At IBM, our approach is twofold: we are working to make our existing products and processes more efficient for both the environment and for business, while also developing new innovations that can help the world become smarter, drive economic and operational improvements, increase accountability and lessen environmental impact.
IBM
Fellowship Program Equips Business Leaders to Drive Impact Through Innovation
6 years ago - With growing demand for business leaders to embrace progressive business practices that respect both people and planet showing no sign of slowing down, it is now more important than ever to empower high-potential professionals to innovate and lead change. Companies already have social intrapreneurs in their midst — accomplished innovators inside companies — whose efforts are helping them meet these new sets of pressures and expectations.
The SDGs: Who Is Leading the Way One Year Later?
6 years ago - Every 15 years, the United Nations gets together to determine its next steps in bettering the earth and the people on it. In late 2015, this took the form of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs focus on climate action, decreasing poverty, increasing access to health, reducing inequality, and increasing sustainable development, in both rural and developed areas, over the next 15 years. Although the goals appear broad and ambitious, the UN aims to further the advancement of people while protecting and fostering the health and wellbeing of the planet.
Why a Lens on Diversity is one of the Most Critical Skills for Tomorrow’s Impact Professionals
6 years ago - This post was orginially published October 13, 2016 on Net Impact's Blog in advance of the 2016 Net Impact Conferece. By Cecily Joseph, VP Corporate Responsibility and Chief Diversity Officer and Ruha Devanesan, Manager, Global Diversity and Inclusion, Symantec.
White House, Google, Amazon Launch Big Data Tool to Help with Climate Resilience Planning
6 years ago - Despite international efforts to curb climate change, communities and companies alike need to prepare for the impacts of a changing climate. With this in mind, The White House has launched a new public-private collaboration to improve the availability and usability of data and information for climate resilience. Companies including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, Microsoft and IBM’s The Weather Company are working alongside NGOs and four U.S. Federal agencies to execute the project.
GSK, GE, Nestlé, Nike, Novozymes Among Companies ‘Changing the World’
6 years ago - Fortune has published the second edition of its “Change the World” list of the top 50 companies that are delivering positive social impact. Once again developed in partnership with Mark Kramer and Michael Porter’s non-profit social impact consulting firm FSG and their Shared Value Initiative, a platform for organizations seeking business solutions to social challenges, this year’s ranking focused on businesses that created shared value through activities that were also part of the companies’ core business strategy.
“C” Is For Cognitive Learning: IBM Watson, Sesame Street Team Up to Advance Childhood Education
6 years ago - The first five years of a child’s life are a critical window for learning and development, but we have yet to master how best to teach and engage children throughout that time. Hoping to advance preschool education, Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization that produces Sesame Street, has partnered with IBM to develop new educational platforms and products using Sesame’s early childhood expertise and IBM Watson’s cognitive computing technology.
How to Ground Your Brand Purpose in Reality
6 years ago - When you set out on your purpose journey, what steps can you take to ensure that your purpose will be genuinely transformational for your business? In the ten years that we’ve been championing purpose and helping organisations to craft purpose-led visions, we’ve learned lessons about how to ensure that purpose sticks. Above all, we’ve seen how vital it is for purpose to be grounded in reality. Right from the start, you must root your purpose in the political, economic, social and technological context in which you operate. We call this the ‘dig’ phase: a period of intensive research and analysis of the current environment and future trends that affect your business.
Trending: Enter Plastic Waste; Exit Stronger, Safer Materials
6 years ago - This week, we examine two innovations that not only divert plastic waste but turn it into stronger, more beneficial materials: IBM has discovered a way to convert polycarbonates into plastics safe for water purification, fiber optics and medical equipment; while shredded plastic waste is helping to create more durable, weather-resistant roads in Chennai, India.
HP, Apple Leading Action on Forced Labor, But ICT Sector ‘Must Do Far More’
6 years ago - The information and communications technology (ICT) industry is an at-risk sector for forced labor, and while most of the world’s largest ICT companies have publicly demonstrated awareness of the issue, far fewer have strong processes in place to address it.
AT&T Launches Smart Cities Framework with New Alliances, Integrated Vertical Solutions
7 years ago - AT&T is building a framework to help cities better serve their citizens. The tech giant is using Internet of Things (IoT) innovations to create impactful solutions for cities and forming alliances with technology leaders and industry organizations.
IBM Leverages Internet of Things to Tackle Air Pollution in Johannesburg
7 years ago - IBM Research has announced a collaboration agreement with the City of Johannesburg and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to apply advanced technologies to help the city deliver on its air quality management plan.Johannesburg is the economic hub of South Africa, generating 17 percent of the country's GDP. Originally established as a mining town, the city's mine dumps, residential and traffic emissions generated by the city's population of approximately 4.5 million people are largely responsible for the city's air pollution, IBM says, which includes ultrafine particulate matter particles — the most harmful to human health.
How Brands Are Tapping the Crowd, Competitors to Accelerate Innovation
7 years ago - In a Tuesday afternoon breakout that brought together a unique and diverse group, Steve Jennings from Better Ventures created a high-energy atmosphere where participants had frank discussions about their experiences and challenges in supporting entrepreneurial communities.Recognising the power of linking entrepreneurs and startups to large corporate companies and the benefits derived from supporting entrepreneurial communities, Jennings guided the panel to speak about their own journeys with this.What are some really good examples of startups or groups that we can learn from?
Religious Fervour, 'Green Giants,' Heartfelt Communication Abound on #SB15London, Day 2
7 years ago - On Tuesday, BBMG co-founder Raphael Bemporad hosted the second morning’s plenaries at SB ’15 London. He began by highlighting the transitionary power of sustainable brands.“As we begin the conversation today, I’d like us to think about the privileged position we occupy as a force for societal and market transformation,” he said. “We are uniquely placed: We can harness the emotional power of brands to convey stories and to channel aspirations, but we also embody sustainability — we’re system thinkers, we’re innovators. When we bring these two things together, we have the power to shape culture and shape the market.”
IBM’s 2014 CSR Report Highlights City Resiliency, Public Health Efforts
7 years ago - The IBM Smarter Cities Challenge last year achieved concrete results in cities in Australia, Ireland, Mexico and the United States, according to the company’s 2014 Corporate Responsibility Report.This included improving infrastructure and its effectiveness, integrating municipally-owned solar energy into the existing power grid, planning for economic development and reversing neighborhood decline while increasing tax revenue.The report details how the company’s technology and talent are transforming governments, institutions, communities and the quality of life for people around the world.
CVS Health Taps IBM's Watson to Develop Care-Management Solutions for Chronic Disease
7 years ago - CVS Health and IBM have announced they will use predictive analytics and Watson cognitive computing to transform care management services for patients with chronic disease. The partnership will enable health care practitioners to use Watson to advance care management beyond programs and services typically available today.
3D Printing: How the Personalized Power of Production Could Lead Us to a More Sustainable World
7 years ago - We live in an era of such dramatic, technology-enabled change that it’s hard, sometimes, to get a real handle on just how important the latest new platform or digital business trend will be.When it comes to 3D printing there is no longer any doubt. After all this is a technology that has been employed, on a specialist scale, within industry for decades. But, much like the way the modern personal computer grew out of, and disrupted, the mainframe computing industry, the advent of personal and portable 3D printers is set to radically change the world of manufacturing, fashion and even medicine.
Report: Sustainability Innovation Powering Business Growth
7 years ago - Revenues from company-defined portfolios of sustainable products and services grew by 91 percent between 2010 and 2013, according to a new report by The Conference Board, a public interest research association.For S&P Global 100 companies that break out revenue for sustainable products or services separately, that revenue stream grew at six times the rate of overall company results.
IoT Technology Helping AT&T, IBM Revolutionize City Water Management
7 years ago - AT&T, IBM and Mueller Water Products have teamed up to use Internet of Things (IoT) technology to address water sustainability in cities. Their partnership combines Echologics sensors and sound technology from Mueller Water Products with AT&T’s LTE wireless network to detect water pressure, temperature and leaks in urban water systems. The IBM Water Management Center helps aggregate the water data, providing a complete view of past, present and future performance.
Smart Data at the Heart of Pro-Social Brands
8 years ago - “Big Data” and “Social Good” may be the yin and yang of tomorrow’s most successful brands. Both are recognized as important components of contemporary marketing strategy, yet they are not typically thought of as bedmates. That is changing.The growing expectation that brands should make meaningful contributions to the world has put pressure on marketers to find profitable ways to do so. They must carefully select causes that align with the brand’s ethos and can be seamlessly woven into their business models. But how to find such rare pearls? The answer lies, in part, with data.
IBM, Mars Launch New Data-Driven Effort to Advance Global Food Safety
8 years ago - Scientists from IBM Research and Mars have established a new collaborative food safety platform aimed at leveraging advances in genomics to further the understanding of what makes food safe.The Consortium for Sequencing the Food Supply Chain will conduct the largest-ever metagenomics study to categorize and understand microorganisms and the factors that influence their activity in a normal, safe factory environment. IBM and Mars say this work could be extended into the larger context of the food supply chain — from farm to fork — and lead to new insights into how microorganisms interact within a factory ecology and be better-controlled by new data and science-driven practices.