TNS NZ holds successful Co-Create the Future mini-conference event
TNS New Zealand hosted its first major event on 29th November 2010 with 120 people attending Co-Create the Future in Auckland – stories of success in sustainable practice. The event featured eight speakers and a series of videos highlighting thought-leadership and achievements in sustainable practice. By securing some foundation sponsors TNS NZ were able to host the event on a “by donation” basis (or “koha” to use the local concept of giving an amount that reflects a fair exchange of value) making it accessible to everyone.
“The event basically show-cased the portfolio of work that TNS NZ has been involved in over the last year,” explains TNS NZ Executive Director Simon Harvey. “We had a number of clients and TNS NZ advisors presenting the exemplary leadership they are showing in working towards creating a positive, progressive and prosperous future.”
The presentations were set in context by an opening talk from Jacqueline Ireland, Managing Director of Colmar Brunton, who gave an overview of their Better Business; Better World consumer survey. The data clearly supported the view that consumers are favouring sustainable products and services, but that awareness of exactly what is and what is not sustainable is low, both for consumers and businesses.
There then followed a video interview with Charles Anderson, CEO of Sovereign Insurance who described the impact that rising awareness of sustainability is having on the financial services sector. Sovereign is a recent TNS NZ client that has been working on mapping out a pathway of transformation to becoming a genuinely sustainable provider of insurance and investment services.
Gerry Oates, director of Comparison International had diverted to Auckland from his trip to Australia to present at the conference. Gerry gave a succinct overview of the recent successes with the PROBE for Sustainable Business (PSB) tool, which generated significant interest amongst the audience. Gerry also outlined the new PSB lite tool which is likely to particularly applicable to the New Zealand environment which is heavily weighted towards SME’s.
Construction is always a biggie when it comes to sustainable practice and Jerome Partington, TNS NZ advisor and sustainability manager for Jasmax Architects, set out the challenge for the sector very clearly. Jasmax, an active user of the Natural Step framework has enjoyed a high profile this year with a judges’ commendation in the Trailblazer category of Sustainable Business Network awards and a finalists’ nomination for a Sustainable 60 awards. Indicating that best practice green buildings currently being built are missing obvious opportunities for improved resource efficiency, Jerome articulated the need for beautiful buildings that provide net positive value to the community, rather than simply being better than the norm. Jerome has also provided an interview to online news-site Celsias.
Moving away from the business sector towards community and education, TNS NZ advisor Maggie Lawton begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting spoke about the Towards 2060 community design programme that had used the TNS framework as a means of engaging with communities, schools and other relevant stakeholders to move beyond consultation towards community empowerment when it comes to designing the future. Communities can, Maggie explained, understand the issues about what is needed for the future and then play a constructive role in developing solutions. Wiki Walker followed on from Maggie to talk about how Maori indigenous concepts are well aligned with principles of sustainability; suggesting that we can learn much from our indigenous culture without having to reinvent the wheel.
Steve Henry, a senior advisor for TNS NZ, challenged the audience in his usual, yet eloquently, outrageous way. Education as normal just doesn’t cut it; we need a new kind of education to create the solutions we need for a sustainable future. As the unmanager for Otago Polytechnic’s Centre for Sustainable Practice, Steve explained how Otago Poly’s new graduate diploma – which is based around the TNS framework for strategic sustainable development – enabled people to learn as they do. By using real projects in the workplace as assignments to complete the diploma, people are not just accumulating knowledge but valuable experience and understanding.
The event was closed with a tag-team presentation from TNS NZ advisors Ian Challenger and Ella Lawton. Both Ian and Ella are working on community focused projects funded through the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology programme. Ian, a business analyst for Cawthron Institute, is focussing on how to effect meaningful behaviour change in communities. Ella, an applied research manager for Otago Poly’s Centre for Sustainable Practice, is carrying out research on how to measure the Ecological Footprint of a specific community. The research is the subject of her PhD and has been accepted into the TNS Real Change programme.
“The feedback we’ve had from the event has been fantastic,” smiles Simon Harvey. “The event ended up with a waiting list and I don’t think anyone was disappointed. We’ve learnt a lot from this event and I’m confident that next year we’ll be able to do something even more exciting.”
You can look at some photos here.
