Boy, do they know how to get excited about innovation in Barcelona.
Many of our corporate members, international partners, and sustainability thought leaders are still recovering from what was an amazing Sustainable Brands global conference launch last week in Spain.
In partnership with Quiero Salvar El Mundo Haciendo Marketing, Sustainable Brands ’15 Barcelona — now our third European conference — launched with over 300 attendees and an overwhelming energy, enthusiasm and effort.
The conference kicked off the Sunday prior with a first ever community engagement activity Sustainable Sunday where brands had the opportunity to help bring sustainability to life for Barcelona citizens. Centered in and hosted by the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona), brands and organizations such as BASF, Samsung, Acciona, Marine Stewardship Council and La Caixa, one of Spain's largest banks, created activities and interactive workshops for children and families to help them learn more about sustainabile issues and lifestyles. From learning about sustainable fishing practices in a gigantic, inflatable pool to understanding the role of chemistry in solving some of the world's most pressing problems, hundreds of families were able to participate and learn more about sustainability in the heart of their city. Lectures on renewable energy, sustainable fashion and textiles, understanding eco-labels and more were well attended throughout the day, and participants enjoyed documentary film screenings and music as well, all designed to help create a clearer picture of what a delightful sustainable future might look like.
The following day, the first Sustainable Brands conference in Spain saw the convening of not only some of the world’s largest brands and our corporate member community, but an ever-growing consortium of thought leaders in sustainability as well as disruptive entrepreneurs, researchers, NGO's and others interested in collaborating to drive the shift to a sustainable 21st century economy.
The Sustainable Brands Corporate Member community was represented by leaders from BASF, Interface, Campbell’s Soup, Ford, and Philips, who joined innovators from other brands including Patagonia, Kingfisher and Levi’s.
During the event, the Co-Creating Cities initiative, underwritten by Ford and the Barcelona Town Hall was launched with the aim of strengthening the link between Sustainable Brands and the City of Barcelona. Attendees, speakers and partners of SB Barcelona met in multiple innovation circles to imagine and define tangible solutions to one of the city’s most pressing sustainable challenges: mobility and transportation. Creative strategies and inspiring solutions were created during thought-provoking sessions. Resulting ideas will be presented to the Town Hall, as well as at the global Smart Cities Summit which is held each autum in Barcelona.
Attendees also participated in a workshop exploring how to unleash shared value through human-centered design, and listened to breakout sessions on topics ranging from the power of sustainable fashion to change lives, sustainability as a driver of innovation, and opportunities for businesses as partners in the implementation of the United Nations Post-2015 development agenda.
SB ’15 Barcelona continued a trend of strong, global momentum-inspiring conference launches while building on a wonderful Sustainable Brands launch earlier this year in Bangkok.
In partnership with Quiero Salvar El Mundo Haciendo Marketing and Sustainable Brands, we would like to thank all of our attendees, participants and sponsors for helping create what was a truly special, meaningful and impactful event that marks the start of a growing community of changemakers in Europe.
And a special thank you to our partners at Quiero. Your enthusiasm, tireless effort and endless spark go well beyond this event and we all carry this momentum forward.
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Published May 5, 2015 11am EDT / 8am PDT / 4pm BST / 5pm CEST