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Samuel Bertram

Pragmatic Futurist, Agricultural Entrepreneur, Global Changemaker

Inventor of an automated indoor farm technology aiming to address global accessibility to food and medicine
An advocate for gritty entrepreneurship aimed at solving humanity’s greatest challenges
A dynamic speaker whose thought leadership spurs organizations to solve real-world problems through innovation, creativity, and values-based decision-making

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Samuel Bertram is an entrepreneurial visionary who has combined his robotics expertise with his passion for human wellness to bring innovative solutions for the world’s hunger challenges to life. He is the co-founder and CEO of OnePointOne, the mission-driven organization that is making breakthroughs in automation, artificial intelligence, and plant science to build the most advanced plant production system on Earth with the goal of growing the food, developing the medicines, and discovering the genetics to nourish and heal all of humanity.

Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Bertram rallies the audience around purpose and values as he inspires them to view business and entrepreneurship from a new perspective — one that champions inventiveness, problem solving, and serving others to make the world a better place. He takes audiences behind the scenes at OnePointOne — drawing on lessons learned from building the company from the ground up to provide organizations with a framework for innovation that is backed by real-world impact, while sharing new-age strategies for leading by purpose — not profit — and nurturing a culture rooted in service to society.

Bertram first arrived in the U.S. from his native Australia on a tennis scholarship to Santa Clara University and entered the school’s engineering program, despite not having a STEM background. Looking to use his technical skillset and entrepreneurial mindset to make a tangible difference in the world, he was inspired, alongside his brother John, to launch OnePointOne to advance the mission of providing food security to the 1.1 billion people in the world who are physiologically malnourished.

Identifying the tremendous potential of indoor vertical farming to revolutionize plant production, the Betram brothers designed an innovative growing process that uses advanced robotics, computer vision, and AI to produce millions of pounds of food per year in a controlled environment that enables plants to grow without soil or sunlight and eliminates external factors that often inhibit growth. This automated approach, known as Opollo™, is maximizing food output while minimizing environmental impact, and has received support from Michael Steep, who is the founder and former executive director of the Stanford Engineering Center for Disruptive Technology and Digital Cities, as well as $27 million in monetary investment from ServiceNow founder Fred Luddy, tennis legend Novak Djokovic, and HRH Khaled bin Alwaleed. As CEO, Bertram has planted a culture of ingenuity and creativity to address one of humanity’s unanswered questions and usher in the future of farming and agricultural sustainability.

In addition to his leadership of OnePointOne, Bertram sits on the advisory boards of the Schools of Engineering for both Stanford and Santa Clara Universities. He previously served as entrepreneur in residence for Stanford’s Global Projects Center and was a member of the YPO Pacific One nonprofit organization. In 2022, he was recognized by Forbes as one of its “30 Under 30” social impact leaders using business smarts to save the world. As he continues to grow OnePointOne and tackle the world’s health and hunger disparity, Bertram remains focused on contributing as much as he can to society and continuing to find new and innovative means for making a positive impact.

Speaker Video

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Planting the Seeds for Innovation. Agricultural innovator Samuel Bertram’s idea to address food insecurity through vertical farming isn’t a new one. But his patented, automated approach that he has integrated into plant production is groundbreaking. As the co-founder and CEO of agricultural disruptor OnePointOne, Bertram is leading the development of technology with the potential to end food insecurity worldwide, despite not having a STEM background prior to majoring in engineering in college. He’s living proof that anyone is capable of approaching problems in new and creative ways to think up new solutions to age-old challenges.

In a dynamic session, he takes audiences through exercises designed to get their minds thinking in nonlinear ways to arrive at cutting-edge ideas with the potential to transform their industries and maybe even change the world. Bertram outlines OnePointOne’s all-hands approach to creativity and innovation, while sharing tactics for how any organization can adopt the same approach while adapting it to achieve their goals.

Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset. When OnePointOne co-founder and CEO Samuel Bertram embarked on his entrepreneurial journey, he did so knowing he wanted to build a business that would change the way we do things for the better. In less than a decade, he has led OnePointOne to being one of the most-groundbreaking companies in the world, having introduced an innovative way of farming, which could prove to be the solution to the global hunger issue. But how does an idea evolve into a viable and sustainable business? In this talk, Bertram revisits his experiences building, scaling, and leading his own startup to explore the primary drivers of business success while offering insights for how leaders and their teams can tap into their entrepreneurial mindsets to power the growth of their organizations and push past any obstacle to be successful.

Building Up: Leading and Growing Purpose-Oriented Teams. Looking for a way to combine his entrepreneurial mindset with his technical skillset while driving change, Samuel Bertram was inspired to tackle the world’s hunger challenges through tech and automation. With his mission defined, he co-founded OnePointOne, the revolutionary company that is redefining the future of farming to eliminate hunger and advance human health and wellness. In this talk, Bertram shares the fascinating story of OnePointOne from its beginnings into the present day, revealing the strategies he used to build the mission-driven company into a game-changing organization with the potential to conquer global issues of malnutrition and sustainability. Challenging the audience to prioritize impact ahead of the bottom line, Bertram outlines why altruism is a key component for any successful organization and defines the ways leaders can unite their teams around shared vision and values for the benefit of their communities and the world.

Redefining Operating in the Green: Your Organization’s Commitment to Sustainability. We are entering a new era in business where sustainability is becoming a key component for any successful organization. As environmental issues take center stage, the microscope is on businesses and the steps they are taking to operate in a way that doesn’t negatively impact the environment. As an entreprenuer who has built his organization from the ground up on principles of green business, OnePointOne co-founder and CEO Samuel Bertram is widely recognized as a leader of the future of business and is a sought-after thought leader on the principles of creating sustainable companies. In this talk, he draws from his own experiences building OnePointOne to be sustainability-focused to underscore the importance of sustainability in business, highlight the competitive advantage it provides, and share sound strategies any organization can implement to operate for the good of the environment and humanity.

The Future of Agriculture and Energy, and the Impact on Civilization. As the co-founder and CEO of OnePointOne, Samuel Bertram is leading the development of the world’s most advanced plant production system with the goal of putting an end to world hunger and leading society into the future of human wellness and sustainability. In this forward-looking talk, he walks audiences through how the future of agriculture and energy is shaping up, as well as the ways in which organizations can prepare themselves for this future, contribute to creating a more sustainable planet with their business objectives in mind, and extend the abundance of agriculture and energy throughout humanity.