The 2012 State of Green Business Report anticipates a slowdown in 2012, but there are strategies to best manage the hard times ahead. Innovation is the key and this can be achieved through collaboration and cross-fertilization. Collaboration within industries and between industries is crucial to unlock the real potential of sustainable innovation. Cross-fertilization requires more synchronization of activity and adaptation planning, and a common paradigm to work towards.
According to Joel Makower and Ralph Thurm there are some things that can be done to deal with the slowdown in business anticipated. They believe that the answer lies with paradigm-oriented, outcome-oriented and multi-industry based (open innovation) platforms.
Makower is chairman and executive editor of GreenBiz Group Inc., producer of GreenBiz.com. He is also lead author of the annual State of Green Business report and hosts the State of Green Business Forum, the GreenBiz Innovation Forum, and other events.
Makower serves as a senior strategist for GreenOrder, a sustainability management consultancy, and is co-founder of Clean Edge, a cleantech research firm. He is author of more than a dozen books, including Strategies for the Green Economy. He also writes “Two Steps Forward” (www.readjoel.com), a popular blog on green business, clean technology, and green marketing. The Associated Press has called him “The guru of green business practices.”
For Makower the answer to the slowdown is VERGE, a platform to get sustainable innovation further aligned, with dots connected and the real needs discussed.
Thurm is a leading professional in sustainability strategies, operational sustainability and sustainability reporting with more than 20 years experience working for major corporates, industry federations, governments, NGOs and non-for-profit organizations.
Thurm and John Elkington are advocates of Zero Impact Growth. They believe that the Deloitte/Volans ZERO HUB is an open innovation platform that can help achieve this goal.
© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.
