In association with !AHA! we are delighted to be able to offer a preview of the material, content and trainers that will support this cornerstone of the Dublin Hub vision.

The Dublin Hub in association with !AHA!
present
‘The Sustainable Social Entrepreneur Workshop Series’

The Entrepreneurs’ Tool Belt

A One-Day Intensive Workshop Introducing the Essential Tools
for Emerging Entrepreneurs and Social Innovators.

Sunday, May 23, 2010
O´Callaghan Alexander Hotel
Fenian St, off Merrion Square, Dublin 2
Registration: 09.00 AM
Workshop: 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Workshop Fee: €40, For Booking Information Visit:
http://entrepreneurtoolbelt.eventbrite.com/

As a Change Maker, do you have the skills and tools you will need to adapt to a world in the process of massive and chaotic change?

Local and global economies, our environment, our social systems and our individual lives are all being impacted on an unprecedented scale. The increasingly evident interconnections amongst these systems, and the ‘ripple effect’ of the impacts they are creating, are demanding fresh and creative responses from us. All who are actively engaged with managing or stimulating change are faced with the need to adapt new perspectives and strategies.Whether you are seeking to improve our situation through your creativity and entrepreneurism, or finding yourself responding to unexpected changes in your life and the world around you, ‘The Entrepreneurs’ Tool Belt’ will introduce you to the four key skill areas you will need to become a more effective and creative Change Maker.

This One-Day Intensive Workshop will comprise 4 modules of 1.5 hours each:

Module 1: An Introduction to Sustainability

An introduction to the key issues and challenges we are facing today; exploring how Social Innovators, Entrepreneurs and ChangeMakers are using the opportunity in the crisis to develop more sustainable products and services.

Module 2: Accelerated Creativity Techniques

Described as “brainstorming on speed”, this module will introduce you to new and innovative creative problem solving techniques that go way beyond mind mapping, which you can apply immediately to find creative and innovative solutions to any business or life challenge.

Module 3: Effective Communication Skills

Introducing  the key concepts of Nonviolent Communication and NLP,  this module will explore how to develop empathic listening and clear communication skills by understanding how our values influence what we hear, how to identify true needs, and how our personal paradigms, beliefs, values, and the power of our words, affect our effectiveness as communicators.

Module 4: Managing Myself

An introduction to your body’s physical, mental and energetic systems and how to use Energy Psychology techniques to ensure that you remain mentally and emotionally effective in the midst of business and life crises. We will identify how you handle fear, conflict and negative self-belief, and introduce you to techniques to clear them and release the True You!

What They Are Saying (feedback from previous courses):

The Sustainable Design Innovation course content is one of the most well thought out I have seen. It gets the balance and depth just right on key sustainability and design know how to enable professionals to practically apply sustainable design in their areas of expertise.
-Dr. Dorothy Maxwell (Technical Director, Global View Sustainability Services; previously, Senior Environmental Specialist for Enterprise Ireland)

This course is not about the plethora of ‘Post -It’ type solutions available today, It is about fundamental philosophy and knowledge to see through the volumes of misinformation and dubious solutions used to ‘Greenwash’ products , processes and companies, Outstanding.
- David Mavroudis (Architect)

There are so many buzz words around sustainability these days. A course like this goes back to first principles and gives foundation to an understanding of what they actually mean and represent. Putting the theory into practice is the place that a course like this can be a catalyst for any person across different disciplines.
- Patrick Shaffery (Architect)

I would say that sustainability is the way of all future living and that it is really important that we get involved now and at all levels. The SDI course is a fantastic course to get you thinking of moving forwards.
- Fiona Lynch (Graphic Designer with Irish Life)

Workshop Leaders:

Erik van Lennep, TEPUI
Erik van Lennep is a sustainability consultant, green design practitioner, entrepreneur and trainer. He is a co-founder of Cultivate Sustainable Living Centre, Dublin and co-developer of the post graduate national course on Sustainable Design Innovation (SDI). He has worked to set up innovative community projects and NGOs in Ireland and the USA for more than 30 years.

Paul O’Connor, DAEDALUS
DAEDALUS specialises in teaching, training, facilitating and employing the latest creativity, mind-mapping, brainstorming and visioning techniques through individual and group client-focused activities, workshops and consultancy. “We don’t just teach you to think OUTSIDE of the Box. We show you that there is NO BOX!”

Sarah Bird, SARAHBIRD.IE
Sarah Bird is a leading international practitioner and trainer of ‘Energy Psychology’ techniques. Described as ‘The New Psychology’, it is a scientific discipline that combines modern cognitive psychology with bio-energy principles, to shift and replace the chemical patterns in the brain that maintain unwanted habits, inappropriate emotional responses and self-limiting ways of thinking. It is proving highly effective for the treatment and relief of emotional challenges.

While an Oil Company trying to portray itself as Green is unlikely to convince many members of the public, its attempts to do so will instill doubt in the public over the validity of any business that uses the label ‘Green’. This is the real danger that Greenwashing presents, not that a single company can make erroneous claims, rather that the reputation of an entire sector can be tarnished.

Recognizing the potential for such a widespread negative impact, this week saw the release in the UK of Government guidelines on the use of Green and environmental claims in advertising, particularly on use of phrases such as or “eco”  or “environmentally friendly”, and according to Fred Pearce in the Guardian the new guidelines call for Green claims to be “clear, accurate and verifiable”. While unfortunately these guidelines do not carry the full force of law, they do acknowledge the concerns of the public and seek to reign in some of the more outlandish advertising practices.

This was in my mind last night as I followed the reports of yesterday’s Cabinet reshuffle, specifically with the rebranding of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment as the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, and started to wonder are we now entering into an age of “Innovationwashing”? To be clear less than 24 hours after the creation of a new Government department there is no way that any judgement can be passed on the legitimacy of its new name and focus, rather I have been struck by the frequency with which the word “innovation” is appearing in conversations in both the Public and Private sector, alarmingly with little explanation of what exactly is meant by the term. I am reminded of meetings I had with Irish political groups in the immediate aftermath of Barack Obama’s successful Presidential campaign in the US, where more than once I heard people profess “well I don’t know what the Internet is, but by God we have to have it”.

In the last week alone we have seen the launch of the Innovation Ireland report by the Taoiseach, the establishment of an Innovation Center in San Jose to help Irish companies target Silicon Valley,  and our own EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn issue a report that placed Ireland in the middle tier of EU Innovation nations.

But does anyone actually know what ‘Innovation’ is?

According to the Oxford Online dictionary ‘Innovation’ is “the action or process of innovating“. A search for “innovating” refers you back to the definition for “Innovation”.

Innovation is thus a nebulous Ouroboros, forever consuming its own tail. We don’t know what it is but by God we have to have it.

To be fair to the Oxford Online, it does offer a second definition of ‘an Innovation’ (the object, not the process) as “a new method, idea, product, etc.”, so the process of Innovation can best be described as ‘The act of creating something new’. However a criticism that has been leveled at the recent Innovation Ireland report is that it simply seeks to expand the loose regulation and tax regimes existent in the Irish Financial sector to other sectors in an effort to attract more multi-nationals to establish operations in Ireland. Within the report are proposals for attracting IP (Intellectual Property) Rich businesses to Ireland on the basis of our tax regime, which as TASC highlights would mirror the current environment where large corporations funnel their global revenue through their Irish subsidiaries without the creation of any local R&D jobs, or the fostering of a local culture of innovation. Again as TASC points out ” In this report, the word “tax” is mentioned 127 times, the word “food” eight times and the words “manufacture” or “manufacturing” just 24 times”.

To me this does not seem to be “a new method, idea, product, etc.”, it simply means the expansion of an existing scheme with no ongoing sustainable benefits for Irish society. While this would see increased returns for the exchequer, it would make no contribution to the creation of a sustainable culture of research and development in Ireland, and we would make no progress towards establishing an environment of Innovation Independence unaffected by the turmoils of the international market. It highlights the need to critically examine the use of the word ‘Innovation’, and ensure that such claims are “clear, accurate and verifiable”.

I would suggest that a successful government policy towards Innovation should not be focused excessively on encouraging international investment into Ireland through Multinationals attracted by liberal tax regimes, rather it should concentrate on fostering a strong native Micro-enterprise and SME sector, developed by a highly educated entrepreneurial workforce who are equipped by a world-class education system for 21st century creative ventures, not 19th century factory jobs.

Anything else is just “Innovationwashing”.

Dave

Call for proposals 2010: Registrations are open for the CIP Eco-innovation European Info Day

Brussels, 13 April 2010: The 2010 CIP Eco-innovation European Info Day will give you a head start to tabling your next project proposal.  You will be the first to hear about the call for proposals that will be launched on the same date.

Register today to secure your seat: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fmi/scic/ecoinnov2010/registration.php

If you cannot make it, there will be a live broadcast of the event via the internet. Recordings will be available afterwards.

Check http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eco-innovation/events_en.htm

45 new projects paving the way for Europe’s green growth

45 best green projects will receive € 32 million funding under the 2009 CIP Eco-innovation initiative. Ranging from innovative materials for easy sorting and recycling to advanced production contributing to resource efficiency, the selected projects are set to strengthen Europe’s competitive edge while improving its environmental standing.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eco-innovation/projects_en.htm

Don’t miss the ETAP Forum related to the Environmental Technologies Action Plan

Bilbao, Spain 20 – 21 April: The creativity and dynamism of SMEs means they have a crucial role to play both as eco-innovators and as adopters of green technologies. The European Commission invites entrepreneurs to speak about their daily challenges in a fast-moving environment.

Learn more at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoinnovation2010/1st_forum/index_en.htm

Brokerage Event on Environmental Technologies

Seville, 26 May 2010: In the Framework of the 20th Annual Conference of SETAC Europe, CIT Andalucia as member of Enterprise Europe Network and it Environment Sector Group is organising a “Brokerage Event on Environmental Technologies” that will take place in Seville, Spain, 26th May 2010. The main objective of this event is the promotion of Technology Transfer and the exploitation of RTD results.
For further information, please visit: http://www.citandalucia.es/BE_setac/