We are pleased to announce that IBM will be Start's
exclusive partner to lead a nine day Summit in September 2010.
IBM will convene business and industry thought leaders to
discuss the next steps that should be taken to enable economic,
environmental and societal sustainability.
As the world becomes more complex and interconnected, a profound
shift in management and governance towards far more collaborative
approaches across industry is now needed. The IBM Summit at
Start will serve as a new starting point for businesses and policy
makers to consider not only what they can do for sustainability but
also what sustainability can do for the economy.
Whilst the IBM Summit forms the business-to-business engagement
for Start, the other partners will focus on various events and
initiatives taking place across the country throughout the year.
The goal is to help people across the UK take clear, simple,
positive and practical steps towards a more sustainable future. A
twelve day 'Garden Party to Make a Difference' will be held in the
gardens of Clarence House, Lancaster House and Marlborough House
from 8th to 19th September. Start is also working closely with The
Prince of Wales' Mayday Network, which was established in 2007 to
encourage businesses to address climate change.
Opening on 8th September 2010, the IBM Summit at Start will take
place at Lancaster House and will be a series of one day events
running consecutively over nine days. Each of the days at the
Summit will focus on a different theme and bring together daily
around 120 business and public sector leaders with subject matter
experts to discuss the issues and opportunities for working
together to build a sustainable and smarter planet. The focus
will be on dialogue and discussion across the influential audience
with peer interaction being key to the success of the Summit.
Themes to be discussed include: The future of cities, energy,
transport, skills, future business leaders, smarter supply chains,
financing sustainability and the information revolution. The
final day of the Summit will bring together the key issues and
ideas coming out of the prior 8 days of discussion and debate. The
audience on that day will be challenged to review and refine these
outputs, and identify new ways to collaborate to turn these outputs
into recommendations for British business.
Speaking at the launch of Start in Manchester, February 2010,
The Prince of Wales said that "Far too few talk about the potential
for a sustainable future to be better and more rewarding-both for
us and for Nature-than the lives we lead now. This potential needs
to be communicated across the country and, indeed, across the
world."
Sir Tom Shebbeare, who leads the Start initiative for The Prince
of Wales, said: "Faced with the inevitability of climate change we
all need to be thinking of simple, practical ways to live more
sustainably. These need not be painful but we must all try to
embrace them. With the help of some of Britain's most respected
companies and charities we hope to demonstrate how we can all make
a start - and have fun doing so."
Stephen Leonard, IBM CEO UK & Ireland, said: "As we begin
the decade of smart, the business imperative for sustainability
action is strong, whether from regulatory, stakeholder, or simply
cost efficiency pressures. IBM will convene the thought
leaders and subject matter experts to discuss 'what' business can
do and 'how' we can do it together."
He added, "Right across our client base and from conversations
we have with industry peers we've learned that there is enormous
hunger to learn how to make the planet smarter and more
sustainable."
IBM's Summit at Start will run from Wednesday, September 8th to
Thursday, September 16th, 2010. For further information
please visit: www.ibm.com/uk/start/