New Project Makes the Future Green
Green Innovation Network Manager Stuart Bond and Business and Skills Development Officer (Green Technology) Heli Gittins
A new project, whose aim is to bring businesses together to build a more resilient future and new economy, is launching on Wednesday May 2nd at Bangor University with a free business breakfast event.
The Green Innovation Network, is a joint venture between Bangor University, University College Dublin and Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland. The network was born of a need to ensure that businesses have support and encouragement to overcome future challenges through new and innovative ways.
Stuart Bond, Green Innovation Network Manager, Bangor University, believes engaging in the green economy is about every business, not just a few.
“New challenges are constantly making us look at how we approach business issues, be they from suppliers, regulations or economy wide issues like the economic downturn and the Eurozone crisis. Big business is as equally affected as small, as the recent pull out of the Horizon nuclear project by RWE and E.ON is a clear indication of that.
“The birth of the Green Innovation Network came as a need to overcome these challenges and to make business more resilient. There are two things of which we can be sure; that business in the future will operate in a world which is both carbon constrained and resource constrained."
"We are here to help business make sense of this new economy and ensure that those who join become leaders and not laggards. There is real competitive advantage to be had by engaging with this agenda and seeing it as a real business opportunity."
The idea of a Green Economy is also the major theme of the meeting of the world leaders later this year at the United Nations Rio conference, where it is hoped that this approach will reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want.
The first ever Green Innovation Network Business Breakfast is being held at Bangor University on Wednesday 2nd May and is designed to help business start on their green journey.
Stuart Bond says:
"We can't get away from the fact that building a new economy is difficult and this first event is to introduce business owners and managers to the opportunities that are out there.”
Key note speaker at the event is Andy Middleton, founding director and owner of Tyf, the first carbon neutral adventure company and director of INSPIRE (The Institute of Sustainable Practice, Innovation & Resource Effectiveness) and founder of the Do Lectures, who’ll be outlining the challenges and opportunities available to businesses.
Award winning construction company Wates will also be sharing their experiences of growing a successful green business.
To make your business smarter and fitter for the future and be part of the Green Innovation Network - come along to the first event on Wedesday May 2nd and be part of this new industrial evolution. To register your place email s.francis@bangor.ac.uk
The event on May 2nd is only the first of a regular quarterly engagement. Over the next three years the Green Innovation Network wants more businesses to join and engage with the project's activities, all of which are free. The project, as well as the Green Innovation Network, is also running professional training in all areas around a green economy for business, and will also be offering business the opportunity to have bespoke studies carried out for them on a particular business issue.
Publication date: 25 April 2012