It is our responsibility
to engage society
Breakthroughs in biotech could change the world for the better, yet raise important ethical questions that can’t be answered by scientists and investors alone. Rather than shy away from these tough questions, we believe it is our responsibility to confront them head on.
To this end, we collaborate with partners worldwide to engage others in industry, academia, leaders, and civil society in this critical dialogue.
“How can we ensure that our most cherished
values guide the application of our most powerful technologies?”
Jamie Metzl, author of Hacking Darwin
Tackling big
ethical questions
Leaps Talks is a speaker series that gathers leading minds from distinct disciplines to discuss the ethics, opportunities, and challenges faced in biotech innovation and investment. Organized with leading festivals and partners, the events feature lightening talks by domain experts, followed by moderated conversation.
In order to drive greater public engagement, Leaps Talks are recorded and shared across digital channels. Featured talks include:
Leaps Talk #7: Measuring what matters in impact investing
Meik Wiking, CEO of The Happiness Research Institute joined Agate Freimane, General Partner at Norrsken VC, Europe's largest impact venture capital fund for a fascinating virtual conversation as part of TOA ON AIR, organized by Tech Open Air Berlin. This thought-provoking discussion, moderated by Britt Wray, broadcaster and author of Rise of the Necrofauna: The Science, Ethics and Risks of De-Extinction, explored how we could ensure better metrics for impact investors, so we can better allocate resources that can improve quality of life.
The Culture of Synthetic Biology and Moonshots for a Better World at SynBioBeta 2020
Separated by many miles and a pandemic, George Church, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and the MIT, D.A. Wallach, a leading biotech investor and acclaimed recording artist, and Kira Peikoff, journalist and Editor in Chief at leapsmag, held a souped-up Zoom conversation, as part of the virtual SynBioBeta conference 2020. In this wide-ranging discussion, they explore biotech moonshots ranging from a universal virus vaccine, synthesizing food for the colonies of mars, as well as mid- and short-term-innovations that could help tackle the health and climate crises humanity is facing.
Tristan Harris: Dopamine, Disinformation, and the Ethics of Technological Progress at SynBioBeta 2020
As part of the SynBioBeta virtual conference 2020, Tristan Harris—Center for Humane Technology and featured in the Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma—sat down for a fireside chat with SynBioBeta Founder John Cumbers. This socially distanced conversation explores the rise of misinformation, waning trust in science, and how we must advance ‘god-like’ technologies with firm ethical guardrails, aiming to ensure the best outcomes for humanity.
CRISPR, A.I, & Brain-Machine Interface at Summit LA 2019
Featuring Peter Diamandis – Founder of XPRIZE and Singularity University, best-selling author of ‘The Future is Faster Than You Think’.
Introduced by Ellen Gustafson – Co-Director of the Summit Insitute.
Hacking Humans: A conversation about Gene Editing and AI at Norrsken House
Featuring Jamie Metzl – Technology Futurist & author of Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity & Max Tegmark – Physicist, Cosmologist & author of Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Moderated by Elaine Weidman-Grunewald – Co-founder, AI Sustainability Center. A neutral space for critical engagement.
Impact Investment & Biotech: Where Are the Impact Unicorns? at Boston HubWeek
Featuring Reshma Shetty – President & Co-Founder of Gingko Bioworks & Greg Shell – Managing Director of Bain Double Impact Fund. Moderated by Kathleen D. Kennedy – Executive Director MIT Center for Collective Intelligence.
Biotech, Health & the Era of Fast Capital at Tech Open Air
Featuring Erika Cheung – founder at Ethics in Entrepreneurship, Theranos Whistleblower & Seth Bannon – Founding Partner at Fifty Years.
A neutral space
for critical engagement
Leapsmag is an editorially independent online magazine that explores the social, cultural, and ethical implications of fundamental breakthroughs across the life sciences and beyond. Under the leadership of renowned bioethics journalist Kira Peikoff, Leapsmag is published by GOOD Worldwide, a global social impact company and its subsidiary Upworthy – a purpose-driven media company tasked to ensure that content is fact-based and free of sponsor bias.
In an age of misinformation and with the distrust of science on the rise, Leapsmag creates and distributes compelling content; to build a movement for greater awareness of science, innovation and its impact to advance societal change.
Leaps by Bayer strongly believes that it is vital to create a neutral open space to discuss complex questions; for commonly held ethical positions to be challenged and for differing opinions and theories to be compared and critiqued. Opening ourselves up to what will at times be a controversial discussion is just as vital for responsible progress as the fundamental breakthroughs we hope to achieve.
We are all driven
by something.
Leaps by Bayer was created in 2015 to break boundaries in life sciences investment—in scale, risk, collaboration, and mission. Through our ambitious 10 leaps, we accept that the risk of failure is very high. But in order to push beyond what is considered possible, we need to go beyond industry conventions for inspiration and explore radically new approaches.
Dare to Leap
The passion to push our limits lies within people, not companies. We are inspired by people who take leaps – from the scientists dedicating their lives to potential breakthrough technologies to individuals who defy their physical limits.
In the spirit of collaborating with the brightest minds in the life sciences, we celebrate the stories of people taking leaps, as they speak for all of us.
Diving deeper than before
Free divers take enormous risks every time they dive into the depths of the ocean without air tanks or equipment. That’s why we chose to focus on these risk-takers for ‘Dare to Leap’, a film that embodies why we push limits and refuse to give up.
What would be a leap of faith in science?
When we began the Leaps journey, we collaborated with some of the world’s greatest skaters—Aaron “Jaws” Homoki, Ali Boulala, and Tony Hawk—to tell the story of landing the famed Lyon 25. Their experience serves to remind us that if no one makes the first move, nothing will ever change.
We collaborated with renowned composer and DJ Paul Kalkbrenner to create original film scores for Leap of Faith and Dare to Leap.
Meaningful relationships
to create a sustainable impact
Our collaborations with research institutions, foundations, culture, futurist and innovation festivals both enable and challenge us to make our ambitions actionable and accountable.
GOOD | Upworthy
Upworthy, a purpose-driven media company and subsidiary of GOOD Worldwide, creates and distributes compelling content to uplift, illuminate, and engage. We reach over 15 million people who want fact-based, human-interest stories with a fresh point of view.
Norrsken Foundation
Norrsken Foundation and Leaps by Bayer both strongly believe that fostering innovations with impact and a greater purpose for humanity will ultimately lead to returns – both socially and financially. The Norrsken House is a coworking space for startups striving to contribute to the greater good and is being financed by the Norrsken Founders Fund. Leaps by Bayer is a proud member of the Norrsken House as well as a sponsor.
TOA 2020
In June 2020 the 9th edition of TOA Festival throws open its doors to 20,000 attendees. Europe’s leading technology festival takes place across 4 days of Satellite Events and 2 days of Conference where TOA welcomes the best and brightest from the worlds of tech, music, arts, and science. Over 200 speakers take to the stage to share insights on where they see the world evolving, and explore how we can use technology to better harness and understand these changes.
Summit Institute
Summit Institute develops creative solutions to real world challenges and is the non-profit partner of Summit, a multidisciplinary community of leaders from all around the world. Summit’s flagship event in LA in 2017 was the birthplace of Leaps by Bayer. With talks, workshops, culinary experiences, and other adventures, Summit gathers visionaries in a series of invitation-only events. Leaps by Bayer will continue to support this mission in 2018 and 2019, working toward mutual inspiration of the political, artistic, cultural and economic leaders of the 21st century.
Boston HubWeek
Boston HubWeek was born from a simple premise: to build a better future. Founded in 2014 by The Boston Globe, Harvard University, MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital, HubWeek has evolved into a year-long celebration of the innovative thought leaders from the fields of art, science, and technology, who are working to change the world.
The Happiness Research Institute
Leaps by Bayer believes that creating return for the planet should be the starting point of every business undertaking. The Happiness Research Institute focuses its work on the wellbeing and quality of life for citizens. It has expertise in quantifying these factors and will work together with Leaps by Bayer to develop a scientifically backed metric for “Return for Humanity” which can be used by organizations in the future to measure their contributions to the planet.