2016 SXSW Eco Awards Winners + Conference Highlights [Video]

The final day of SXSW Eco 2016 wrapped up with more inspiring sessions, from inclusive design to collective impact to social entrepreneurship, programming focused on social equity. Watch the highlights video and then take a deeper dive into Wednesday’s Keynote with Bill Nye (yes, the Science Guy) discussing our changing climate, and browse through the photo gallery from the conference below.

The midday Keynote, "Designing the Just City: Hip Hop Architecture" presented by Hip Hop Architect Mike Ford and Design Justice Advocate Bryan Lee Jr., delved into the role poor planning and architecture played in the development of Hip Hop culture. All the while, their talk underscored the necessary role a community should have in decisions made that effect the space they live in.

We announced and celebrated the SXSW Eco Awards winners from our 2016 competitions – Startup Showcase, a fast-paced startup pitch event, and Place by Design, a pitch event celebrating innovative design work that creates positive social and environmental impact.

The conference concluded on a high note with a standing room only Keynote presentation from Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society, on the "Optimistic View for Merging Energy + Climate Policies." Introductory Remarks were provided by Sai Sameer Pusapaty, a high school senior who actively works on environmental issues as a research intern at UT Austin, as well as SXSW Eco's own Head of Programming, Carolyn Harrold, who took a bite out of an Arctic Apple, one of the world's first engineered apples to never turn brown.

Nye offered a unique insight into the science behind our changing climate, how we can alter its course from here, and the three important services we currently have the resources to provide to each of the world’s citizens: clean water, reliable, renewably produced electricity, and access to the Internet. "With our brains, we're going to solve these problems. We're going to solve climate change. And dare I say it – we're going to change the world!"

Explore photos from the 2016 conference below and stay tuned to SXSW Eco's YouTube Channel and Twitter for recap coverage including videos from all 2016 Keynotes, interviews, the Arctic Apple updates, and programming highlights.