swissnex Boston, the Consulate of Switzerland in Cambridge is pleased to announce an event on innovation strategies and on the intersection of innovation and sustainability. The two-day conference takes place on April 30th and May 1st and will bring together large corporate, entrepreneurs, venture capitals, startups, academics, business leaders, consultants and other professionals involved in innovation management. Its main objectives is to present and discuss recent methods, practices and innovation for coping with downsizing and troubled economy and the new paradigms required to build new business model based on open innovation and innovation partnerships.  Harry West, VP of Design Strategy, will be participating in the first panel discussion and Mark Bates will be leading a breakout session on Sustainable Design.

The event will take place on Thursday April 30th and Friday May 1st at: swissnex Boston, Consulate of Switzerland, 420 Broadway, Cambridge, MA (close to Harvard Square). The program can be viewed here. The fee to participate in this event is $150 the 2-days, or $80 per day (either April 30 or May 1). Seating is limited.

Please contact Pascal Marmier at swissnex Boston for more information: pascal@swissnexboston.org 

I was recently on Broadway—not in the latest production of West Side Story—but at the Hudson Theatre for The Green Event.  The two-day conference brought together textile industry stakeholders—suppliers, buyers, designers, and regulators—to share ideas for developing eco-conscious practices across the board.

I had an opportunity to participate on the “Creating Green” retail panel alongside Marks & Spencer’s veteran cotton expert, Graham Burden.  I shared Continuum’s insights about the consumer perspective on sustainability, sparking a conversation about the need to consider the demand–side of the sustainability equation.  My talk followed an excellent keynote by Andrew Winston, author of Green to Gold and founder of Winston Eco-Strategies.   Mr. Winston spoke passionately about the business case for sustainability, citing numerous examples of companies that had achieved true competitive advantage by identifying upside opportunities or eliminating downside risks in this space.

Ian Yolles, a co-founder of the novel sustainable clothier, Nau, was one of the most compelling voices at the event.  He explained how he and a few friends (ex-execs from Nike and Patagonia got together in 2005 to create a new form of “business activism” by founding a company on the ideals of sustainability and social responsibility.  Their corporate bylaws turned the traditional clothing retail model on its head in a number of ways, including: mandating the use of more sustainable materials and processes (for example, recycled PET soda bottles become recyclable polyester garments), providing a 5% donation of sales to non-profit philanthropy (to be specified by customers at POP) and selling directly to customers through an assortment of low-impact retail outlets (both the internet and their novel store-meets-internet “webfronts”).
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