to tap into the potential that has emerged here in Silicon Valley. The concepts we come up with at this gathering will lay the groundwork for a global innovation eco-system that offers new life opportunities and is welcoming to people of all persuasions, race and religion, caste and class.

We are coming together with the intention of collaborating for impact – at a moment in history when the new frontiers of science, technology and human knowledge are opening great new windows of opportunity for small and large scale enterprise. Just when current models of commerce and enterprise are upturned and re-invented in neighborhoods, nations, we find ourselves in a connected world connects communicating as one system for the very first time.

Humanitarian initiatives, like government and industry, are shifting to new modes of mobilizing for impact, re-considering ideas and policies: This next global transformation could lead to the thriving of billions of lives. Or not.

We are beginning a needed conversation, convening a special group to be the founding members of the Franchise for Humanity. Invitees will be those who have engaged in whole systems change in complex chaotic environments – from real hands on, unsantized experience, this is the group able to imagine together how to transition people to move beyond survival, to thrive. People like Martin Fisher of Kickstart.com who has transitioned 770,000 out of poverty in Africa.

In Silicon Valley, at Stanford University, home to game changers, we brought together on February 20-21, a curated group who have explored the coordinates and mapped the thoroughfares, wise yet still learning. People who want to stretch and connect with others who see other parts of the picture. Together we can see further and by our interaction, connect diverse dots, gain insight from perceptive perspectives to gain strategic clarity about how to enact and scale a Franchise for Humanity.