Católica and Planetiers launch Innovation Hub in Sustainability and Regeneration
INSURE.hub is the new platform that results from the mobilization of the Porto Regional Centre of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, through its schools - Católica Porto Business School and Escola Superior de Biotecnologia - and Planetiers New Generation. It aims to create a space for innovation and management in a circular perspective, with the goal of full sustainability (net-zero) and / or regeneration (positive pursuits), anticipating the future and adaptation to global environmental challenges. The INSURE.hub launch event will take place on October 27th, at 2:30 p.m., at the Porto Regional Centre, and will also be transmitted online.
João Pinto, vice-president of the Porto Regional Centre and faculty member of Católica Porto Business School, explains, "INSURE.hub - Innovation in Sustainability and Regeneration hub aims to create a vibrant international ecosystem of transdisciplinary knowledge that promotes circular, sustainable and regenerative business solutions, powered by disruptive technologies. The Porto Regional Centre joins Planetiers New Generation, providing a set of national and international entities that are thought leaders and transformation agents for Sustainability and Regeneration.
"Planetiers New Generation was created with the ambition to develop a transformation program for Portugal guided by Sustainability and Regeneration, so being partners of INSURE.hub is a natural step," says António Vasconcelos, from Planetiers New Generation. "We have a team that has been developing sustainability strategies for about a decade, working in partnership with leading international NGOs in transformative action from scientific thinking with over 30 years of application, as is the case of The Natural Step International, born in Sweden," concludes.
The INSURE.hub: Sectoral or territorial and international co-creation for sustainability
"We intend INSURE.hub to be an initiative that involves all stakeholders to prepare solutions in line with the 2030 targets," says Manuela Pintado, director of the Centre for Biotechnology and Fine Chemistry (CBQF) of the Porto Regional Centre. António Vasconcelos, from Planetiers New Generation, explains, "INSURE.hub will operate in a unique ecosystem of sectoral or territorial and international co-creation, with the contribution of international experts with experience in the implementation of disruptive, circular, sustainable and/or regenerative processes.
INSURE.hub will act on four fundamental axes: support to companies and clusters in business development and new investments; promotion of sustainable and regenerative entrepreneurship; mobilization of society; and academic training.
International Conference to launch INSURE.hub on October 27th
The first International Conference to launch INSURE.hub will bring together nationally and internationally renowned speakers from academia and the business world to discuss best practices, challenges and great opportunities in this area of Sustainability and Regeneration: Edwin Janssen and Rüdiger Rhörig (Sustainable Growth Associates - The Natural Step Germany) who will present a European study made to companies on Sustainability, Innovation and Leadership and show how companies can create a vision of sustainable and regenerative future (backcasting), creating a roadmap of innovation and value creation to achieve it; Tom Bregman (Future-Fit Foundation, UK) who will talk about Future-Fit Business as a tool aligned with backcasting; João Pinto (Católica Porto Business School) and Sofia Santos (Caixa de Crédito Agrícola) will debate, with Tom Bregman (Future-Fit Foundation), Financing and sustainable and regenerative investment; the theme about the new era of regenerative business will be presented by John Fullerton (CEO Capital Institute, US); John Melo (CEO Amyris Inc) and Manuela Pintado (coordinator of the Alchemy project and director of CBQF/ESB/UCP) will present the case study of one of the largest European projects in biotechnology - Alchemy; as well as other topics.
The presentation and the launch event will be held on the afternoon of October 27, in a face-to-face format at the Porto Regional Centre and will also transmitted online. The program is available here.