Open Sustainability Event

Without a doubt, Brightcon 2023 set the golden standard for academic conferences. The tutorial-based sessions prioritized learning, problem solving, and skills development for experts and beginners alike. These sessions transformed the idea of scientific dissemination from ivory tower didactic lectures to accessible pedagogic and community focused discourses. The community attending this conference were welcoming and open to practitioners of every level. In all the hackathon, tutorial-based sessions, open discussions, networking opportunities, and engagement with online participants created an environment that encouraged questions and inspired growth both within the Brightway community as well as also among the participants attending.

Meeting in person at Brightcon in 2023 was enriching and motivating for me. The energy and emulation from open source events reminds everyone why working in sustainability is more than just a job, it is a purpose. I look forward to more efforts being standardized and open through such initiatives, and to this year's Brightcon.

Attending Brightcon 2023 has been fantastic as it is the meeting place for LCA researchers working with open-source tools in python, such as Brightway. In fact, one of my current projects has been significantly inspired by the discussions at Brightcon and I met my current collaborators there. Brightcon is not your usual conference – it’s very hands-on, low-hierarchy and living its sustainable mission by serving only vegetarian/vegan food. I’m highly looking forward to this year’s edition.

Attending Brightcon 2023 was an enlightening experience that exceeded all my expectations. As someone deeply interested in life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental sustainability, I was particularly thrilled by the hands-on sessions focused on Brightway2 and its associated tools. One of the highlights was the opportunity to work on real-world datasets and scenarios. This practical approach provided invaluable insights into how Brightway2 can be utilized to tackle environmental challenges. We explored various tools and extensions, learning how to customize and optimize them for different projects. The collaborative environment fostered by Brightcon 2023 also facilitated networking and idea-sharing, further enriching the learning experience. An exciting addition to the conference was the introduction to prospective life cycle assessment using PREMISE. This tool allows for the integration of future scenarios into LCA, offering a forward-looking perspective on sustainability. This capability is crucial for strategic planning and decision-making, enabling practitioners to anticipate and mitigate future risks.