One year ago, the Office of Business Engagement (OBE) and UW–Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) teamed-up with prominent businesses to spark important conversations about environmental sustainability. Known as the Business Sustainability Leadership Forum (BSLF), the group has been meeting regularly to share insights and identify common sustainability challenges.
“What makes this group exciting and unique is the diversity of perspectives and experience from industry, university and government partners that are brought together,” says Sara Braas, associate director of OBE and one of the main BSLF coordinators. “The result is a more thorough and profound understanding of the cross-sector sustainability challenges and, ultimately, the most innovative shared solutions.”
Throughout its first year, BSLF partners have been refining the group’s scope and mission. In conjunction with the Sustainability Research Hub on campus, it has developed a strong network of leading experts on campus. The work continues in tandem with UW–Madison’s RISE-EARTH initiative, which will accelerate the growth of UW–Madison’s environmental sustainability research, adding up to 40 new campus-funded hires at all levels across the university.
“Creating space for the exchange of ideas and building connections is an extremely important and valuable function,” notes Braas. “But this is a group of doers who quickly identified the desire for action.”
At the group’s last meeting in October, hosted by American Family Insurance, more than 40 representatives from businesses, campus units and governmental partners joined OBE and Nelson Institute at “The Spark” office building in downtown Madison, a space that epitomizes sustainable innovation. There, the group began to hone-in on its focus and purpose: a shared research project.
“There is a great deal of enthusiasm, insight and innovation emerging from the Forum,” says Aly Fleming, Director of Public Private Partnerships at NIES. “The participants are communicating authentically about challenges and successes and, as a result, they’ve collectively identified project work that will have a shared impact in our state and beyond.”
As the group moves into its second year, BSLF will start conducting research and collaborative projects to advance public-private partnerships in sustainability. It will also continue to welcome new members.
“We have an incredible group of top businesses from Wisconsin and the region that operate globally — but there’s more room at the table,” says Fleming. “With more diverse partnership and participation in this work, we know we’ll see successful generation and adoption of innovative sustainability practices.”
If you are a leader on sustainability at a corporation with strong ties to Wisconsin and interested in getting involved, contact OBE.