A month-long gathering for people building the future
Join us for a popup village to live in a healthy and productive community focused on incubating novel technologies and ways of living.
This gathering is the first step toward a permanent new town, Esmeralda. The lessons we learn together this June will be carried forward to build this long-term vision.
Save the date for Edge Esmeralda 2025! Mark your calendars for May 24 - June 21. Read more here!
Sign up for updates for Edge Esmeralda 2025.
Themes
Each theme will have planned talks & self-organized sessions throughout the month
Human organization
Evolution of education & parenting • New towns & cities • Collective intelligence • Governance • Culture
Artificial intelligence
Compute & geopolitics • AI & identity • Alignment • Decentralized AI • Practical applications • Art
Real-world crypto
Practical, real-life applications • Zero-Knowledge tech • Protocol research • Scalability
Health, longevity, & bio
Neurotech • Nutritional science & tech • Biohacking • Practical & philosophical aspects of well-being
Hard tech
Geoengineering • Nanotech • Space exploration • Materials science • Transportation • Renewable energy
Speakers & Attendees
The best place is our blog, which we update regularly!
You will find information about transport, hackathons, programming, and more.
- Access to all sessions, seminars, events, conferences, hackathons, and workshops. There are at least 3-4 expert-organized tracks each week.
- Access to co-working with high-speed internet and drip coffee
- Community dinners Sunday-Thursday with local, organic food
- Sauna, cold plunge, & daily workouts
- Priority access to our special hotel rate
- Adventure days on weekends!
Edge Esmeralda is a "popup village" for people who believe the future can be better and are actively working to make it happen. It is taking place in Healdsburg, California, June 2-30.
We aim for this to be the healthiest and most productive time of your year — a place to go deep in your work and learn from fellow experts in other fields while incubating novel technology and ways of living.
This gathering is also a prototype for a permanent new town, Esmeralda. The lessons we learn will be carried forward to build this long-term vision.
You can learn more about Edge Esmeralda in this letter from the organizers ->
The village will be filled with high-agency people who are building towards a better future: founders, scientists, urban planners, researchers, engineers, philosophers, storytellers, and beyond. We look for thoughtful people who are brilliant, curious, and kind.
Families with kids are welcome. We will have childcare and fun activities for the whole family throughout the month. One of our major goals is to integrate family life with creative life.
If you’re a Sonoma County local, you can skip the application process altogether. Click here to purchase an access pass for Edge Esmeralda.
It's not required, though we encourage you to stay as long as you can. You can come for all of June or just a week or even just a few days.
Those who come for all of June will have the most immersive experience, because a large part of what we are testing is different ways of living and working together. However you'll still have a great experience if you come for a shorter period of time!
Awesome, thank you! We would love recommendations for the awesome builders you know. You can refer potential participants here.
Absolutely! We meant it when we said that we intend for this to be multigenerational. One of our major goals is to integrate family life with creative life.
There will be programming for kids of all ages MTWThF + 1 evening a week so parents can go out together, and we will include fun things for kids during the weekly Sunday family-style dinner.
You can read more on a dedicated post on our blog.
You can see the programming calendar here and read about our programming philosophy in more depth in a dedicated post on our blog.
In summary:
- We are focusing on emergence instead of centrally planning everything. We will create the minimum necessary structure for this to be an excellent event, and then we'll encourage the attendees to participate, engage, and build awesome things on top of the structure we provide.
- The fact that the event is a month long means that you'll have plenty of opportunity to go deep on various topics of your choice, and to meaningfully connect with other attendees.
If you can't make it for the whole time and you aren't sure when to come, the short answer is: come when you can! You'll be certain to have an engaging time.
We will also publish a live calendar of major programming events by mid-April.
We are not making a profit on this event, and we are a registered 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization. However creating a memorable experience involves significant costs, and it is important that this gathering is self-sustaining.
To learn about tickets, click here. Tickets cover the costs of running the event, but not accommodation.
You can book accommodation through us once you have bought your ticket (we have reserved some hotel inventory) or through any service like Airbnb or Booking.
Please note, we are not able to accept refunds on tickets or lodging.
If cost is a barrier, email us at [email protected].
Read more about housing for Edge Esmeralda on a dedicated post on our blog.
As a summary, you have two options:
- You can coordinate your own lodging.
- As an add-on to your ticket, we'll coordinate lodging for you.
- We have reserved a hotel block at a discounted rate to make lodging more affordable, & we're working with a great local accommodation partner to hold homes as well.
- There is limited space, so we recommend signing up for lodging as soon as we release tickets. If you sign up for updates, we'll let you know as soon as we open up ticket sales & lodging sign ups.
- Edge City: We convene people working at the frontier of tech, science, and society in popup villages across the globe. We aspire to be a ‘society incubator’— a lab of experimentation for new ideas, tech, culture, and organizations, all dedicated to accelerating human flourishing.
- Esmeralda Institute: We are building a new town for multigenerational families who are looking for lifelong learning, a car-light lifestyle, neighborly connections, and a healthy lifestyle in touch with nature. Esmeralda will be a cross between Chautauqua, Las Catalinas, and a college campus.
Healdsburg is a beautiful town in Northern California with a rich history and reputation as a center of healthy living. It has a number of great characteristics that make it the perfect place to host Edge Esmeralda:
- Infectious enthusiasm from local leaders, including the mayor & small businesses
- Proximity to SF, the tech capital of the world
- Walkable streets centered around a charming town square
- Embedded in nature, surrounded by the Russian River & the Mayacama Mountains
- Sonoma County is a hub for agriculture, healthy living, & sustainability
We like to build trusted, integrated relationships with our host partners, so we are excited to work together with the North Sonoma community to understand how this event can be most beneficial for all involved. Some ways that we would be excited to participate directly:
- Volunteering at local farms that give to food banks
- Exploring the implementation of new technology and city concepts
- Encouraging participation for local students and offering mentorship
We're actively seeking local partners who share our passion for making this concept a reality. We’re actively looking to collaborate in these ways:
- Attend: Join our events and workshops.
- Housing: Offer scholars a place to stay in June.
- Event Space: Share your venue for our activities.
- Speak: Share your expertise on a topic.
- Donate: Support us with a grant (we're a registered non-profit)
- We’re open to other ideas as well!
We want to create an unforgettable month for locals and visitors alike, that leaves a lasting positive impression and impact!
Fill out this form or contact us at [email protected] to get involved as a local.