Kathy Calvin, CEO of the United Nations Foundation, and Hans Vestberg, president and CEO of Ericsson
Left to Right: Jean Case, CEO of Case Foundation; Kathy Calvin, CEO of the United Nations Foundation; Helen Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme; Matthew Bishop, U.S. Business Editor and New York Bureau Chief at The Economist
Left to Right: Ian Somerhalder, actor and entrepreneur, and Pete Cashmore, CEO and founder of Mashable
Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and Pete Cashmore, CEO and founder of Mashable
Magatte Wade, founder and CEO of Tiossan, and Teddy Ruge, Cofounder, Project Diaspora
Barbara Bush, CEO and co-founder of Global Health Corps, and Raj Kumar, president of Devex
Bahareh Seyedi, energy policy specialist at Environment and Energy Group of UNDP, and Pete Cashmore, CEO and founder of Mashable
Left to Right: Parker Liautaud, polar explorer, and Al Gore, former Vice President
Left to Right: Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, Under-Secretary-General for communications and public information at the United Nations, and J.J. Abrams, founder and president of Bad Robot Productions
Left to Right: Sir Richard Branson, founder of The Virgin Group, and Andrew Rasiej, founder of Personal Democracy Media
Left to Right: Alexandra Hall, senior director of Google Lunar at XPRIZE; Pete Paschal, tech editor at Mashable; Paul Bunje, senior director of oceans at XPRIZE
It may only be 2013, but luminaries like Al Gore, Melinda Gates and J.J. Abrams are thinking like it's 2030.
Last week's Social Good Summit, themed #2030now, brought together more than 200 speakers — ranging from pioneers in technology to passionate activists from abroad to world leaders — to share ideas about technology, social change, activism and science.
See also: 25 Inspiring Instagrams of People Changing the World
With three days of talks on topics randing from the humanitarian crisis in Syria to Google+ hangouts with NASA astronauts, the summit was a whirlwind of ideas and information.
Beyond the main stage at New York's 92nd Street Y, Social Good Summit came to life around the world at Meetups in countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Montenegro, Morocco, Norway, Pakistan, Rwanda, Somalia, Sweden and Uzbekistan.
If you missed any of the panels from Social Good Summit, you can watch them all on Mashable's Livestream channel. We've also rounded up some of the biggest highlights from our coverage. Here are 10 of the most important things we learned at this year's summit:
An end to AIDS, an epidemic that has killed 35 million, is logistically possible within our lifetime, experts explained at the Summit. Activists and researchers are working especially hard in Sub-Saharan Africa, home to 69% of the world's AIDS patients, where they've brought treatment and education to the people.
British photographer Marcus Bleasdale, who has been photographing violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1999, discussed conflict minerals, such as gold and diamonds, that are responsible for some of the region's worst conflicts. Three other conflict minerals — tantalum, tungsten and tin — are used to make electronics, such as laptops and cameras.
Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire entrepreneur behind space traveling pioneer Virgin Galactic, said commercial space travel could be available as early as next year. At $250,000, the first tickets aren't cheap, but they provide an important initial step toward more commonplace above-Earth travel.
In October 2012, The Taliban targeted schoolgirl and blogger Malala Yousafzai because she was outspoken about girls' rights. Less than a year after being shot, she rallied for education at the Summit, explaining that every child has a right to education.
When he was 15 years old, Jack Andraka developed a new, smarter test to detect pancreatic cancer. Now, he wants to help other budding researchers by advocating for more accessible scientific articles and research. Fees make knowledge become a privilege for the elite, he said.
Big data is a powerful tool governments and organizations can use for social good, but some datasets are so large, they may create challenges to privacy. To protect individuals' rights and strike a balance between big data and Internet freedom, protection principals must be adopted, explained Robert Kirkpatrick, the director of the U.N.'s Global Pulse data initiative.
Space and the ocean, both ripe for exploration, are duking it out for the right to be called the real final frontier. At the Summit, Dr. Paul Bunje, senior director of prize development and ocean health at the XPRIZE Foundation, and Alexandra Hall, senior director of Google Lunar XPRIZE, debated which research opportunity deserves more attention.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of U.N. Women, explained that both men and women can use social media to bring an end to violence against women. Discussing the topic shines a light on the issue and helps educate people through technology, she said.
The U.N. Foundation's mPowering Action app is making social good accessible to smartphone owners. With a target demographic of people under the age of 25, the app allows users to search a database of non-profit organizations and share ways they're making a difference.
Malaria No More, an organization working to end the disease, is seeking solutions through an unexpected medium: cell phones. The group collects $1 text message donations and uses them to fund life-saving malaria tests and treatments for African children.

The Social Good Summit is where big ideas meet new media to create innovative solutions and is brought to you by Mashable, The 92nd Street Y, The United Nations Foundation, The United Nations Development Programme, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Ericsson. Held during U.N. Week, the Social Good Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges.
Homepage Image: Mashable, Casey Kelbaugh