Program
highlights
In today’s interconnected world, activating local solutions is the new imperative. The pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and evolving social priorities highlight the need to refocus on local communities, economies, and actors in order to continue a path toward sustainable growth and a more resilient economy. Through the lens of Regenerating Local, we will explore how local solutions can restore ecosystems, strengthen communities, rebuild relationships, and regain trust. Together, we can create a better future for our businesses and the planet, paving the way for a more prosperous and sustainable next chapter.
As always, our sessions throughout SB’23 San Diego will illuminate the key trends facing brands, and we will hear from leaders across the spectrum, including sustainability, brand, innovation/R&D and more.
Find inspiration on the Plenary Stage
Hear from purpose-driven, action-oriented visionaries from the world’s leading brands who are focused on delivering positive results for businesses, consumers, the planet, and society.
Multidisciplinary experts will present the latest leadership skills and capacities, case studies of reinventing business models at scale, and inspiration to transform your relationship with customers, suppliers, investors, employees, and communities.
Plenary sessions will focus on these topics united under the common theme of Regenerating Local:
- Building shared understanding, in practical business terms, of the value of bioregional regeneration and prosocial governance
- Designing and advancing partnership-centric solutions with local impact at the core
- Fueling neighborhood and regional economies while equipping communities for a just and restorative future
- Combining radical new relationships and revolutionary technologies to create regenerative supply chains
- Applying key lessons from 3D printing, microgrids, vertical farming and other location-based new business models in a variety of contexts and industries
- Making productive use of the unique energy and stakeholder engagement talents of Gen Z, including in innovation labs and boardrooms
Virginie Helias
Chad Pregracke
Founder/President
Living Lands & Waters
Aileen Lerch
Sustainability Senior Manager
Allbirds
Esha Chhabra
Author, Working to Restore
Beacon Press Co
Take away tools from Breakout Sessions
Turn theory into practice with breakout sessions led by subject-matter experts who help you to understand regeneration on a deep level and walk away prepared to drive regenerative innovation at your organization.
Activating Brand Purpose
Learning how to define, articulate, embed and activate purpose, in order to serve people, planet and profit successfully.
- Exploring ‘purpose fragility’ patterns and learning to have real, honest, and productive conversations around them
- Navigating brand implications of unexpected, sudden or otherwise disruptive changes along the value chain
- Understanding how to dissect successful brand activism and iterate strategically in a multidimensional VUCA environment
- Evolving best practices in employee hiring, upskilling and empowerment practices that live up to bold purpose statements
Shifting Customer Demand & Behavior
Harnessing effective storytelling and new tools to shift demand toward sustainable lifestyles throughout the system, thus shaping culture and inspiring desirable behavior change at scale – locally, regionally, and globally.
- Lessons on ‘citizen science’ and other aspects of multistakeholder collaboration from a project driving kelp forest restoration near San Diego
- Promoting equitable access to nature and supporting emerging BIPOC environmental leaders
- Activating elders and retirees as a regenerative force - on local, regional, national and international levels alike
- Tapping into the powers of ‘neighboring’ to activate communities, build social cohesion and make progress in gaining/regaining a sense of shared realities
Transformative Governance & Metrics
Evolving governance to deliver forward-looking leadership, good growth, organizational adaptability, as well as goal-setting, measurement and reporting fit for a just and regenerative economy.
- Leading-edge guidance on verifying data and claims in light of EU’s CSRD and the US FTC's Green Guides update
- Understanding nature-positive pledges and the sharp rise of biodiversity as a critical dimension of corporate sustainability agendas
- Navigating organizational transformation responding to the evolving needs of sustainability leadership
- How to credibly and creatively expand the ecosystem of partners for a truly holistic carbon reduction strategy
Regenerative Operations & Supply Chain
Upgrading operations, logistics, purchasing, procurement and supply chain management toward healing, resilience and win-win shared value at all scales.
- How and why social procurement can have significantly more impact than donation- and grant-based supply chain engagement programs
- Complying with new supply chain traceability regulations while achieving efficiency in sourcing and remaining profitable
- The emergence of bioregional regeneration as a driver of business strategy, innovation and stakeholder engagement
- Updating and upgrading playbooks on deep decarbonization and transformation of supply chains
Next-Generation Design & Business Model Innovation
Exploring the most impactful product and service innovation gaining momentum at the intersection of regeneration, localization and business value.
- Next-generation materials in service of innovation at the intersection of local impact and regeneration
- New models based on waste-to-resource and potential-to-reality conversions helping to eliminate food deserts, mobility deserts, skill deserts, and more
- AI-for-good solutions bringing a new generation of customized solutions to global agriculture and all sectors dependent on it
- The future of packaging: challenges and key directions for innovation in packaging
Take a deep-dive and hear about the latest research in Workshops
Be sure to get an All-Access pass! Tailor your experience to the needs of your business through these two-hour deep-dive insight series and workshops.
- Research insights series: consumer preferences and behaviors
- Research insights series: the business case for sustainability and regeneration
- Last mile circularity: commonly underestimated elements of building circular models
- Current challenges in corporate political responsibility: explaining "why" and "how" in an environment of distrust
- Youth engagement and educational resources for the content creators and regenerative strategists of tomorrow
- Prosocial governance and other step-change upgrades in corporate governance
The Sustainable Brands experience
Connect with your community of change-makers and innovators from dawn til dusk. Whether it is sunrise activities, cocktail receptions, or intimate dinner discussions, you’ll discover a myriad of ways to mix and mingle with the best and brightest in sustainability, virtually or in person.
- Morning Yoga
Relax and regenerate yourself! Come together in the mornings for a centering yoga class.
- Opening Night Reception
Enjoy drinks, light bites and great conversation as you greet old friends, welcome new ones, and get excited for the week ahead.
- Women's Leadership Lunch
Meet the women who are driving change in sustainability and build powerful relationships.
- SB CONNECT! Party
Don’t miss the largest SB party of the year! Get ready to mix and mingle after an intense week of learning and collaborating.
…and more to come!
