why now?
"We need a platform where we can work across industries and cultures to...find sustainable solutions and accelerate innovation." - Mikael Hagstrom, Executive VP, SAS Institute
"The transformation ahead represents vast opportunities in a broad range of business segments...smarter systems, smarter people, smarter designs and smarter businesses will prevail." - Vision 2050, WBCSD
anecdotes and evidence
- Economist Insights Report on Developing Smart Products
- New York Reveals Plan to Cut GHG Emissions 80% by 2050 Via Sweeping Building Retrofits
- EU Eco Rules Will Ban 5 of the7 Top Selling Vacuum Cleaners as of September 1st
- Google, Ikea, H&M, Nestle, Philips, BT Among Companies Committing to 100% Renewables
- Siemens Environmental Product Portfolio Revenues $32.3bn in 2013 (43% of company revenues)
- GE Ecoimagination Products Generate $28bn in 2013 Revenues
- The Internet of Things Business Index: A Quiet Revolution Gathers Pace (Economist)
- Large Power Stations in Europe Could be Redundant in 10-20 years says UBS
- Ralph Lauren’s New Smart Shirt Tracks Heart Rate, Stress Levels, Calories Burned
- New Refrigerators Purchased in the US Required to be 25% More Energy Efficient as of Sep 15th
- General Mills Acquires Annie’s for $820m, Riding Wave of Demand for Organic Foods
- SingTel to Invest $500m in Cyber Security, Smart Cities and Data Analytics
- Target and Walmart Team Up on Sustainability
- Dubai Not Just Talking but Acting on Green Economy
- China Investing in Green Technologies
- UK Labour Party Puts Green Economy at Heart of 10-Year Plan
- Disruptive Technologies: Advances That Will Transform Life, Business and the Global Economy (McKinsey)
- $1.6 Trillion Dollar Clean Tech Market Opportunity for SMEs in Developing Countries (World Bank)
- CSR in Procurement Will Be Most Influential Mega Trend Affecting Procurement in 2020. (Procurement Leaders Network)
- In 2020, Over 30 Billion Connected Devices Will Be In Use (Gartner)
- Eco-Civilization: China’s Blueprint for a New Era (The Climate Group)
- Sustainability’s Next Frontier (MIT Sloan)
- Towards a Green Economy (UN Environment Programme)
- India to Have 30-40 Smart Cities in Next 5 Years says Cisco
- Collaboration, Innovation, Transformation: Ideas and Inspiration to Accelerate Sustainable Growth (WBCSD)
- The 21st Century Corporation (Ceres)
- Why Social Media Will Fundamentally Change Business (MIT Sloan)
- The World in 2025 - 10 Predictions of Innovation
- China’s E-tail Revolution: Online Shopping as a Catalyst for Growth (McKinsey Global Institute)
- Net Positive: A New Way of Doing Business (The Climate Group)