Brightening Our Corner Newsletter - February 2019

Seven international entrepreneurial teams will take the stage at GreenBiz Group’s Circularity 19 event in Minneapolis this June to find out who will win the world’s premiere biomimicry design prize.

The $100,000 Ray of Hope Prize^®, sponsored by the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, will be awarded to one of seven finalist teams in the Biomimicry Institute’s  Launchpad, an accelerator program for early-stage, nature-inspired innovations. A $25,000 second prize from an anonymous donor will also be awarded.

“Awarding the Ray of Hope Prize is one of the highlights of our year,” said John A. Lanier, executive director of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. “We get to see the best of the best when it comes to aspiring entrepreneurs who understand the importance of harmonizing business and the environment. They share the same values that Ray Anderson held dear, values also embraced by the outstanding team at GreenBiz.”
 
Read the full story.

Check out GreenBiz's Circular Weekly for more on the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge and the Ray of Hope Prize.

Ray C. Anderson Foundation Grant to Emory Supports Statewide Climate Consortium co-founded with UGA, Georgia Tech

The Ray C. Anderson Foundation has awarded a $650,000 grant to Emory University to advance the Georgia Climate Project, a state-wide consortium co-founded by Emory, the University of Georgia, and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and joined by Agnes Scott College, Georgia Southern University, Spelman College, and the University of North Georgia.

This foundational grant will support efforts to build a network of experts who can improve understanding of climate impacts and solutions and better position Georgia to respond to a changing climate.  Working with partners in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, the Georgia Climate Project recently released a 40-question Georgia Climate Research Roadmap. Planned upcoming activities include a Georgia Climate Information Portal, a collection of Georgia Climate Stories, expanded support for student-driven climate solutions, and a Georgia Climate Conference November 7-8, 2019.

Read more.

The Ray is Hitting the Speaker's Circuit

The team from The Ray is hitting the speaker’s circuit! This week, The Ray’s executive director Allie Kelly will deliver a keynote speech at the MOVE conference in London, focused on radically disrupting mobility through technology and innovation. Then on March 15th, Allie will be speaking at TEDxAtlanta. This year’s theme is CTRL+ALT+DEL, and Allie’s talk will focus on rebooting the roadways. You can purchase tickets to attend that event here.

But it’s not just talk at The Ray! If you’ve driven on the highway recently, you’ve probably noticed the new cable barrier between the north and southbound lanes. These barriers are what Ray would call “so right, so smart.” They are more cost efficient than concrete barriers and highly effective at preventing vehicles from crossing over into oncoming traffic. Not only that, the cables are designed to absorb and distribute energy from impacts to reduce damage and injury in the instance of an accident. Now that’s smart engineering!

Interface Associates Still Inspired by Ray's Legacy

This year marks the 25th Anniversary since Ray Anderson made his famous epiphany speech, and two weeks agom 1,000 Interface associates from around the globe met in Atlanta. As John Lanier mentioned in his Ecocentricity blog last week, the "L-Bomb" (a.k.a."Love") got dropped a lot at the meeting. Check out this blog from Interface senior designer, Andy Porter, that illustrates how the company's designers in LaGrange still gain inspiration from Ray everyday.

Ecocentricity Blog: Climate Action Ninjas

By John A. Lanier

I am computer-literate-ish. I mastered the power button long ago, I can handle the basics of both Windows 10 and Mac OS X, and I know how to set a home page on multiple different web browsers. If you ask more of me though, I am likely to disappoint you greatly.

Which is why I’m glad to be part of a team. Valerie Bennett not only handles our Foundation’s communications, but she manages our website as well. When I send her this blog each week, it’s in a Word document, and she works her magic to get it up on our site. She also periodically pulls and sends to me analytics on how well each blog does in terms of reach and readership.

But remember, I’m only computer-literate-ish, so when I see data on clicks and impressions and what-not, I’m still generally clueless. That’s why I love it when people send me a note telling me that they read and enjoyed a particular post. I received one of those notes recently.    Read more.

Biomimicry Launchpad is Open for Applications

Generous innovators know that our world is interconnected, and that design that “takes, makes, and wastes” ends up hurting all species. That’s why we’re committed to supporting a new kind of entrepreneur - one who can deploy nature-based solutions that give more than they take. If you have a bio-inspired idea that helps create a more resilient future, we want to help you make it a reality.

Interested? Apply by April 7, 2019 at innovation.biomimicry.org/launchpad

Ray C. Anderson Center is "Buzzing" with Sustainability Activity

With so many exciting things happening at the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business at Georgia Tech's Scheller College of Business, it's hard to capture them all.   

Here are a few key highlights:
 

Center-affiliated faculty Dr. Jeffrey Hales rang the opening bell at NASDAQ and the London Stock Exchange in recognition of the codification of accounting standards by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, which he chairs.

A record number of MBA students have been selected as 2018-19 Scheller College MBA Sustainability Fellows. The Center has also launched the Undergraduate Sustainability Ambassadors program.

The Carbon Reduction Challenge (initially funded by the Foundation's NextGen Committee, and now funded by the Foundation) was honored with three awards at the 2018 Reimagine Education Conference & Awards in San Francisco. This year’s competition received 1,184 project submissions from 39 countries. Submissions were evaluated by 160 international judges. The CRC won first place in the “Sustainability” category as well as first place in the “Natural Sciences” discipline. It was also selected as one of ten finalists to advance to the Grand Finale. 

The Sustainable Business Consulting Practicum hosted five projects for the following sponsors: America’s Remanufacturing Company (ARC), Chick-fil-A, Delta Air Lines, Rubicon Global, and The Coca-Cola Company. Highlights included one team making recommendations to Delta Air Lines on their sustainability strategy and another team creating a business model for The Coca-Cola Company in support of greater recycling at convenience stores within the context of its World Without Waste global initiative.