Research

Can sustainability be funny?

Szilvia Szabó — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 13:02:26 +0000

Can sustainability be funny?

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Sustainability

Education

Climate Action

Topic

Sustainability

Master students can choose to write comedy scripts on sustainability issues as part of a unique course at the Management Program of the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Dr André Martinuzzi, creator and leader of this trailblazer course, shares insights on using the power of humour to help students better understand and deal with complex sustainability topics.

Environmental protection, social responsibility, and sustainable development are often perceived as killjoys, and young people typically feel pessimistic about their future.

When we started looking for new and innovative ways to motivate students to engage with serious sustainability issues, we found that humour might be a promising method. It has the potential to help increase students’ self-motivation and awareness of current sustainability challenges, such as climate change or poverty.

Dr André Martinuzzi, Head of the Institute for Managing Sustainability Vienna University of Economics and Business

The idea sparked as I watched late-night comedy shows for quite some time and was very impressed by John Oliver’s ‘Last Week Tonight’ and Hasan Minhaj’s ‘Patriot Act’. Instead of making fun of daily life or commenting on day-to-day politics, they both explain scientifically challenging subjects in a hilarious way.

The more I watched these shows, the more I asked myself if it was possible to give students the task of developing comedy scripts instead of writing seminar papers.

On this basis, with two assistants, Florian Findler and Angelo Spörk, we designed and continuously improved a course where students use humour by working in a group, creating scripts in the style of late-night comedy. To our knowledge, no one has tried this before.

Within the scripts, humour is not used to make fun of serious issues. Instead, it is used to illustrate sustainability challenges in a scientifically sound and easily understandable way while raising awareness.

In order to do that, students have to understand the basics of humour and comedy scriptwriting, need the courage to be funny and have the freedom of creativity while dealing with serious and rather complex issues.

Many of them tell us that humour helps them communicate better about challenging topics in their peer groups and reach people who would otherwise not be interested in the subject.

Students have created scripts that cover various topics such as the Sharing Economy, E-mobility, fast fashion, greenwashing, food waste, supply chains, and smart homes.

A good punchline is surprising and reveals a more profound truth.

Therefore, developing good comedy takes expertise because humour is more than just fooling around.

Based on the experiences and evaluations of the three courses we already delivered, we learned a few lessons:

Humour is a craft and not a talent, which requires practising.
Students better understand a specific topic by writing comedy scripts than by writing standard seminar papers.
Humour can be integrated into courses that are not genuinely funny. Students reported that this approach helped them to boost their creativity and imagination.

Our experience has also shown that humour can point out grievances. At the same time, exaggerated characters can make people realise their own unsustainable behaviour or ask the question, 'Do we really want to go there?’.

We created a dedicated website to share more about our learnings so others can explore options for implementing this method.

Writing comedy scripts can help young people better engage with sustainability and social issues.. Image: Getty Images

Naturally, there are some challenges in integrating this approach into teaching.

Teachers may see the use of humour as inappropriate for academic subjects and find it beyond their abilities to support students sufficiently through empowerment and steering. The question also arises if this approach can be used on topics like extinction, climate change, or human rights, which are very serious issues and where urgency could be diluted by humour.

Of course, this approach is unsuitable for classes that aim to teach the basics as quickly as possible.

For the students, humour can also be a coping strategy to better deal with emotionally stressful issues such as biodiversity loss, human rights violations or climate change.

For example, one student said, 'if you don't laugh about it, you should cry', while another student shared, "humour helps me not to feel powerless, to gain emotional distance and to be able to talk about things that I otherwise tend to repress".

Students look forward to this course because it is entirely different from the typical classes at a business school.

The course design consists of the following elements:

Students work in groups of 5-6 on major sustainability challenges, such as land use, low-cost airlines, cruise ships, fast fashion, food waste, animal suffering, or bee mortality.
Together they carry out brief background research and co-develop a collection of materials on the recent problem, its causes and possible solutions.
Simultaneously, they take part in basic improvisation theatre training, gain insight into the building blocks of humour and learn how to develop sketches, jokes and punch lines.
Each student group develops the concept for a comedy script, containing an elaborated storyline and first humorous examples.
In several rounds of rehearsals and presentations, they receive feedback regarding scientific background, storytelling and humour.
Finally, the students give an 8-10 minute performance of their scripts in front of the classroom.

The course has already been implemented three times, received excellent feedback from the students and won the "Best of Austria Award" thanks to its innovative approach.

Headline image: Getty Images

This content is a piece of an article originally published in the "Make change happen" issue of Profit with Purpose Magazine.

The Summer 2022 edition of the magazine is focusing on making cities sustainable and inclusive, and is available here >>>

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April 2023

Can blue food help save the planet?

Sasha Cohen Ioannides — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 10:05:06 +0000

Can blue food help save the planet?

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Globally, three billion people rely on fish and seafood for 20% of their animal protein intake, which means that around 6.5% of all protein consumed comes from fish, based on figures released by the World Bank.

Seafood consumption has doubled within the past fifty years due to wealth increase and the desire to decrease other animal protein sources.

This rapidly growing trend has led to over 90% of fish stocks being over or fully fished and disrupting marine ecosystems.

The demand is expected to be doubled again within the next 50 years.

Seafood-based proteins produce much less environmental impact than terrestrial-based ones, primarily due to the lack of land required to grow them.

Thanks to the diversity of blue foods, including fish, many invertebrates, aquatic plants, algae, and other aquatic animals, this diet can also impact humans’ health positively.

Due to the overfishing of predators, similar to overhunting on land, many otherwise hunted species begin to overpopulate, which can easily unbalance fragile and complex underwater ecosystems.

Turning challenges into opportunities there are areas where innovative and sustainable solutions are popping up thanks to impact-driven leaders.

One such case is with sea urchin populations that overgraze kelp and seagrass forests, turning the water into a desolate wasteland.

Startup Urchinomics is managing urchins populations while producing premium seafood products. Image: Pexels

Norwegian-based startup Urchinomics solves this problem by rehoming the urchins into ranches, where they go from annoying pests to a premium seafood product that can be consistently supplied year-round.

This way, food is farmed while positively affecting the environment, recovering a healthy ecosystem with a particular focus on sea kelp forests.

Addressing harmful urchin overpopulation with an innovative solution that preserves marine life by creating food is also proven to be a viable business model.

While sea urchins face overpopulation, other marine animals, such as sea oysters, have been underpopulated. This results in undersupply and also negative environmental impacts.

Oysters might not be as famous for their critical role as coral reefs. Still, they provide multiple benefits, such as water quality improvement, nursery habitat for fish, and reduced nitrogen levels, while contributing to the local economy and culture.

A sustainable farming business, The Oyster Restoration Company, based in the United Kingdom, aims to fix this problem by providing 150 million native oysters annually.

They are working on this by selectively breeding oysters to create disease resistance, a common problem in aquaculture.

They work to bring balance back into the environment and improve farm yield to reduce dependency on pacific species.

Oysters are overlooked for their ability to improve water quality, provide fish nurseries, and reduce nitrogen levels while contributing to the economy and culture. Image: Pexels

Although farming fish and invertebrates is becoming more popular, seaweed farming is getting more attention as this plant absorbs carbon dioxide and nitrogen while protecting seabeds.

Oceanium, a Scottish enterprise, is a sustainable seaweed farm that meets many industries’ needs by producing food, feed, and biomass. They launched the “KELP-EU” or “Kelping the EU”, an 18-month project with multiple partners that allows them to study seaweed further.

However, not all farming has to be nature-based.

German-Thai company HydroNeo brings the process of shrimp farming to the future through Internet-of-Things technology. They have developed a smart farm management system that allows farmers to check pH and water temperature while remotely feeding and aerating their farms.

Seafood may have a lower environmental impact than land animals, we need to be aware that the pollution produced by this industry is still not as low as it is with plant-based products.

Consumers may still yearn for a fishy flavour but want plant based sourcing, as they are concerned about the effects of microplastic pollution in the ocean or have ethical issues with fishing.

Swedish company, Hooked offers a 100% plant-based substitute for tuna and salmon. Image: Hooked

Swedish-based enterprise Hooked provides a terrific substitute for tuna and salmon through a combination of sustainable soybeans, sunflower oil, and algae.

They list all ingredient sources on their website for a completely transparent and traceable product.

By providing a plant-based vegan substitute for fish, they are reducing microplastic consumption in humans and greenhouse gas emissions from the industry, while reducing the need for fishing.

According to Hooked, canned tuna has 6.06 kg of CO2 equivalent emission per kilo of product, while their product, Toonish only produces 2.7.

It is no question that there is a huge potential for using blue foods to address many challenges.

Still, the seafood industry needs urgent re-examination to create sustainable and regenerative solutions.

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April 2023

Can clay help us to counter the heat?

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 10:36:29 +0000

Can clay help us to counter the heat?

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Heatwaves

Responsible Research and Innovation

Topic

Heatwaves instantly result in increased use of air conditioning, which already accounts for considerable energy consumption. Is there a better option?

Written by

Ellen Albertsdóttir & Adrian Grist

Turning on the air conditioning is the logical response for many to counter the heat.

However, it is not just a burden to the environment but also a financial blow to the pocket. It is an issue which prompted architect and researcher Marwa Dabaieh at Malmö University in Sweden to develop an eco-cooling system.

Air conditioning is the norm in Egypt, where Dabaieh tested her cooling system despite being very expensive to purchase and operate. Another issue in such countries is that many residents live outside the electricity grid.

Furthermore, the need for cooling systems will also increase in countries with modest average temperatures as heatwaves become more commonplace, as we are experiencing this already.

Marwa Dabaieh is a researcher working on the eco-cooling system made out of clay; Docent and associate professor at Malmö University.

As an expert in sustainable and environmentally conscious architecture, Dabaieh’s innovation relies on a self-assembly concept. This solution aims to keep indoor temperature and humidity low by using traditional ‘shisha funnels’ made of clay to construct a cooling system.

The goal is to lower the indoor temperature by 10 °C by combining clay funnels, water, and the natural power of sun and wind.

The experimental attempts so far have been promising. In a recently published scientific article, Dabaieh presents a reduction of the indoor temperature by 2 °C during an experiment in Cairo. Since then, she has achieved a decrease of 6 °C.

The next step for Dabaieh is to continue the development of the sustainable and passive cooling system.

“Clay is not expensive, which makes the construction price affordable. But it is expensive to develop the method. I am driven by pure passion for this but still need resources to take the pilot project further.

Now I hope to find innovation support that would allow me to scale up the project,” says Dabaieh.

The next step for her is to continue the development of a sustainable and passive cooling system with economical benefits.

“Some people, such as pensioners, the unemployed and refugees, cannot afford air conditioning. This means that mortality risks increase when heat waves become more common. Tragically, this happens when it could be resolved by being better prepared,” adds Dabaieh.

"This passive eco-cooling solution does not require any extra energy or electricity and can offer a practical solution to enhance the living conditions of low-income populations."

Using traditional ‘shisha funnels’ made of clay to construct natural cooling systems can help manage extreme heat.

This project is being developed at the Malmö University, which has close collaboration ties with the Forum for Social Innovation Sweden, the national knowledge and collaboration platform for social innovation and social enterprise.

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July 2022

How can innovation help your back pain disappear?

Business Spirit News reporting — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:16:19 +0000

How can innovation help your back pain disappear?

Tags

Innovation

Responsible Innovation

Responsible Research and Innovation

Wellbeing

Smart Health

Topic

Innovation

Responsible Innovation

Smart Health

The concept of a Smart Chair to improve the health and wellbeing of office workers has been developed as part of a Responsible Research and Innovation project.

The pandemic and working from home have dramatically increased the time we sit on a chair and the number of people suffering from back and neck pains.

A Smart Chair helping you improve your posture and maintain good habits could be a solution to avoid the negative health implications of sitting while working.

As a part of the Living Innovation project, global digital services company ATOS worked on this problem, trying to find a solution with citizens, particularly Millenials and GenZ, experts and scientists.

“We held several Design Thinking workshops in Spain and remotely with Austrian young people to understand the real needs of these groups.

Then, experts in the company have analysed the results and tested ideas in a virtual innovation workshop,” says Lydia Montandon, Business Development Director at ATOS Research & Innovation group.

As a result, they developed the concept of a Smart Office Chair, which is expected to be ergonomically designed in line with the recommendations of therapists: it should provide good support for the back, while integrated sensors detect the incorrect postures and send information to the user.

Lydia Montandon, Business Development Director, ATOS Research & Innovation group

The company would need to cooperate with office furniture manufacturers and physicians or traumatologists to produce a Smart Chair that can meet these requirements.

“In the future, smart health will probably focus more on preventing illnesses or diseases, helping people to avoid bad habits and therefore enjoying better wellbeing and healthier lives. But, let me ask you: How do you feel about your back and neck today?”

adds Montandon.

Software developers would use AI technologies to analyse built-in sensor data and detect unhealthy patterns.

An app would serve as an interface for the users and alert them when unhealthy postures can be corrected.

The idea is that “correct” postures can progressively become normal and become a new habit for the user.

The interesting part is that this chair is designed to be “shareable”.

Once the sitting position has been improved for one person – or one employee in an organisation – the Smart Chair can be passed on to the next one.

Thus, the business model is based on the idea of health prevention benefiting both employees and organisations in the long term.

According to Lydia, the whole design process has been fascinating since they involved different stakeholders in the ideation process.

“It was an exciting experience to reach out to younger generations and experiment with co-innovation methodologies during the pandemic.

It requires a lot of effort, but the resulting value proposition is richer than what we could have been achieved with traditional methods,” she recalls.

So far, the product has not reached the market yet, but the design team expects that the involvement of all stakeholders in the first steps of the project design will enhance its adoption when the product is ready to be commercialised.

“The main barrier in embracing co-creation in product design is the time and investment needed to organise co-innovation activities involving a representative group of stakeholders, including citizens, experts, salespeople, organisers, facilitators, etc.

Another barrier is the innovative way of doing things, which is still not convincing to all interested parties. A lot of effort is needed to raise awareness about the benefits of this approach,” Montandon explains further.

Lydia believes that a change of mindset regarding designing and developing an innovative product is needed, alongside how you approach customers, involving them in the process rather than presenting a result.

One of the early achievements would be for her to see her colleagues complaints about their back pains and visits to the therapist disappear soon, and provide this relief for many other people in the near future.

To learn more about this and other Responsible Innovation projects join the 'Living in a smart future' session at the Responsible Innovation Summit virtual conference on 19-22 Ocotber.

Headline image: Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

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September 2021

Open calls for proposals on Gender Equality research with cash grants

Business Spirit News reporting — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 11:19:51 +0000

Open calls for proposals on Gender Equality research with cash grants

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Citizen Social Science projects on Gender Equality are invited to submit applications to receive up to €20,000 grant and other supports.

Civil society initiatives can apply for a grant of up to €20,000 to conduct Citizen Social Science research on the topic of Gender Equality as part of the Co-designing Citizen Social Science for Collective Action (CoAct) research project.

Three open calls for proposals are available for non-profit organisations registered in the EU until September 30th 2021, with specific topics and regional focus.

“The CoAct Open Calls on Gender Equality are a way for us to both share our findings with the civic sector and learn from their feedback, ensuring that our research stays closely connected and responsive to the needs of civic actors," said Cédric Lombion, Data and Innovation Lead at Open Knowledge Foundation, a member organisation of the CoAct consortium.

"Gender Equality is an ongoing major societal issue that constantly affects our daily life."

Cédric Lombion, Data and Innovation Lead at Open Knowledge Foundation

The first call is for projects addressing initiatives on “Sustainable cities and communities” in the Berlin-Brandenburg region in Germany that aim for making cities and villages inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable for all their inhabitants.

The second call is focusing on “Decent work and economic growth”.

It is open for organisations from Eastern Europe, and projects from Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia are invited to apply for support.

The third call is open to international civic organisations operating within the European Union working on topics related to “Opportunities and risks of digitalisation”.

Proposals under this call should address issues relevant to gender inequalities in online spaces, such as gender dynamics of online platforms and exposure to online harassment.

Applications from a broad range of backgrounds are welcome, including feminist, LGTBQ+, none-binary and critical masculinity perspectives that tackle gender inequalities in their various manifestations.

Besides the maximum of €20,000 cash grant, selected projects will benefit from other supports provided by CoAct, like research mentoring program, peer networking and access to tools and resources.

CoAct is a research project exploring Citizen Social Science and started in January 2020, funded by the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

CoAct is a Horizon 2020 research project exploring Citizen Social Science

This project seeks to move beyond its own co-research activities and invite other actors to benefit from the project and its support mechanisms by connecting with experts at the grassroots level while exploring the opportunities and challenges of citizen-led research.

A transdisciplinary consortium of nine research institutions and civil society organisations from Barcelona, Wien, London, Buenos Aires, Berlin, and Potsdam is collaborating to achieve the project's objectives.

According to Cédric Lombion consortium partner, the CoAct project aims to contribute to the field of Citizen Social Science by implementing research programmes dealing with various social issues, from youth unemployment to mental health to environmental justice.

“We believe that Citizen Social Science is not just a research field: it is also a set of strategies and practices developed within activist communities and civic organisations to support citizen mobilisation and community building projects,”

Lombion adds.

Citizen Social Science combines collaboration between citizen groups and academic researchers to address pressing social issues from the bottom up, finding solutions embedded in their social contexts, building on robust research methods.

Headline image: Adam Wingler from Unsplash

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August 2021

Business leaders are invited to share their opinion on sustainability

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 19:45:50 +0000

Business leaders are invited to share their opinion on sustainability

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Organisational Sustainability Survey seeks to understand where organisations stand with sustainability and to detect their greatest challenges.

The topic of global sustainability is becoming increasingly relevant for governments, individuals and for organisations.

The Organisational Sustainability Survey was created by The Future Living company in collaboration with the HTW Berlin - University of Applied Science to gain a better understanding of where organisations stand and what are their challenges.

All organisations, policymakers and individuals have to be aware of the opportunities and challenges related to sustainability if they want to keep up with recent trends.

A massive transformation is needed to adequately address these topics, which can easily be perceived as too much to handle at first.

A previous research lead by The Future Living team indicated that leaders often see sustainability as a buzzword, which is too vague and complicated to implement in reality.

They also found that organisations face increasing pressure to act and become more sustainable and often find themselves stuck between feeling motivated to act and unable to find the best way to start simply because of little practical guidance.

Dr. Anke Bytomski-Guerrier, CEO and Co-Founder of The Future Living

“We are convinced that we cannot only demand action but need to offer support to make change happen.

To this end, we must understand where organisations stand and what they need exactly.

It is clear by now that the topic of sustainability is becoming increasingly relevant for companies and organisations.

We are conducting this study in order to provide an overview of how important the topic of sustainability already is in companies and which implementation strategies are being pursued,” said Dr. Anke Bytomski-Guerrier, CEO and Co-Founder of The Future Living organisation.

The Organisational Sustainability Survey is part of a larger research project, also including interviews and case studies.

The survey is open to all individuals working in organisations and businesses, mainly targeting people in HR, CSR, senior management or other managerial roles to share their experiences.

The results will be publicly available for policymakers, organisations and individuals and will be discussed with high profile academics and industry experts at The Future Living Conference between 3-7 May 2021.

The conference will focus on the topic of ‘Bold Changes’.

It will showcase successful examples of changes from the field of sustainability, provide inspiration and hands-on advice for businesses, organisations and people to conduct their own transformation.

Leaders are encouraged to fill out the survey by the 25th of April, so their opinion can be included as part of the first review of the results.

However, the research will continue to gather more insights.

Dr. Anke Bytomski-Guerrier added:

“With the results, those responsible can not only see the development status of their own organisation in comparison but also gain essential knowledge about successful strategies for implementation of sustainability.

Many organisations have already changed or began their journey to tackle the challenges we are facing, but it is vital to accelerate this development.

We require a common and profound understanding of what businesses and institutions really need to overcome these challenges.

Our research will shed some light on this question and will be shared among all relevant stakeholders to help create targeted supports.

Therefore we would encourage leaders to get involved and share their thoughts by completing this 5 minutes Organisational Sustainability Survey."

Headline Image: Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

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April 2021

Citizens are invited to shape the future of parks across Dublin city

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 09:34:36 +0000

Citizens are invited to shape the future of parks across Dublin city

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A new research survey aims to find out what people want to see in Dublin’s parks.

The reality of “social distancing” and “self-isolation” became the new norm as part of consecutive lockdowns, and we were all faced with a sudden and radical change in our daily routine and lifestyle.

However, parks in Dublin and nationwide in Ireland have remained open, providing an important outlet for people to support their physical, social and psychological needs.

Dublin City Council (DCC), in partnership with Dublin City University (DCU) are hosting an online survey to identify what roles and functions the parks fulfilled for all Dublin citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research will also focus on how these features can be maintained after the pandemic and what future developments people would like to see in the parks.

This is an opportunity for the public to share their opinions and experiences, shaping the development of parks across Dublin in the coming years.

The research team behind the project highlight that there are significant insights available in terms of the frequency, type of usage and volume of activities that have taken place in the capital’s parks during this time.

“People access parks for a whole variety of reasons, for exercise, to enjoy nature, for their overall wellbeing and by hearing from them it will help to inform the ways in which parks should be improved and developed and, crucially planned as a space that all generations can enjoy together”, said Research lead Dr Carol Barron, DCU School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health.

Parks have provided a safe haven for many during COVID-19; Image: Pexels

This study may have a direct benefit to individuals by helping to identify the specific reasons people are using parks during the era of COVID-19 and plan for the future development of parks as sites of recreation, play, leisure, health, socialisation and biodiversity.

“Parks have provided a safe haven for many during COVID-19, and undoubtedly, the volume of people using their local park has increased substantially.

While the country remains under current restrictions and people are using their parks frequently, we want to find out from respondents what they would like to see developed in their park”, added Dr Marcos Dias from DCU School of Communications and Joint Research Lead.

Organisers want to consult with as many people as possible who use Dublin parks to identify what visitors currently like about Dublin parks and what services, facilities, and events they would like to see in the parks in the near future.

Launching on 15th March, the survey seeks responses from people across Dublin city and county until Sunday 28th March 2021.

The findings will be used to help inform planning and development policy concerning public parks by DCC. It is envisaged that the results will be disseminated via Dublin City University communication platforms.

This project is being funded by the School of Nursing, Psychology and Community Health Publication Grant and a COVID-19 Research Network seed funding grant.

The survey is a collaboration between DCU’s School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health, DCU School of Communications and Dublin City Council.

Headline image: Mina-Marie Michell from Pexels

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March 2021

How can tech startups benefit from applying ethics?

Szilvia Szabó — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 21:16:52 +0000

How can tech startups benefit from applying ethics?

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Topic

Responsible Innovation

Ethics

Innovators can access free to use tech ethics booklet to build resilience and create more value

A small group of members of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council for Values, Ethics and Innovation, designed a gap-filling practical booklet to help startups and SMEs explore hidden commercial risks and trigger better innovations through the integration of tech ethics.

After considering that tech ethics mainly targets big business, they decided to publish the 'Tech Ethics for Start-Ups and SMEs’ booklet.

Hilary Sutcliffe, lead athour of the ‘Tech Ethics for Start-Ups and SMEs’ booklet

It aims to offer a quick overview of how ethics can be discussed and managed in innovative businesses without massive resources.

This can be especially useful, where these issues can provide great opportunities if handled well, or potentially devastating risks if poorly managed.

The lead author of this publication Hilary Sutcliffe, director of London-based not-for-profit SocietyInside, shares more insights in this backstage interview.

Hilary was recently named one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics for 2021 and in her work, she explores issues related to trust, ethics, values, and governance of technology - especially concerning nanotech, biotech and AI – through collaborative research.

“We have designed the ‘Tech Ethics for Start-Ups and SMEs’ booklet as an easy-to-take on board advice for companies, in particular, developing or using new and emerging technologies, in all countries, across all sectors.

I have been working on issues of company ethics since the mid-1990s and witnessed the evolution of business responsibility from being sidelined community relations and philanthropy topic to becoming a more complex core business issue that could determine success on the market.

Our work over 20 years in ‘Responsible Research and Innovation’ suggests if companies start thinking about this early, and continue to take these issues seriously as they grow, they can head off the problems currently facing so many before they become disasters.

So much of the airtime and attention on ethical business is directed at big tech companies, but big tech grows from small tech.

We wanted to create an unassuming, accessible little booklet to be read by someone in a startup or small company.

With the help of other experts, we shaped the content to be easy to follow.

Main contributors are including Prof Angie Hobbs from the University of Sheffield, UK, Pamela Mar from the Fung Academy Hong Kong, Dr Emad Yaghmaei from the Technical University of Delft and Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

In tech, often they know they should be thinking about this, but don’t have much time and don’t quite know where to start and what sort of things it might practically entail.

The publication explores the difference between values and ethics; highlights some examples and ways of working, which will help navigate ethical issues and some ideas on ethics in practice from companies in different tech areas.

It showcases some accessible ideas of what ethics is, why it’s important now, even in these testing times, and how some companies approach ethical thinking in various tech sectors.

Sprinkled in there are a few motivational quotes and cool ways to simply make it normal to discuss and resolve ethical dilemmas in small businesses.

One of my favourite examples of how ethics can be translated into business strategy is the Riversimple company, which designs hydrogen cars.

The Riversimple company exhibits the benefits of applying ethics in business, Image: Riversimple

They have gone far beyond their core purpose to “To pursue, systematically, the elimination of the environmental impact of personal transport”.

The amazing way they have aligned their entire business model, supply chain, governance and business processes towards this purpose provides a valuable learning opportunity about how to turn this way of thinking into a market advantage.

All, while disrupting the sector and making a cool car in the process.

There is massive potential in putting ethics on your business agenda.

Ethical issues are a fantastic catalyst for innovative thinking - after all, innovation in all spheres invariably comes from problems identified and new ways found to solve them!

I’m not sure you really ‘apply’ ethics, so much as decide to act upon a belief that issues of right and wrong - values and morals - have a place in business, particularly in relation to the business impact on people and planet.

One of my co-authors, Dr Emad Yaghmaei, Senior Researcher at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management at the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, has put it this way:

“Ethics in my view is the integration of objective rights and subjective values into a common and contextual framework rather than only doing the right thinking in the research and innovation process and being a set of predefined rules impeding progress.

Following this line, ethics concerns the analysis and integration of different values and norms into the design and development of research and innovation, which can trigger the execution of Responsible Innovation.”

The five key focus areas that you will find in the booklet:

Dr Emad Yaghmaei, Senior Researcher at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management at the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands

Ethics could be your biggest hidden commercial risk - so put it on your Risk Register.
Find out what ethical issues matter to you.
Start with values and work from there.
Make it normal to discuss ethics and think about problems in advance.
Be collaborative in resolving issues.

This is not the usual set of guidelines or a framework - there are plenty of those available already.

It is designed for the step before that.

We haven’t got a magic formula for every possible scenario; therefore, this booklet's focus is not on providing a long list of potential issues to scroll through, but about how organisations can find out for themselves what their relevant ethical issues are.

Each organisation will have its own systems and processes and will need to find their way of dealing with them in the context of their sector, country, culture.

Using the ‘Tech Ethics for Start-Ups and SMEs’ booklet teams could efficiently work in a collaborative process that would help them deal with dilemmas and find solutions to ethical problems.

This free to use publication was officially launched on 28th January 2021, ready to make its way to innovators to create better innovations that would serve everyone better.

We would love to do more to promote the guidelines and reach out to innovators.

We welcome opportunities to do that and of course, funding to set up more events and platforms to bring these ideas to the attention of tech companies everywhere.”

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February 2021

A Circular Economy could prevent climate breakdown but needs speeding up

Bronagh Loughlin — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 21:57:26 +0000

A Circular Economy could prevent climate breakdown but needs speeding up

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The Circularity Gap Report 2021 offers not only a sober warning of the danger of climate inaction but a clear map forward

The Circularity Gap Report 2021, based on a global scoring system, was released on the 26th of January, highlighting the urgent need to transition to a circular economy in order to tackle climate change related risks.

It aims to empower key decision-makers in both business and government to coordinate actions to accelerate necessary changes.

The research revealed that Circular Economy strategies could cut global emissions by 39%.

Still, the global economy was just 8.6% circular in 2020, meaning the world is consuming over 100 billion tonnes of materials per year and only 8.6% of that is reused in any form.

Two years prior, it was 9.1%, which makes it clear that things have effectively gotten worse.

The Circularity Gap Report 2021, image: Circular Economy

The report is launched annually during The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, published by the Circle Economy impact organisation dedicated to accelerating the circular economy transition.

“The Circularity Gap Report offers not only a sober warning of the danger of climate inaction but a clear map forward.

A collaborative effort is necessary among government, business and civil society to scale the circular economy and drive down emissions.

Only through collective investment in and commitment to circular practices can we shape a more sustainable, resilient future,” said Borge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum, at the launch.

The report finds that 22.8 billion tonnes (Gt) of annual emissions associated with creating new products from virgin materials can be eliminated by applying circular strategies.

That would drastically reduce the amount of minerals, fossil fuels, metals and biomass consumed globally.

It calculates that approximately 70% of all emissions are generated by the extraction, processing and manufacturing of goods to meet society’s needs – the meals we eat, the clothes we wear and so on.

Martijn Lopes Cardozo, Circle Economy CEO, said: “Governments are making huge decisions that will shape our climate future.

They are spending billions to stimulate their economies after the Covid pandemic, and they are committed to strengthening their climate commitments ahead of the Glasgow Climate Summit.

Circular economy strategies hold the key to a resource-efficient, low-carbon and inclusive future.”

Circularity Gap Report 2021

The strategies identified in the publication would cut annual material consumption down to 79Gt, by reducing the number of materials used to make products and services, using resources for longer, and replacing finite resources such as fossil fuels with regenerative resources such as renewable energy.

Additionally, they would increase the proportion of reused materials to 17%, nearly doubling the global economy's circularity.

Laxmi Haigh, science writer at Circle Economy and one of the lead authors of the Circularity Gap 2021 report shares more insights:

“I think it is important to be optimistic.

In the last ten years, the circular economy has moved from being more of a ‘fringe’ topic to a mainstream one.

The solution for restoring balance is right in front of us, but it will take the energetic collaboration of people across governments and industries to make it a reality.”

Mobility, housing and nutrition are also named the three fundamental societal needs responsible for nearly 70% of global emissions. These are the areas where circular strategies can have the most significant impact.

“The tagline of our report is: 'Solutions for a world that consumes 1 billion tonnes of materials and has warmed by 1-degree'.

And that is what we have done: provide solutions.

We have identified which circular actions can be most beneficial in reducing virgin resource extraction and limiting greenhouse house emissions across the six most prevalent 'needs and wants'.

Based on the findings, we present a circular roadmap of 21 interventions that countries can adopt into their climate plans moving forward.

From adopting healthier diets to assessing how multifunctional the buildings we construct are, the roadmap is wide.

Laxmi Haigh, science writer at Circle Economy, lead authors of the Circularity Gap 2021 report

In this way, any country interested in integrating the circular economy into its climate plans and pledges can use our report as a handbook, or look for more tailored insights,” adds Haigh about how to make the best use of this report and take action.

Different strategies are appropriate for different countries at various stages of economic development.

The report presents blueprints for governments to take actions in three broad categories - low-income, middle-income and higher-income countries - with different priorities for each.

At this stage, the world is on course for a climate breakdown, but the report suggests that we can bridge the gap to achieve climate neutrality through leadership and action.

Suppose the coming decade is the decisive one for humanity’s future on this planet.

In that case, 2021 is the year to ramp up our efforts to bring our goals into realistic reach and prevent the worst potential impact of climate change from becoming our reality.

Martin Frick, Senior Director Policy and Programme Coordination at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change says,

“For billions of years, our home planet was in a perfect cycle: New life constantly emerged out of the same carbon that existed as life before.

We need to restore this balance and achieve carbon neutrality without delay.

For that, we need to eliminate waste and create products that last, can be repaired and ultimately can be transformed into new products.”

In adopting a roadmap packed with circular strategies, society can pave the way for the systemic transformations required to course-correct the global economy – going far beyond the limitations of current policy and national climate pledges.

Headline image: Pexels

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January 2021

Using the Ethics Canvas for better Innovations

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 18:47:42 +0000

Using the Ethics Canvas for better Innovations

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