Collaboration is word that is touted a lot in sustainability but often the conversation does not go beyond a call for action. Questions such as what does the perfect partnership look like and what are the rules of engagement are often left untouched with little insight into the challenges and opportunities of teaming up.
With an ever-increasing list of sustainability concerns, from resource scarcity to climate adaptation, business has been looking for solutions beyond its corporate sphere for years - with both success and failure. But where are the new forms of collaboration cropping up and what can we learn from them?
Partnerships can break down the traditional barriers of competition with brands looking to each other for support. Rivals such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo and Unilever and P&G joined forces to develop more sustainable refrigeration, while in the Côte d’Ivoire a government-business initiative sees 12 of the world’s largest chocolate and cocoa companies, including Nestlé and Mars, working together to help farmers meet the growing demand for cocoa.
Academia and industry can also offer each other complementary skills; the former bringing research and development expertise while the later has the financial capacity and human resource power to drive a project forward. One example is the MAKING app, a joint project between Nike and the London College of Fashion that aims to de-couple design from the degradation of nature.
Another innovative approach, particularly popular in the technology sector, is crowdsourcing. Examples such as the Pearson Foundation, UNESCO and Nokia’s Education for All Crowdsourcing Challenge and the CloudCamp Social Good Hackathon, sponsored by HP and Intel, all show the potential of people power to solve social problems.
Get involved
On Thursday 6 November, 2 - 3.30pm (GMT) we are hosting a live chat on what a perfect partnership looks like and would like you to join our panel of experts in the comments section below. To participate, you can send us your thoughts and questions beforehand via the form below, tweet us at @GuardianSustBiz with #askGSB or email your question to jenny.purt@theguardian.com.
Panel (with more TBC)
Anno Galema, coordinator public private partnerships, Department Sustainable Economic Development, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Tom Dawkins, co-founder, StartSomeGood.com
Angela Lazou, ocean campaigner, Greenpeace
David Schofield, group head of corporate responsibility, Aviva
Malcolm Hett, global sustainability manager, Mondelēz International
Read more stories like this:
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