Highlights of the Volans’ Singapore Tour – January 17th to 21st, 2011

John Elkington and Amy Birchall formed part of the Volans team that visited the sunny island-state in January to reconnect with partner organisations, speak at various industry events and meet various actors engaged and interested in the social innovation and sustainability space.

The team engaged various audiences in Singapore on themes ranging across sustainability and climate change, to social entrepreneurship and innovation.  Events that Volans participated in across the week include:

  • “Making Sustainability Work: Creating Enabling Environments for Innovation and Implementation” – lecture hosted by the Civil Service College and Centre on Asia and Globalisation, Singapore
  • “Innovation, CSR, Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship” – dialogue with the Singapore Economic Development Board

  • “The Changing state of Business, Civil Society and Government interactions in light of sustainability imperatives” – session with Master of Public Policy students at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
  • “Why the Business of Social Innovation is Critical for Global Sustainability” – talk with INDEVOR, an MBA students club which serves as a forum for social, environmental and ethical issues in business at INSEAD Singapore
  • “The Evolving Social Innovation Agenda: What’s in it for Asia” – lecture hosted by the Lien Centre for Social Innovation as part of their Social Conversations series
  • “Sustainable Integrated Efforts: Engaging Government Bodies and Industry Partners to Make Bold Strides for Climate Change” – roundtable discussion hosted by the National Climate Change Secretariat
  • “The Sustainability Challenge: How Business can Lead towards Solutions” – dinner and talk hosted by the Singapore Compact for Corporate Social Responsibility and sponsored by SingTel

The Volans team also had the opportunity to meet and catch up with both established and up and coming social entrepreneurs and organisations to learn about their work and perspectives on Asia. These inspirational individuals and teams include the Social Enterprise Association, social entrepreneur Elim Chew, the Singapore International Foundation, Impact Investment Exchange, Aidha, World Toilet Organisation, the O School, the Family Business Network, Allianz, Unilever, Accenture and many more.

Read John Elkington’s entry on The Guardian Sustainable Business Network’s blog here.