Six Month Update

Challenge

Greenomics is a collaborative consultancy that identifies opportunities and risks for businesses while helping them achieve sustainable business practices.

Part of our work is educational in nature and we sought a way to explain sustainable business drivers in an informative and fun manner, based on real life scenarios.

Strategy

To develop a tool using our sustainability guidelines that could be used with a diverse workforce of multiple backgrounds, ages, organizational levels, and in different industries and settings.

Results

We developed Greenomics the Game and the associated instructional design as a tool that can be used in a number of scenarios for team building, ice breaking, and explaining the importance of developing sustainable business practices.

To drive home the tool’s objectives, we used the same sustainability guidelines we recommend to our clients by incorporating renewable resources and non-toxic biodegradable materials, and promoting positive human conditions by hiring members of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Pathways program to assemble the game.

We also invite players to offer suggestions for additional improvements and changes to manufacturing that will increase the chance of the entire package being 100% compostable at the end of its lifecycle.

The combination of the story of how the tool was built, the tool itself, and the instructional design has proven to be very effective. Greenomics received international recognition at the bi-annual conference in Amsterdam in May 2010 by winning the Big 5 Competition sponsored by ING and the Global Reporting Initiative for innovation in sustainability. This enabled Greenomics to present to over 1200 delegates from around the world.

Greenomics was invited to host a games night for students at Capilano University engaged in sustainability programs and we have since entered into discussions with an international organization dedicated to working with the next generation of entrepreneurs, to develop a program utilizing the game. We are also engaging with School districts to develop programs for students in grades 10-12.

Next Steps

We are introducing our workshops and Greenomics the Game into the European Union and Turkey, and will continue to explore options for other opportunities.where education and engagement are important first steps.