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VERGE 18 Program

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Design & Materials

Tuesday, October 16th, 2018
8:30am to 12:15pm
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Circular Economy 101

Tutorial

This tutorial is now full. Space may become available, so please plan to arrive early on Tuesday, October 16, to join a queue for available seats. In the meantime, we recommend pre-registering for your second-choice tutorial.

This half-day tutorial, designed for attendees from all sectors and backgrounds and presented by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, will provide a foundational understanding of the circular economy — a model that fundamentally reimagines the traditional “take-make-waste” linear industrial model in favor of a system that designs out waste and pollution, decouples economic growth from natural resource consumption, increases resource productivity and regenerates natural systems. 

The first part of the tutorial session will tour through our circular economy journey to date. From theory through to action, The Foundation team will start by explaining the guiding principles and then take participants through a series of case study examples which illustrate circular design spanning products, business models, and system level innovations.

To some, the circular economy concept can feel academic and detached from reality. The second part of the session will take a more in depth look at how we can 'sell in' and convince stakeholders to invest in circular economy initiatives. Much of the work concentrating on the circular economy to date has centred on deep analysis of the broader economic opportunity. Translating the theory into practical opportunities for colleagues working at the coal-face of operations, or executives faced with competing priorities, can present a critical challenge.

Fortunately,  the circular economy is a big idea with many entry points. Significant work has already been completed by many diverse organisations of all sizes to demonstrate that the theoretical upside can be translated to real commercial opportunities today. Some of these organisations are already taking giant leaps towards circular economy models. 

Dragon Rouge, an award-winning global creative agency and CE100 member, spoke with several of those leading organisations to understand what is working, and launched a report on the topic. During the second part of the session, The Foundation Team and Dragon Rouge representatives will distil insight on how you can effectively 'sell' the circular economy into different parts of your organisation.

Tracks

  • Design & Materials
  • Food & Water Systems
  • Business Model Innovation
  • Logistics & Infrastructure
  • All-Access Pass Required
  • Sign-up Required

Speakers

  • James George
  • Joe Murphy
  • Joe Iles
  • Dorothy Mackenzie

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Regenerative Futures Lab: Imagining the Unimaginable

Tutorial

Understanding regeneration requires moving beyond fragmented problem-solving and towards realizing new potentials within whole, complex systems. 

The more we understand planetary life cycles of birth, growth, death, decay, and regeneration, the clearer it becomes that human civilization is dependent on and inseparable from them. Given the countless unintended consequences and existential threats we face, it’s easy to catastrophize the future.

Is it possible to reverse the impacts of these threats? For many of us, this is an unthinkable thought. Yet the role of foresight tools are to help us radically reimagine the future. Which begs the question: What paradigms and assumptions are informing foresight processes and our understanding of sustainability? 

To date, the field of sustainability has been largely dominated by a mechanistic interpretations of natural resources, assets, and the commons, tacitly informed by models of competition and scarcity. How might we re-envision these - and explore potential futures - from a regenerative perspective?

This interactive workshop reframes how shared assets are imagined. Are they perpetually scarce (fixed and diminishing) or potentially abundant (living and regenerative)?  How can we invest in assets - and communities - to increase their capacities and capabilities over time?

Featuring aerial photography of Oakland by Stephen Loewinsohn. 

Pre-register to ensure access to your first choice of tutorial. Select “Already Registered?” here and enter your email address and confirmation number to log in. Then, click the “Modify” button to add a tutorial to your registration.

Tracks

  • Design & Materials
  • Food & Water Systems
  • Business Model Innovation
  • Logistics & Infrastructure
  • All-Access Pass Required
  • Sign-up Required

Speakers

  • Dawn Danby
  • David McConville
  • Nicole Boyer
  • Adam Flynn

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Wednesday, October 17th, 2018
8:30am to 9:30am
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Built Positive: Creating Positive Impact from Molecule to Metropolis

Breakout
Examine the opportunity for circularity in the built environment, discuss the implications of materials choices and explore how circular economy practices can be scaled up from the molecule to the metropolis.

Through case studies from their own work at the product, asset and local government level, panelists will challenge the audience to think about potential circular interventions in their own work, what roles or collaborators are needed to make them happen, and how to initiate those conversations.

 

Tracks

  • Design & Materials

Speakers

  • Emily English
  • Jessian Choy
  • Jean Hansen
  • Jon Prins

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9:45am to 10:45am
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Innovation in Practice: Building a Circular Economy in Construction

Breakout

Learn from experts turning ideas into action as they discuss successfully integrating circular strategies to optimize waste stream management, product manufacturing, and industry engagement to reduce the carbon impact of construction. Explore approaches that promise to herald new innovations in the built environment — helping to prevent the "outsourcing of pollution" by reinventing the market for typically carbon-intensive products and processes in the building industry. 

Tracks

  • Design & Materials

Speakers

  • Katie Bachman
  • Amanda Kaminsky
  • Stephen Bantillo
  • Lorenz Schilling

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11:15am to 12:15pm
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Turning Carbon into Value

Breakout

This session will explore the burgeoning market for carbon capture technologies that transform atmospheric CO2 into materials that can be used in the production of cement, plastics — and more. This dialogue isn't just about drawing down emissions, it's about creating entirely new revenue opportunities.

Tracks

  • Design & Materials
  • Business Model Innovation

Speakers

  • Noah Deich
  • Mark Herrema
  • Kate Gordon
  • Molly Morse

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12:30pm to 1:15pm
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Guru Lunch: Biomimicry in Practice

Lunch
The problem of getting people with different perspectives to talk to eachother is just as true in design as it is in politics. Designers stopped taking biology in college (or even high school). Engineers specialize early and may not take any further biology (or chemistry). And if nature can show us breakthrough structures, patterns, and concepts in energy, transportation, water systems, or textiles, who will be the few that know how to use this lens? Join Biomimicry Institute ED Beth Rattner in a conversation about how the Institute is helping entrepreneurs (and intrapreneurs) find the right biological models and then make next-generation circular and regenerative products.
About VERGE Guru Lunches: Join like minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

Tracks

  • Design & Materials

Speakers

  • Beth Rattner

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Guru Lunch: PropTech 2020 — Exploring the Most Promising Commercial Building Technologies

Lunch

Join Billy Grayson, Executive Director, Center for Sustainability and Economic Performance at The Urban Land Institute (ULI) for a discussion of emerging technologies that leading real estate companies are piloting TODAY that will likely be rolled out across portfolios soon. We will discuss some of the most promising near-term technologies in smart buildings, on-site energy production and storage, and advanced building materials.

About VERGE Guru Lunches: Join like minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

Tracks

  • Design & Materials

Speakers

  • Billy Grayson

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Guru Lunch: Reducing Food Waste Through Packaging

Lunch
In the U.S., we waste 63 million tons of food annually at a cost of $218 billion. Join ReFED to explore emerging packaging solutions designed to reduce food waste by prolonging product freshness and slowing spoilage of perishable foods. Collectively, these solutions have the potential to prevent 72,000 tons of food waste annually while creating $167 million in economic value, sparking significant interst from food manufacturers, retailers, entrepreneurs, and investors.
About VERGE Guru Lunches: Join like minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

Tracks

  • Design & Materials
  • Food & Water Systems

Speakers

  • Chris Cochran

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Guru Lunch: Healthy and Circular? Design and Materials Management

Lunch

Details to come! 

Tracks

  • Design & Materials

Speakers

  • Ryan Williams

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Guru Lunch: Creating More Sustainable Products with Bio-Based Feedstocks

Lunch

Join Anellotech’s Chief Science Officer Chuck Sorensen for a thought-provoking discussion about the challenges that renewable bio-based materials face to displace today’s petroleum-based plastics supply chain. To reduce product’s carbon footprints as much as possible, brand owners and technology innovators need to work together to develop creative approaches to change the paradigm and compete effectively against the massive scale of the petrochemical industry. Chuck brings an interesting perspective to the conversation, having spent a significant amount of time in his career developing process technologies for one of the world’s largest oil companies, then with one of the world’s most innovative materials companies developing material and product solutions. He now works for Anellotech, a sustainable technology company focused on commercializing innovative production of cost-competitive renewable chemicals and fuels from non-food biomass.    


About VERGE Guru Lunches: Join like minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

Tracks

  • Design & Materials
  • Food & Water Systems

Speakers

  • Dr. Charles Sorensen

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Thursday, October 18th, 2018
8:30am to 9:30am
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Biomimicry in Cities: Fireside Chat with Janine Benyus

Breakout

How can we design cities to function in harmony with the ecosystems they inhabit? By using a systemic, design-thinking approach, this session will explore the potential for cities to seek inspiration not only from nature as a whole but also from the specific environment in which they function. 

Tracks

  • Design & Materials
  • Logistics & Infrastructure

Speakers

  • Janine Benyus
  • Joel Makower

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12:15pm to 4:30pm
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Circular Plastics Summit

Summit

The Circular Plastics Summit is a half-day, invitation-only working session convening 100 key stakeholders to focus on how to redesign the plastics value chain to eliminate waste. 

Refer to our Circular Plastics Summit page  for more information and to request an invitation.

Tracks

  • Design & Materials
  • Business Model Innovation
  • Logistics & Infrastructure
  • Invitation Only

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1:30pm to 2:30pm
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Safe & Circular: Rethinking Design and Product Development

Breakout

Circular design doesn’t happen in hindsight: designers must integrate ideas around the circular economy from the inception of the product design process through to the end of a product’s useful life, ensuring true circularity for the materials, components and systems involved. Materials lie at the heart of this process: safe, circular materials choices form the foundation of successful circular design, but not all materials are safe enough or suitable for a circular economy.

Join this interactive session with Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute and Ellen MacArthur Foundation to explore ways to reframe the material health challenge as an opportunity for successful circular design, ensuring your work promotes a safe, circular economy.

Tracks

  • Design & Materials

Speakers

  • Marisa Guber
  • Emma Fromberg
  • Rachel Berman
  • Sarah Enaharo

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