Category Archives: Conferences

CSR Asia Summit 2010

In 2009, SA’s Katrine Karlsen reported on CSR Asia’s 7th summit “Sustainable Business as the Road to Recovery” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Click here to read Katrine’s synopsis of last year’s summit.

This year’s summit will take place September 14-15 in Hong Kong, and will offer cutting edge workshops on the following topics:

-Community investment and cross-cultural engagement
-Measuring and reporting your carbon emissions
-Business strategies for adapting to a changing climate
-Water risks down your supply chain
-Asian companies going transnational
-What investors are looking for: Environmental, social, governance (ESG) issues
-A new agenda for human rights: Engaging governments
-The role of business in achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Asia
-ISO26000
-Disaster preparedness: The role of the private sector
-The 2010 Asian Sustainability Rating
-Measuring the impact of your community investment on business and the community
-Developing a sustainable development strategy in your organisation

Title: CSR Asia Summit 2010
Location: Hong Kong
Link out: Click here

Start Date: 2010-09-14
End Date: 2010-09-15

Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design


How might ‘social biomimicry’ influence design within the context of socially, culturally, environmentally, and economically responsible systems of fashion? While this conference may not directly focus on fashion at the stage of design conception, it does concentrate on other stages, such as manufacturing, communications, transportation, and green building. Indirectly, lessons learned at all stages of the lifecycle should influence the designer at the early phases of initial conception.

“A pioneering collaboration among biologists, designers, engineers, and businesspeople, Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design is a conference organized by graduate students and supported by the Frontiers in Life Sciences program at Arizona State University. This conference will explore how the collective behavior and nest architecture of social insects can inspire more efficient and sustainable solutions to human challenges in areas such as manufacturing, communications, transportation, and green building. It will facilitate interdisciplinary exchange of concepts, perspectives, and tools that may enrich biology and advance biomimetic design. Finally, it will address fundamental issues in social biomimicry, including its ethical and psychological implications. We invite you to join us for this exciting event February 18 – 20, 2010 at the Memorial Union, Arizona State University, Tempe Campus.” (ASU)

Title: Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design
Location: Arizona State University
Link out: Click here

Start Date: 2010-02-18
End Date: 2010-02-20

Source: Core77 and ASU

Ethical Sourcing Forum North America 2010

The Ethical Sourcing Forum is a unique industry event that brings together members of the global sustainability community in order to address emerging sustainability and ethical supply chain challenges.

Here is the Agenda (subject to change):

Day 1: Thursday, March 18th, 2010.

7:45 AM  –  8:30 AM: Registration & Breakfast

8:30 AM  –  9:15 AM: Welcome Note and ESF Community Poll Findings

What are YOUR top sustainability issues and management challenges? (Kathrin Bohr, Director, ISS Advisory Services)

9:15 AM  –  10:30 AM: ‘VISUALIZE’ Panel Discussion

The Arc of Sustainability Progress: What have we achieved, where are we going and where do we need to be?

  • David Schilling, Program Director for Human Rights at Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (Moderator)
  • Matt Kistler, SVP Sustainability, Walmart
  • Linda Yanz, Director, Maquila Solidarity Network
  • Stephen Howard, CEO, Business in The Community
  • Amy Hall, Director of Social Consciousness, Eileen Fisher
  • International Labor Affairs Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor

10:30 AM  –  10:45 AM: Spotlight on Innovation: Walmart’s Sustainability Index

  • Matt Kistler, SVP Sustainability, Walmart

10:45 AM  –  11:00 AM: Coffee Break/ Networking

11:00 AM  –  1:00 PM: RE-THINK LABS

Mini-Lab 1: Social Networking for Effective Stakeholder Engagement
(Kevin Long, Co-Founder, JustMeans & Brian Walsh, Head of Global Social Engagement, Liquidnet for Good)


Mini Lab 2: Collaboration: Potential and Pitfalls
(Scot Sharland, Executive Director, Automotive Industry Action Group & Monique Oxender, Global Manager, Supply Chain Sustainability, Ford Motor Company)


Mini Lab 3: Role of investment in driving CSR progress
(Garry Bell, VP Global Marketing for Gildan Activewear & Curtis Ravenel, Analyst at Bloomberg)


Mini Lab 4: Measuring and Reporting Environmental & Social Impacts
(TBC)

1:00 PM  –  2:15 PM: Lunch

Joe Sibilia, Chief Visionary Officer of CSRWire and David Mager, President, Major Environmental Solutions  and Co-organizer of Earth Day preview their new book: Street Smart Sustainability – The Entrepreneurs Guide to Profitably Greening Your Organization’s DNA

2:15 PM  –  4:15 PM: RE-THINK LABS

Mini-Lab 5: New Models for Sustainable Purchasing and Factory Compliance (Amy Hall, Director of Social Consciousness, Eileen Fisher  & Julie Yan, Manager, Hudson Bay Company)

Mini Lab 6: New Approaches to Factory Compliance
(Marie David, Director, Corporate Strategy & Sustainability, Walmart)

Mini Lab 7: Transparency in Supply Chain (Chuck Goncalves, Director of Global Responsibility for the America’s Region, Gap)

Mini Lab 8: Managing Supply Chain Environmental Risk: ” Both Win” Tools and Approaches (Jia Liu, Intertek Sustainability Solutions with Supplier (TBC), moderated by The Home Depot)

4:15 PM  –  4:30 PM: Coffee Break/ Networking

4:30 PM  –  5:30 PM: Panel Disussion: What Combination of Strategy and Tactics Really Drives CSR Progress?

  • Moderator: NY Bureau Chief, major international magazine (To be confirmed)
  • Genevieve Taft, Global Workplace Rights, The Coca-Cola Company
  • Sherlyn Broderson, Ethical Sourcing and Sustainability Manager, Cadbury
  • Frank Rexach, VP and General Manager, Haworth
  • Judi Kovacs, VP EHS Programs, NBC Universal

5:30 PM  –  7:00 PM Cocktail Reception

Day 2: Friday, March 19th, 2010

8:00 AM  –  8:30 AM: Breakfast

8:30 AM  –  9:00 AM: Keynote Presentation
TBC

9:00 AM  –  10:00 AM: Presentation: Child/Forced Labor Preview of New Anti-Child/Forced Labor Supply Chain Management Criteria

CREA (Center for Reflection, Education and Action) will preview its work on developing ethical supply chain management criteria (contracted by the U.S. Dept. of Labor)

10:00 AM  –  10:15 AM: Coffee Break/ Networking

10:15 AM  –  12:15 PM: SOLUTION LAB – Backcasting: Developing Your Sustainable Roadmap

A hands-on collaborative sustainability decision-making / solution session involving the technique of reframing – a model for examining challenges from multiple stakeholder vantage points in order to uncover previously unseen perspectives and decision paths.

12:15 PM  –  1:45 PM: Lunch/ Closing Remarks


Source: Ethical Sourcing Forum Agenda

Title: Ethical Sourcing Forum North America 2010
Location: New York
Link out: Click here

Start Date: 2010-03-18
End Date: 2010-03-19

Fashioning an Ethical Industry Bulletin

Events:

25th February 2010: Fairwear Fashion Show at Bristol Cathedral featuring the premiere of the Emma Watson collection for People Tree as well as many more fair trade fashion brands. Booking essential to avoid disappointment

8th and 9th May 2010: The Slow Textiles Conference at the Stroud International Textiles Festival in Gloucestershire. This two day event aims to be a comprehensive introduction to the subject and to stimulate discussion in and around the various and overarching themes central to Slow. Speakers include Becky Earley, Emma Neuberg, Clara Vuletich and Philippa Brock. For further information and to book tickets.

14th May: Create Sustain Ability: The Art Design Media Subject Centre’s (ADM-HEA) 2010 Annual Forum will focus on the subject of Education for Sustainable Development. The Forum aims to support art design and media subjects to develop curricula and pedagogy that will help students develop the skills and knowledge to live and work sustainably. For information on submitting an abstract to the conference or registering to attend.

Resources:

Book: Clean Clothes: a global movement to end sweatshops. The worldwide anti-sweatshop Clean Clothes Campaign marked its twentieth year in 2009. To coincide with the anniversary a new book on the movement was launched, Clean Clothes, by Dutch writer and photographer Liesbeth Sluiter.

Opportunities:

Competition: No Chains t-shirt design competition – a collaborative project undertaken by the two worker cooperatives La Alameda in Argentina and Dignity Returns in Thailand, seeks artists, designers, and activists to assist in creating images for a global sweat-free brand of t-shirts to be launched in April 2010. Deadline for applications is the 25th February 2010. For more information and to get involved.

Competition: Student Essay Competition – ADM-HEA invites students on UK-based art, design or media higher education courses to enter this year’s essay competition and answer the question; Learning to live sustainably – how can your subject area contribute? The overall winning submission will receive £250.

Internships: Himalayan Highlands Summer Exhibitions Ltd, currently the largest importer of Fair Trade products into Scotland, are looking for a Knitwear Design intern and a Fashion Designer/project manager to be based in Kathmandu Nepal. The deadline for application is the 10th February.

Competition: 2010 Green Gown Awards – this year’s awards are now open for submissions. The Green Gown Awards, now in their 6th year, recognise exceptional initiatives being taken by universities and colleges across the UK to become more sustainable.

News:

Improving factory conditions in Bangladesh: This month BBC Radio 4’s Just Business reported on the story of Windy Group, a supplier in Dhaka, which illustrates the power that fashion retailers have to bring about real change for workers.

With the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games just around the corner, the Play Fair Alliance are calling on sportswear brands, such as Nike, adidas, and Puma, to eliminate sweatshop abuses in their global supply chains. Find out what your favourite sportswear brand is, or is not doing, to ensure workers’ rights are respected.

For more on “Clearing the Hurdles,” click here.

Source: FEI

Gallatin Eco-Fashion Week

“Save the dates for a dynamic line-up of informative lectures and panels, roundtable discussions, educational workshops, presentations, art installations, and fashion shows that will uncover the trends emerging throughout the world of eco-fashion. The majority of ideas featured at Gallatin Eco-Fashion Week 2010 will highlight the unique, original research of Gallatin community members.

Gallatin Eco-Fashion Week not only recognizes environmentally and socially responsible fashion, but also critically examines what the terms “eco” and “green” really mean within the fashion world. The event is organized by a diverse committee comprised of students, alumni, faculty, and administrators.” (NYU, Gallatin Eco-Fashion Week)

Here is the Schedule:

Monday, January 25

Opening Night
“Eco Chic: Art Representation & Green Living” panel discussion
5:30 – 8 p.m.

Tuesday, January 26

Gallatin Galleries Exhibit
Eco-inspired works by the Gallatin community
9 a.m.–7 p.m.

“Shades of Green”
Eco Talks
10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

“Shades of Green” lunchtime roundtable discussions
12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m.

Fashion Workshop
“Working with Sustainable Materials”
2 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Please RSVP

Wednesday, January 27

Fashion Workshop
“Fashion Sketching for the Aspiring Designer”
12 p.m. – 2 p.m.
Please RSVP

Workshop
“Up-cycling for Accessories”
3 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Please RSVP

“Haute Eco-uture” Fashion Show
Featuring designs by Gallatin students and alumni
6:30 p.m.

All events will be held at the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study / 1 Washington Place, New York, NY, 10003 (valid ID required toenter building).

For more information: contact Jessica Lee.

Title: Gallatin Eco-Fashion Week
Location: New York
Link out: Click here
Start Date: 2010-01-25
End Date: 2010-01-27

Source:  NYU and Ecouterre

Create10// Call for Papers, Research + Student Design Competition

“The CREATE conference is all about creating innovative interactions, whether digital consumer products, interactive services or interaction paradigms.The event is an opportunity to share and discuss the design opportunities and dilemmas that are currently being addressed by practitioners and researchers from the commercial, public and academic sectors.

As well as presentation of academic research and student work, the event will provide real learning opportunities through hands-on workshops, case studies and demonstrations. We also welcome theoretical and research perspectives on the process of design innovation and approaches to creativity in HCI; how human factors can be integrated within a creative design process, methods that encourage creativity in interaction design, and the challenges of working in multi-disciplinary teams.” (Create 10)

Title: Create10
Location: Edinburgh Napier University, UK
Link out: Click here
Start Date: 2010-06-30
End Date: 2010-07-02

Student Design Competition

“This competition is aimed at students from a wide range of disciplines, for example: interaction design, product design, industrial design, communications design, architecture, fashion, multimedia, HCI, and related fields. Students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, can enter for up to a year after completing their studies.” (Create 10)

Design Brief:

“The conference theme of ‘transitions’ is the inspiration for this competition brief. We want to receive entries that scope, explore, define and prototype interactions that make transitions visible. These could be transitions that investigate the relationship between the analogue and digital realms, or systems that make visible transitions across time, place or information spaces.

For this competition you are asked to design an interactive artefact, interface, installation or experience. If selected, you will be invited to display your working design, or a tangible prototype, in a high profile public exhibition space, so you must consider how it may be displayed.”

Initial submissions

Submissions can be made individually or as group work (max 4 participants).
Should consist of:
1.    An extended abstract (500 – 1,000 words) describing your design and any design principles or theories that have informed your approach to this project. You should include discussion of your research process, paying particular attention to your intended user group, whether this is a specific user or a wider group. If you are submitting as a group you should include a brief description of the roles of each member of the group.
2.    Appropriate images of your work, (max 3 sheets of A4) clearly illustrating the design’s interactivity, and also your inspirations and/or research process. You may also include digital files on disk to support the hard copies, these should be cross-platform.
3.    An explanation (1 page A4) of how the work would be displayed in a public exhibition.
4.    A completed application form, this will be available to download soon from the conference website.

All individual items should be clearly marked with your name(s), institution, course, name of your academic supervisor or tutor, and year of study.

Final format

If your work is selected for display at the Create10 exhibition you will be expected to provide:
1.     An A0 poster describing the development process from concept to finished project.
Plus at least one of the following:
2.     A video of the project, showing it working in context.
3.     A finished working (hi-fidelity prototype) that can actually be exhibited as working at the exhibition.
Conference attendance

If your work is selected for exhibition, you will be expected to register, at the student rate, to attend the Create10 conference at the end of June. In the case of group submission, at least one student per submission must register.

Important dates

Initial submission deadline: March 31st 2010

Successful exhibitors will be notified by the end of April 2010

Call for full papers, workshops, short presentations, demonstrations and exhibits:

THEME  : :  Transitions

Analogue <> Digital
Academic <>Practice
Place <> Time
Real <> Virtual
Create10 is seeking original, unpublished work under the following categories :
– High quality academic papers for peer review (max 6 pages)
– Practical workshops
– Short papers and/or case studies from practitioners within the field
– Short presentations and/or posters from students
– demonstrations and/or videos of installation-based exhibits or  creative work in progress

IMPORTANT DATES

Submissions of :
1 page abstracts for papers : 15th March 2010
2 page proposals for all other submissions : 15th March 2010
Notification of acceptance :  Early April 2010
Full paper submission :  End of April 2010
For further information please contact Ingi Helgason : i.helgason@napier.ac.uk

Source: Puff and Flock and Create10

WATCH//Beyond Green

Presenting at Beyond Green this past November at Amsterdam Fashion Institute, Kate Fletcher, author of Sustainable Textiles: Design Journeys (2008), spoke on the topic of “Fashion and Sustainability,” Adri­aan Beuk­ers, a full-time Pro­fes­sor on Com­pos­ite Ma­te­ri­als & Struc­tures at the Fac­ul­ty of Aerospace Engi­neer­ing at Delft Uni­ver­si­ty of Tech­nol­o­gy and a part-time pro­fes­sor for Engi­neer­ing with Com­pos­ites at the Ma­te­ri­als De­part­ment of the Leu­ven Uni­ver­si­ty, as well as co-au­thor of the books Light­ness (1998) and Fly­ing Light­ness (2005) spoke on “Light Weight,” Fashion Designer Mark Liu on “Zero Waste,” and Carolyn Strauss of slowLab presented “Slow-Design-Slow Fashion.”  

Beyond Green has made some of the presentations available for viewing online. Check them out!

EcoChic Geneva

 

The United Nations has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity and the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures.

UN Secretary General Welcome Message for the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity from CBD on Vimeo.

EcoChic Geneva is an event that strives to redefine both sustainability and fashion in this context:

Title: EcoChic Geneva
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Link out: Click here

“As the 2009 International Year for Natural Fibres draws to a close and the focus begins to shift to 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity, Green2greener is delighted to announce its collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on a series of activities that will highlight the importance of natural fibres and biodiversity in sustainable development strategies.

EcoChic Geneva will take place on January 20-21, 2010 at the Palais des Nations, the UN headquarters in Geneva. The event will commence with a 1.5 day seminar which will look at “Redefining Sustainability in the International Agenda” from the perspective of the fashion and cosmetics industries.

[EcoChic Fashions Documentary, Hong Kong 2008]

The seminar will be followed by a high-profile gala evening on Thursday 21 January. Highlights include the launch of a Sustainable Fashion Exhibition and dramatic EcoChic Fashion Show featuring sustainable and ethical ready-to-wear and couture looks by fashion designers from around the globe. The Exhibition will be subsequently opened to the public free of charge until February 4, 2010.

This series of activities will bring together senior representatives from the private sector with key decision-makers from government, civil society and other public sector organisations. For more information or to find out how you can get involved, please contact us at ecochic@green2greener.com.” (EcoChic Geneva)

Start Date: 2010-01-20
End Date: 2010-01-21

Planet Textiles

“We are delighted to announce the launch of Planet Textiles, a new international event jointly organised by Ecotextile News, Messe Frankfurt and the Society of Dyers and Colourists. Dedicated to improving the environmental and social impact of the global textile and clothing supply chain, it is supported by leading industry organisations and international clothing retailers.

What makes Planet Textiles unique? Planet Textiles runs alongside Interstoff Asia Essential (17–19 March 2010), the leading trade show for eco-textiles and functional fabrics in Asia. Delegates can listen to the presentations, join in the discussion, and see round 200 textile manufacturers, most of them offering ‘real’ sustainable textiles. No other sustainability conference offers that.

Highlights include:

-Keynote presentations about corporate social responsibility and sustainability
-Case studies from manufacturers and retailers – what are the realities of implementing sustainability?
-Followed by a networking reception – your chance to meet the other delegates

Planet Textiles offers:

-Fantastic line-up of speakers who will give real examples of their work
-Opportunity to learn from best practice and pick up practical advice
-Focus on the positive developments and changes
-Great networking and a platform for the exchange of ideas” (Planet Textiles)

Below is an update from EcoTextile News, one of the event’s joint organizers:

Executives from Wal-Mart, KIK and IKEA have confirmed that they will speak at the new Planet Textiles event on sustainability which will take place at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in March 2010.

Eleanor Wright, Wal-Mart, raw materials director, based in Shenzen, China has agreed to update textile manufacturers at the event about the latest on the US retail giant’s sustainability index. Petra Katzenberger, Head of CSR at KIK, Germany’s largest discounter will reveal a new carbon footprinting initiative and IKEA’s Anurag Priyadarshi will share the results of an IKEA study on the environmental impact of pigment versus reactive dyes during textile production.

Other confirmed speakers include Simon Weston of Hong Kong-based Fountain Set who will talk about the company’s latest regenerated cotton project which will see the first commercially available products launched by retail partners in March 2010.

Phil Patterson, Chairman, of the RITE Group (Reducing the Impact of Textiles on the Environment) will speak about how the big brands in Europe and the States can engage more effectively with textile manufacturers in Asia.

Pat Nie Woo from the Sustainable Fashion Business Consortium – a group of leading Hong Kong-based textile manufacturers will look at current and future challenges to implementing sustainable change in the textile sector – and ask what are the realities?

Other leading brands are yet to finally confirm their participation in what is sure to be a ground-breaking, new event on eco-textiles in the Hong Kong/China region. (EcoTextile News)

Title: Planet Textiles
Location: Hong Kong
Link out: Click here
Date: 2010-03-18

Greener Gadgets

Greener Gadgets Design Competition

“The Greener Gadgets Conference tackles all of the issues surrounding energy efficiency and sustainable design, from innovative advances in packaging and product manufacturing to end-of-life recycling solutions. It also highlights ways in which electronics make a major impact by utilizing renewable energy in developing nations.

The conference closes out with the incredibly popular Greener Gadgets Design Competition, highlighting a new class of sustainable product concepts, from those that create their own energy to those that minimize the need for any electricity at all.” (Greener Gadgets)

Click here for a list of this year’s presenters and here for the conference schedule.

Title: Greener Gadgets               
Location: New York    
Link out: Click here       
Date: 2010-02-25   

Below is the video footage of the 2009 Conference:

Source: Greener Gadgets