SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION 11

Press Release

Date:24th October 2011
Topic:Innovation strategies for a triple crisis world-
Views from the international experts

The world sits in a triple crisis (environmental, financial and social) with the continuing fragility of our planet, economies and societies highlighted in 2011.

A significant number of natural disasters have created severe adverse impacts for people and their environments. This includes drought in East Africa, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, floods in China, Thailand and the southern US. Europe faces a Euro and debt crises, there are prospects of a potential ‘double dip’ recession in a number countries, and social unrest hit major cities in the UK. In October more than 950 cities in 82 countries around the world saw a wave of demonstrations against economic inequality and corporate greed initiated by protests in ‘Wall Street’ in New York.

How are leading businesses dealing with the crisis? What innovation strategies and tools might help businesses deal with the issues?

The Centre for Sustainable Design (CfSD) at University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in the
UK (cfsd.org.uk) is bringing leading edge international experts to address
these issues on October
24-25th 2011 at Farnham Castle in Surrey in the UK. The event brings together more than 40 speakers from Europe,
Asia and North America to discuss leading edge practise and thinking on sustainable innovation, technologies,
products, services and new business models.’

CfSD organises the internationally recognised ‘Sustainable Innovation’ series of conferences which is in its 16th year (2011) which has attracted over 1,800 delegates from over 50 countries. This year’s conference will focus on ‘State of the Art‘ in Sustainable Innovation & Design. Issues that will be covered include: radical change, sustainable consumption & production, collaborations and partnerships, market transformation, product policy, procurement, innovation processes, new business models, open innovation, and tools and methodologies.

What are the major trends that will emerge over the coming years?

Conference Director, Martin Charter will address some key trends in his opening presentation at the conference. Martin has identified that discussions in Europe have shifted towards transitioning to a low carbon and resource efficient European economy. Resource issues have risen up the global agenda as access to supply and the price of rare and special metals has impacted on business costs and technological development. “Metals and water alongside energy are now being positioned squarely in the centre of the resource efficiency and productivity debate. Higher levels of innovation will be a linchpin in moving forward.” He also sits on expert committee of World Resource Forum that recently held a major global conference in Davos, Switzerland.

A range of experts speaking at the conference will highlight key emerging trends. Colin Courtney Head of Green Construction at Skanska AB believes that “Energy efficiency coupled with or followed by renewable energy solutions and reduction in the carbon footprint of the manufacturing processes” will emerge. Andrew Jenkins, Sustainable Development Manager of Boots highlights two key issues “Resource scarcity will lead business to try to understand where materials / products come from and reducing consumer use phase impacts” .Mark Griffiths, Partner of SecondNature believes that “Fresh water will increasingly be seen as a scarce and valuable resource”. Colin Courtney shares the same view and believes that water footprinting will move up the agenda as will an increasing focus on waste reduction, leaner design and manufacturing. Bruce Piasecki, President of AHG Group from the US highlights that sustainable design is a growing part of swift global economic change and this will increasingly involve international teams with more executive oversight on product selection.

Many experts believe that electric vehicles and car sharing schemes will start to become a reality in cities worldwide. OECD senior expert Tomoo Machiba feels that new business models may increasingly emerge to accelerate the diffusion of eco-innovative solutions. Machiba also sees increasing talk about long-term, systemic transition towards low carbon and resource efficient economies despite many focusing on short-term recovery.

Other international experts presenting at the conference include BBC World News presenter David Eades, Lawrence Bloom (Chairman, Hanwang Group, China/Switzerland), Oliver Heath, (the ‘green’ specialist on BBC TV’s Changing Rooms), Michael Kuhndt, (Head of Centre, UNEP/Wuppertal Institute Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production, Germany), Dr Richard Miller (Head of Sustainability a the Technology Strategy Board, UK), Professor Fred Steward (Policy Studies Institute, UK), Shaun McCarthy (Director of Action Sustainability and Chair of Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, UK) and other sustainability experts including Jacquie Ottman (Founder and CEO, J. Ottman Consulting, US), Michal Miedzinski (Technopolis, Belgium), Reed Paget (CEO, One Earth Innovation, UK) and Trudy Thompson (Founder of Bricks and Bread, UK). Also other leading experts from business e.g. IBM; C4Ci, Tata Steel Group and Autodesk, and from academia will also join the conference.

This year event is support by The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA)

Details of the conference programme are at cfsd.org.uk/events/tspd16/

Details of speaker’s backgrounds and biographies are at cfsd.org.uk/events/tspd16/programme

Notes to Editors

Background

The Centre for Sustainable Design (CfSD) was established in 1995 at University for the Creative Arts The Centre provides a range of services focused on “product sustainability” and “sustainable innovation” issues: research; training; consultancy; and events. CfSD organises the “Sustainable Innovation” series of international conferences, now in its 16th year .The conference returns to Farnham in the UK after stints in Chicago, Brussels, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Stuttgart, Malmo, Stockholm and London.

Press and further information please contact:

Martin Charter, Director, The Centre for Sustainable Design, University for the Creative Arts
Telephone: 00 44 (0) 1252-892772 Email: mcharter@ucreative.ac.uk ;
Ichin Cheng, Mobile: 00 44 (0) 7775674340 Email: ichinc@the-si-lab.com
and Paul Whitehead Email paul@western-pr.com

Conference location:

Farnham Castle, Castle Street, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 0AG, UK
Telephone: 00 44 (0)1252 721 194

Follow the conference

Youtube-Speaker interviews will be uploaded to: cfsd.org.uk/videos/

Twitter: twitter.com/#!/mcharter1 and twitter.com/#!/SILAB_global

Contact

Martin Charter
Director
The Centre for Sustainable Design
University for the Creative Arts
Farnham Campus
Farnham
Surrey
GU9 7DS
UK
Tel: + 44 (0) 1252 892772
Fax: + 44 (0) 1252 892747
Email: mcharter@ucreative.ac.uk

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