permaculture

[Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network <lakinroe@silcom.com>]

Building the Blue Economy, with Gunter Pauli
  ~ April 23, 24, 25, 2010 ~
Santa Barbara City College Campus, Santa Barbara, California

Hosted by the SBCC Center for Sustainability


How a new generation of entrepreneurs can bring
 innovations to the marketplace, secure basic needs for all,
and make sustainable businesses competitive.
 
Join the SBCC Center for Sustainability for a rare chance to spend time with 
one of the most innovative thinkers of our times.  Author of the newly 
published book "The Blue Economy, 10 Years, 100 Innovations, 100 Million 
Jobs" Gunter Pauli challenges us to give up doomsday thinking...
Gunter Pauli suggests by emulating nature we can evolve from an economy based 
on scarcity to an economy based on abundance---the cascading, nutrient rich, 
Blue Economy. Founder of Zero Emissions Research Initiatives (ZERI) Global 
Network, Gunter Pauli pioneered the concept of waste being converted to a 
resource with potential for multiple revenue streams while eliminating 
pollution. Famous eco-entrepreneur and passionate proponent of green 
development worldwide, Pauli is the former president of Ecover Biodegradeable 
soap company who built Europe’s first ecological industrial park.
Event Co-sponsors, Santa Barbara Permaculture Network & SBCC Scheinfeld 
Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation



Introduction to the 100 innovations
 that could generate 100 million jobs within a decade


By Gunter Pauli
         Imagine 100 innovations that could generate 100 million jobs over 
the next decade. Over the next two years I will introduce these real 
opportunities one by one, on the basis of technologies proven by scientists 
to work, bench marked as a business somewhere in the world, and ready to be 
introduced anywhere.
 As an entrepreneur, who established 10 companies, I have always been 
searching for the best way to enter the market, to out compete the market 
leaders. An entrepreneur introduces innovations, that respond to a need, 
generate cash flow, create jobs and work with what is readily available. With 
a track record in media, databank management, internet and eco-products I was 
very much impacted by my incapacity to see how I created collateral damage, 
trying to implement a new business model. What happened?
 As president of Ecover, I promoted biodegradable soaps manufactured in a 
green factory with a huge grass roof. I was shocked to learn that as demand 
for palm oil - the main ingredient - increased, more rain forest was 
destroyed. How could I ever have overlooked that cleaning up the rivers in 
Europe leads to the destruction of the habitat of the orangutan? I learned 
the hard way that biodegradability has nothing to do with sustainability.
 As a consequence, it became a passion to imagine a model that has no 
unintended consequences. I searched for the opportunity to create companies 
that outcompete on the market, thanks to solid innovations, dramatically 
increasing productivity, improving return on investment, while operating in 
harmony with the ecosystems. I imagined business that not only preserves the 
environment, rather businesses that enhance the ecosystems in which my 
companies operate.
 The United Nations University and the Japanese Government offered me the 
chance to imagine such businesses, scientifically proven and economically 
viable. The platform in Japan permitted me to build a team to pioneer 
concrete examples from a beer brewery in Africa, to coffee farming in 
Colombia and waste management in Japan.
 The hands-on cases inspired me to go back to undertake a competitive 
analysis and make an inventory of all innovations that are likely to shape 
the future. A review of +2,200 innovations revealed that only very few were 
adopted by business. Of all the sustainable innovations borrowed from nature 
only three that had become main-stream with sales in excess of 100 million: 
Velcro from the USA, Lotusan from Germany marketed by Sto and 
Proboscis-inspired needles from Japan made by Terumo.
 I turned to the projects I knew, the scientists I visited, the CEOs I had 
met and discussed the best ideas with business journalists, corporate 
strategists, management scholars, policy makers and innovation experts. 
Thanks to their input I drew up a list of 100 innovations that are likely to 
change the competitive game in many sectors.
 There was a major surprise. When the experts advised me on the magnitude of 
potential job generation, the number reached 100 million. Checking the 
benchmarks before me, I was surprised that one third of the business ideas 
are already invoicing and the several innovations represent platform 
technologies applicable in dozens of sectors. This proves there is potential.
 A business model emerged that fundamentally changes the rules on the market. 
Instead of a triple bottom line, there is a triple cash flow, not just for 
the company, also for the community. How is this possible? Ever since 
management focused on core business based on core competence, companies have 
discarded any opportunity outside their tight focus on economies of scale, 
making more of the same cheaper through mergers and acquisitions.
 The 100 cases that will be released one after the other provide insights on 
how costs within that core business model turn into multiple incomes applying 
a concept known as economies of scope. This clustering of value adding 
generates revenues that did not even exist. This is the core uniqueness of 
the competitive business models that will be released one by one as of 
February 22, 2010. There is more.
 Once entrepreneurs can generate multiple revenues, value and cash flow, then 
it is easier to understand why these innovations also create jobs. On top of 
that, since value is created out of something that had no value before, there 
is no substitution effect. The traditional economist will be surprised that 
higher productivity now equates with job creation.
 While the generation of additional cash flow will be a main argument, the 
fact that the market leaders have limited means to formulate a competitive 
response turns the odds in favor of the entrepreneur.
 Companies that have decades of experience and a loyal customer base 
worldwide, supported by a stable cash flow and profit margins; will not 
easily hand over a major part of business to a newcomer. However, as 
postulated, these innovations change the rules of the game, often without 
openly informing the key players, taking them off guard and without the 
internal competences to respond.
 When I promoted a detergent to the market without advertising, how could 
companies like Unilever, Henkel and Procter react when their marketing mix is 
dependent on advertising? This is exactly the opportunity that entrepreneurs 
can embrace.
 The portfolio of opportunities based on these 100 cases is vast. More than 
one entrepreneur, more than one investor, more than one venture fund can take 
the initiative. That is the main reason for offering this inspiration open 
source.
 The 100 cases offer an insight into an emerging economy - the Blue Economy- 
that is more competitive, generates jobs, brings innovations that steer 
business towards sustainability and builds up social capital.
 Who would not like to join this?


Gunter Pauli


Author of the Blue Economy, 10 Years, 100 Innovations, 100 Million Jobs

Visit The World Congress on Zero Emissions Initiatives:
 http://www.zeroemissionshawaii.org/


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"We are like trees, we must create new leaves, in new directions, in order to 
grow." - Anonymous