Business x Sustainability conference insights 1
Partners
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What’s in this booklet? This booklet is a service to all of you who took the time to join us in BLOX on 6th September and share your curiosity and input within the topics of business and sustainability. Even though you had to commit to one track at the conference day, we don’t want you to miss out on the ideas that were brought to the table on the remaining tracks. Hence, on the following pages, you’ll find our condensed observations of what took place at the various tracks. The information isn’t meant as a presentation of final answers or solutions but rather to share topics and critical inquiries that emerged between participants. Hopefully, it’ll keep the conversations and reflections running, as well as spur new ones.
The Index Project The Index Project was established in 2002, formerly INDEX: Design to Improve Life®, and is a Danish non-profit organisation working to promote and enable life-improving design solutions worldwide. The Index Project is led by CEO Liza Chong and funded by partners such as The Danish Industry Foundation and Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs. Find out more about us on www.theindexproject.org
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You are part of our community In 2019, as a part of a rebranding strategy, we changed our name from INDEX: Design to Improve Life to The Index Project. Why? One of the main reasons was to emphasise that our organisation is a shared project held together by a strong community. And you’re part of this community. Having nearly 300 people, from Denmark and abroad, gather and interact in the context of business and sustainability is a unique chance to gain knowledge about the experiences, challenges, needs and ideas that roar out there. Hence, we asked a few questions in the signup questionnaire to gain some basic information about you. 268 people showed up at the conference. The vast majority, 66,8%, were from the capital region while only a few attendees represented workplaces from other parts of the country such as Southern Denmark, 4,1%, and Northern Jutland, 1,1%. Almost a quarter, 24,3%, came from abroad, e.g. from Singapore, UK, Chile, Finland, US, South Africa and Korea among others. Cultures, political and institutional structures, geography and history create very different conditions for how people are able to make sustainable development across the world. Says a Taiwanese guest, "I'd come to Denmark to gain inspiration on how you approach and mobilize the SDGs. Company structure and size also play a role in this matter. 42% of you represented a small or medium-sized company, 30% work in micro-sized companies, or as a freelancer, while 13% came from big corporations. 15% are either studying or looking for a job. We asked you to indicate to what degree you experience, or show, support and prioritization of the sustainable development and working with the SDG goals in your workplace. Ranging from 0-5, we consider 4 or more an expression of good support. 60% of you express this. The presence of good support around a sustainable development doesn’t seem to be more connected to, e.g. small companies than big corporates.
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66,8% Capital Region
268
attendees
24,3% Outside of Denmark 4,1% Southern Denmark 2,2% Mid Jutland 1,5% Greater Zealand 1,1% Northern Jutland
60%
experience, or show, support of sustainable development
42% SMEs 30% Micro-sized company 15% Students or job seekers 13% Big corporations
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On track To make sure we captured as many insights as possible we completed observations on each track. On the next few pages, we’ve summed up our main takeaways and what took place on the tracks. If you’d like to get a quick overview, read the takeaways below clustered in Opportunities and Advice. Opportunities (for growth) •
Several people experience a paradox between personal impact-drive and tangible ways to act impact-driven at work
• It’s difficult to find a job as an idealistic graduate; very few workplaces live up to the demands
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Structural aspects keep several from influencing the processes at their workplace for the better
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Institutional mistrust may cause resistance towards initiatives like the SDGs
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The SDGs are hard to mobilise on an operational level
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Mental barriers often form the main challenge when pursuing change
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Many people still want to know how impact is measured
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Not-for-profit companies risk diluting its’ economic sustainability
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The boundaries that keep us from initiating sustainable transformations are often rooted in psychology
Advice •
Create a triple bottom line – it will lead to positive impact on more levels
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A guideline for how to instrumentalise the SDGs in a business context is needed
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Translate abstract business goals into tangible employee actions
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When designing digital products, pay extra attention to the risk of exclusion
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Purpose is a powerful driver capable of pushing and breaking boundaries
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To create a sense of urgency, look at local examples of and local responses to societal challenges
• Danish companies should prioritize sales activities if they want to scale internationally •
A networking exercise is rarely a bad idea at a conference
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Better traceability options are needed
• A relaxed environment provides a feeling of safety and encouragement for pitch companies •
Investors have different priorities and things they look for in investments, that is, not every match is the right match
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Know exactly what you want feedback on when you pitch your project
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Design like you give a damn - while keeping your job! Hosted by IDA’s Design & Innovation network Main takeaways 1. 2. 3.
Several experience a paradox between personal impact-drive and tangible ways to act impact-driven at work It’s difficult to find job as an idealistic graduate; only few workplaces live up to the demands Structural aspects such as hierarchies and bureaucracies keep several from influencing the production processes at their workplace for the better
The Design & Innovation network from IDA hosted a track exploring how we create solutions with an impact-driven purpose in resistant environments. The track kicked off with tangible experience in navigating the path of sustainable business. Christian Wittrup from architecture firm Lendager UP shared how running a sustainable business in the construction industry requires strategically unifying stakeholders for everyone to act responsibly. Esben Lanthén from consultancy firm Nordic Sustainability shared the company’s sustainable initiatives, such as being meat-free, refraining from speaking on ‘manels’ (panels with only men) and making low-carbon decisions. Following the presentations, Asbjørn Riis-Søndergaard facilitated a workshop where participants created a ‘worker’s manifesto’; a statement with the aim of demanding workplaces to take their employees and sustainability more seriously. During the track, attendees spoke of feeling a paradox between personal impact-drive and ways to act impact-driven at work. An existential anguish from feeling idealistic and simultaneously being in a work environment resistant to make changes. “The activities I pursue at work shouldn’t obstruct the values I comply with in my private life,” as one attendee put it. Structural aspects limiting influence on production processes and lack of common goals in workforces were also brought to the table. Attendees shared ideas on how to address the challenges, such as initiating very tangible actions to include everyone, supporting any initiative around changing mind-sets and, as simple as it sounds, settling with the fact that change requires a lot of footwork.
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Challenging the SDGs: A perspective from social entrepreneurs Hosted by University of Southern Denmark (SDU) Main takeaways 1. Institutional mistrust causes resistance towards initiatives like the SDGs 2. The SDGs are hard to mobilise on an operational level 3. A guideline for how to instrumentalize the SDGs in a business context is needed This track took its point of departure from recent research conducted by SDU Professor Steffen Korsgaard and his colleagues Franziska Günzel-Jensen (Aarhus University) and Nicole Siebold (OVGU). It explored the accessibility and mobility of the SDGs through a workshop. Participants were invited to share perceptions, experiences and feelings connected to working with the SDGs. As a conversation starter, they were asked to pick the statement they related the most to: ‘I love the SDGs’; ‘I don’t love the SDGs’; ‘I have trouble measuring the work with SDGs’; or ‘I don’t find the SDGs actionable in a business context’. From these various points of views, several questions came up: Are start-ups big enough players to make a difference at all vs. do we need start-ups to inspire big corporations to shift focus? What are the effects of introducing the SDGs top-down vs. bottom-up? The discussions shed light on how mistrust in big and established institutions, such as the UN, can cause resistance towards initiatives like the SDGs. Since the SDG framework wasn’t originally intended for governments, businesses must be able to adapt the goals and targets to their context. The goals are useful to some extent but successfully translating them into actions, which have a positive impact, is difficult.
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Tangible sustainability in the everyday life of businesses Hosted by Trouble Main takeaways 1. Mental barriers often form the main challenge when pursuing change 2. The creation of a triple bottom line will lead to positive impact on more levels 3. Translate the abstract business goals into tangible employee actions Creative agency Trouble are experts in helping businesses transform culture and behaviour, from everyday operations to strategic leadership. The goal of the track was to test the potential for a toolbox that can help businesses become more sustainable and life-improving. Trouble invited participants to identify challenges and create possible solutions in groups, each working with a fictitious company case with different characteristics. The four fictitious companies experienced different challenges but shared the realisation that it’s difficult to get employees on board a sustainable development. As Trouble pointed out: “tools are important but it’s more important to get everyone to work with them”. This suggested that mental barriers still exist in some companies that need to be acknowledged and challenged as part of sustainable development. Some of the challenges and solutions that were identified in the groups were: conflicts of interest and commitment between family owners and venture capitalists could be targeted by creating common aspirations and introducing new blood; struggles with short-term thinking and the lack of prioritisation of sustainable development on the leadership level could be addressed by introducing immediate actions and creating a triple bottom-line; internal resistance towards change, lack of clarity and understanding of practicalities may be solved by initiating internal practises that exemplify the goal of the business, e.g. measuring waste generated by staff daily, if the goal is to cut down on the company’s production waste.
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An inspirational insight: creating sustainable growth with design thinking Hosted by Danish Design Centre Main takeaways 1. Many people still want to know how impact is measured 2. Not-for-profit companies risk diluting their economic sustainability 3. Designing digital products requires extra attention to the risk of exclusion To showcase how a design approach is instrumental in creating sustainable growth for businesses, Danish Design Centre invited four companies to share how they’ve used design in creating impactful solutions. billionBricks solves issues around homelessness by providing solar heated tents among other products; The Care Lab pushes for systemic change in taking better care of caregivers through seven concrete interventions; Emento improves communication between patients and hospitals by changing the way patients are prepared for treatments via an app; and Velux, a world renowned Danish design icon, goes beyond providing windows to creating worldwide impact. To provide the case companies with some outsider-perspective, the presentations were followed by a mapping exercise for the track participants. They were all asked to reflect on and map the challenges, needs and unanswered questions connected to the presented solutions and their users. A wide range of topics surfaced and several questions were left to further explore. These are a few of them: How to scale purpose-driven companies? How to duplicate the products and services to other cultures and countries? How can not-for-profit companies become triple-bottom-line companies? How to create a long-lasting sustainable business model where the projects start to pay for themselves? What are the benefits of tapping into an existing eco-system instead of creating a new one? How do you measure the impact of a product? How to avoid exclusion when designing digital products? How can other domains learn from the experience of developing new products? The topics that seemed to repeat themselves were the struggle of impact measurement, securing economic sustainability and designing for inclusion.
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How to enter international markets through collaborative innovation Hosted by Climate Technology Centre & Network (CTCN) Main takeaways 1. 2. 3.
The boundaries that keep us from initiating sustainable transformations are often rooted in psychology Look for local examples of and local responses to societal challenges Purpose is a powerful driver capable of pushing and breaking boundaries
The UN’s CTCN, represented by Rose Mwebaza, Karina Kolbrún and Irma Juskenaite, and UNDP’s SDG Accelerator for SMEs, represented by Kristoffer Nilaus Tarp, have run a vast range of projects across developing countries to help solve issues related to the SDGs. But they’re also aware that for many the SDGs are perceived as something ‘far away’ and hard to mobilise in various contexts. The track featured a keynote on how the SDGs help us collaborate across boundaries followed by exercises for the attendees to reflect on examples of local challenges and local reactions to these challenges. As attendees and speakers engaged, the idea that primal psychology keeps us from initiating sustainable transformations was put forward. As human beings, we’re neurologically coded to respond to the things that roar in our face right now. So, when we’re presented with critical societal challenges, such as climate change and mass migration, we tend to think ‘it’s happening too far away for us to influence’ or ‘it’s something that won’t occur until far out in future’. However, there are loads of examples of how it’s all happening right now, right here. In this case in Denmark, climate-proof initiatives have already been completed across the country; crops that most Danes take for granted, such as spruce (also known as the Christmas tree), are under huge threat due to the temperature rise and the increase of Syrian refugees across Europe in 2015 caused critical political and social tensions that risk exploding in the near future. A conservative proposal made by the World Bank states that between now and 2050, 143 million people will flee their home country due to climate change - in 2015, Syrian refugees amassed to over two million! The keynote highlighted that behind each goal in the SDG framework lies huge business potential - if you’re first with the right solution. The unique aspect in the SDG context is that the purpose driving the creation of these solutions is extremely unifying and it has the potential to break boundaries that otherwise have seemed impossible to shake throughout our history.
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Internationalisation, growth and sustainability in creative industries Hosted by Nordic LA Main takeaways 1. Danish companies should prioritise sales activities if they want to scale 2. Better traceability options are needed 3. A networking exercise is rarely a bad idea at a conference Nordic LA wants to help impact start-ups navigate the international market drawing from their experience with supporting creative businesses establish themselves abroad. They brought in two companies for a panel debate about how they’d succeeded in getting established with their business on an international market. Henrik Taudorf Lorensen, founder and CEO of TAKT, Maria Grabowska, Lead of +impact accelerator at Danske Bank, Martine Jarlgaard, Founder of MARTINE JARLGAARD LONDON and David Helgason, Founder of Unity were interviewed by Christiane Vejlø. With an international view on Denmark, the Q&A session gave rise to ideas that the Nordic brand is a social utopia, sales activities with a scaling purpose are typically not taken seriously in Denmark, and in general, compared to an international market, Denmark is not “acting” very international. Additionally, questions such as how can we trace where products come from were asked, with the cooperation between Google and Stella McCartney mentioned as an example of traceability. As were questions about the difference between social entrepreneurship and philanthropy, and the pros and cons in being proactive versus reactive to the challenges we face in our common society. Finally, the networking exercise, ‘business card roulette’, brought clear evidence that people were there to connect. “The engagement went from 0-100” as one attendee observed.
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Fine-tuning your pitch Hosted by The Index Project Main takeaways 1. A relaxed environment provides a feeling of safety and encouragement for pitch companies 2. Investors have different priorities and things they look for in investments 3. Know exactly what you want feedback on when you pitch Ranking among some of the most important tasks for an impact start-up, is the creation of a sharp and appealing pitch. From having worked with numerous impact entrepreneurs throughout the years, The Index Project knows this. So, we invited entrepreneurs at the conference for an opportunity to practice their pitches in a private session with selected impact investors, inspiring industry leaders and international experts. Every conference attendee had the opportunity to apply for the pitch track. Ultimately, 10 companies were included: Aurat Raaj, Index Award 2019 finalist (PAK), Better World Fashion (DK), Blue Lobster (DK), Develop Diverse (DK), Feedgoods (NO/DK), Freemi (DK), Leapcraft (DK), Panion (SE), Refarmed (DK) and Seedballs, Index Award 2019 finalist (KE). The group of pitch coaches was diverse in both nationality, background and expertise. We gathered these specific coaches because they share a purpose-driven mindset and want to support and guide sustainable businesses aiming to make a positive impact. The aim was to create a safe space where companies could get practical advice. Knowing that “early stage companies have great ideas but struggle with business models and monetisation” the pitch coaches said they were thrilled to see enthusiastic companies with scalable impact models. As advised by the coaches, entrepreneurs help themselves most with thorough preparation: know exactly what you want feedback on and keep in mind that investors have different priorities and things they look for in potential investments - not every match is the right match. Some of the pitch companies realised they should’ve prepared differently, “I need to better describe the whole product. I should’ve shown my pitch deck, not monetised it,” as one puts it. Others appreciated the relaxed environment and saw it as a great way of doing that critical networking with people that are just there to help.
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What are we up to now? On our tireless mission to push life-improving design forward, we initiate various activities on a running basis. To help create a mind-shift in businesses, in Denmark and abroad, we’re now working on new digital products within our learning and business development area together with partners. Our Index Award 2021 cycle has also begun and nominations are open for everyone. Give us a hint if you’ve discovered something interesting or go to our nomination page and submit it. Our community is constantly growing, and we want you to stay with us. Sign up to our newsletter, or connect with like-minded people by joining our community slack channel. Follow our activities via: www.theindexproject.org
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Thank you! Thomas Hofman-Bang, CEO, The Danish Industry Foundation Lars Haukohl, Engineer, IDA Design & Innovation Asbjørn Riis-Søndergaard, Sustainability Philosopher, ARS17 Esben Lanthén, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Nordic Sustainability Christian Wittrup, Engineer, Lendager UP Steffen Korsgaard, Professor WSR, University of Southern Denmark Jakob Kahlen, Designer & Creative Director, Trouble Martin Hansen, Designer, Trouble Christina Melander, Program Director, DDC Brian Frandsen, Senior Service Designer, DDC Stephanie Joy Hansen, Project Manager Prasoon Kumar, Founder, billionBricks Lekshmy Parameswaran, Founder, The Care Lab Laszlo Herzceg, Founder, The Care Lab Mikkel Bech, Co-founder and Creative Director, Emento Lone Feifer, Director of Sustainability & Architecture, VELUX Kristoffer Nilaus Tarp, Project Manager, SDG Accelerator Karina Kólbrun Larsen, Knowledge & Communication Manager, CTCN Irma Juskenaite, Communications Associate, CTCN Damun Mostofifard, Consultant, SDG Accelerator Kristian Riis, Founder, Nordic LA Christiane Vejlø, CEO, Elektronista Henrik Taudorf Lorensen, Founder and CEO, TAKT Maria Grabowska, Lead, +impact accelerator Martine Jarlgaard, Founder, MARTINE JARLGAARD LONDON David Helgason, Founder, Unity Hans Axel Kristensen, CEO, Plastix A/S Cansu Akarsu, Design Manager, Laerdal Medical Adam Milgrom, Investment Partner, The Index Project Adam Rozencwajg, Co-Executive Director, CapitalR Rebecca Rozencwajg, Co-Executive Director, CapitalR Binit Vasa, International Development Lead, Space 10
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Erik Snyder, Founder and CEO, Drawdown Fund Gregers Kronborg, CEO, Rulebreaker Ventures Navid Samandari, Partner and co-founder, Vertical Strategy Pascal Froehlicher, Co-founder and Executive Director, U.Care Asger Thomsen, Associate Consultant, The Boston Consulting Group Rasmus Bjerngaard, Co-founder and CEO, Nextfood Silja Andersen, Impact Investor Thea Messel, Founder & GP, Unconventional Ventures Jenifer Clausell-Tormos, Founder & CEO, Develop Diverse Vinay Venkatraman, CEO, Leapcraft Jan A. Dyreholt Bjørge, Co-founder, Feedgoods Group Saba Khalid, Founder & CEO, Aurat Raaj Teddy Kinyanjui, Co-founder, Seedballs, Christine Hebert, Founder, Blue Lobster Rasmus Thude, CO-Founder & CEO, Freemi Melanie Aronson, Founder, Panion Camilla Enge, Founder & Director, Refarmed ApS Reimer Ivang, Founder & Director, Better World Fashion Siri Johnsen, Anthropology Student Marie Leine, Anthropology Student Tanya Pal, Anthropology Student Olivia Norma Jørgensen, Anthropology Student Laura Lombardi, volunteer Constanza Julio Del Rio, volunteer Mie Lyskov Jensen, volunteer Patricia Mutesi Muhirwa, volunteer The team at BloxHub The team at DAC The team at The Index Project
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