A SXSW for the Pacific
Eahou Fest brought 25 global leaders to Mōʻiliʻili to prototype regenerative finance, Indigenous data sovereignty, and a tech stack accountable to ʻāina.
Earlier this May, the second annual Eahou Fest transformed Mōʻiliʻili's Japanese Cultural Center into a hub for ancestral knowledge and emerging tech. Described as a "SXSW for the Pacific," the event was a partnership between Purple Maiʻa and New York-based Breakout, bringing together global leaders working across regenerative finance, Indigenous data sovereignty, and aloha ʻāina.
The weekend moved beautifully between spaces: Friday's Short Film Festival at Shinnyo-en Hawaiʻi temple, Saturday's public mākeke at Church of the Crossroads, and a neighborhood anchor for tech workshops at Koa Ka, a new café opening in Mōʻiliʻili.
One standout session, "Ahupuaʻa Sustainable Computing," took on the extractive nature of data centers, proposing a circular computing future for Hawaiʻi that respects local watersheds and grids.
From food security to homegrown digital tools, Eahou Fest served as a living laboratory for a community-built tech stack. As global AI expands, can we build systems as accountable to our environment as they are to our users?
For a full recap, visit eahoufest.com.