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The Sustainable Business Canvas serves as a foundation for the systematic development of sustainability-oriented business models in the context of an interactive workshop. The present manual provides guidance for conducting such workshops.

The Business Model Canvas was originally developed by Osterwalder and Pigneur and serves to visualize and analyze business models (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2011). Today, it is the probably most widelyused
tool for start-up management and has become the standard for start-up presentations and workshops (Blank & Dorf, 2012).

Sustainablity-oriented development of business models

In the context of the StartUp4Climate initiative, a model was developed on the
basis of the Business Model Canvas that enables sustainability-oriented development of business models: the Sustainable Business Canvas.

In a first step, existing methodological approaches of (general as well as sustainability-
oriented) business model development were examined and explained in a framework paper (Tiemann & Fichter, 2014). The analysis of existing approaches and specific features of sustainability-oriented
business models provided the basis for developing a concept for integrating sustainability in the development of business models (Fichter & Tiemann, 2015).

Interactive workshop

The Sustainable Business Canvas serves as a foundation for the systematic development of sustainability-oriented business models in the context of an interactive workshop. The present manual provides guidance for conducting such workshops.

The workshop concept was tested and optimized at the Businessplan-Wettbewerb Berlin Brandenburg (Business plan competition Berlin Brandenburg) 2014/2015 and in the class on Eco-Venturing taught at the University of Oldenburg in 2014/2015.

Sustainable Business Canvas: available online

Besides the workshop concept, the Sustainable Business Canvas has been implemented as an online tool and is available on the www.start-green.net portal.

Thus, workshop participants have the opportunity to work iteratively both before and after the workshop. The integration of the relevant tools for in-depth analysis in business model development enables participants to go into greater detail.

The German American Chamber of Commerce of California (GACC West) is hosting a group of selected German companies and experts in the water sector with a focus on water treatment and water management. Highlight of the trip from September 12-16 will be the Germany California Water symposium in September 13, 2016.

The group will meet with private businesses, research institutions, and government representatives to exchange ideas, discuss new developments and lay the groundwork for future cooperation.

Germany California Water Symposium

The full day water symposium on Tuesday, September 13, will be a chance to network and to exchange ideas. With a focus on transatlantic approaches, the program includes speeches from American and German water experts, as well as presentations from 9 innovative German companies.

A conference entitled ‘SHIFTing the Support of Entrepreneurship in Eco-Innovation – The Roles of Universities, Incubators, Business Development Organisations, Design Service Providers, Funders and Interagents’ will take place in Brussels, Belgium, on 13 January 2016, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The conference is the final event for the ‘Support Systems for Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Transformation’ (SHIFT) project, a research project supported by the ECO-INNOVERA Network. The SHIFT project partners are the Borderstep Institute Germany, Aalto University, Finland, and Linköping University, Sweden.

The conference programme will include presentations on trends in sustainable innovation and support systems for green entrepreneurship, as well as interactive dialogue sessions with researchers and stakeholders, and policy outlooks on green SMEs and circular economy issues from the European Commission.

Please register now, the workshop is free of charge.

Venue: Stockholm Region EU Office; Avenue Marnix 28; 1000 Brussels, Belgium

Germany is realizing an energy revolution. Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI) offers a “Germany’s Energiewende – The Energy Transition” series of webinars which has been specially tailored to address the needs of international companies in the fields of renewable energies, smart grids, energy storage, and energy-efficiency technologies.

Borderstep collaborates with GTAI on initiatives in the clean technology sector fostering an exchange of ideas and trade between Germany and California, a region whose sustainability goals and technological innovation is similarly ambitions as those of Germany.

Please visit GTAI’s website and register for the free webinar series. Join now.

The Newsletter No. 65 of the German Center of Research and Innovation New York of August 2015 focuses on entrepreneurship. It presents the Borderstep Institut and its research activities in this field.

The article focuses on the transatlantic landing pad program, which was established by Borderstep and LACI. The landing pad program aims to simplify the process for young and established companies to approach-and eventually enter-cleantech lead markets in California and Germany.

On 21 and 22 October, the LACI Cleantech Global Showcase 2015 will be held in Los Angeles. The Borderstep Institute will present the latest research results in the fields of cleantech and green start-ups.

The event of Borderstep Partners Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) brings together founders, investors and policy makers and among the most important cleantech event in the US. The focus of the Global Cleantech Showcase topics such as access to funders, the ecosystem for investors and new technologies. Flagship projects from around the world present themselves to the cleantech community. Networking receptions offer contacts between donors and startups .

Tickets can be booked here.

GloSho 2015 Program

Borderstep IT expert Dr. Ralph Hintemann and Borderstep founder Prof. Dr. Klaus Fichter present on September 7, 2015 Copenhagen Conference on the EnviroInfo & ICT4S latest research findings to the development of the energy requirement of computer terminals.

The lecture is based on a research paper "Energy demand of Workplace Computer Solutions - A comprehensive assessment including both end-user devices and the power consumption they induce in datacenters." It deals with the question of how the energy consumption of computer terminals evolved.

Here, not only the energy demand of the terminal is considered, but also the energy demand which is caused by the use of the terminal in data centers. This energy demand is increasing significantly. For efficient devices it is already much higher than the energy demand of the terminal itself. The use of a tablet causes a four times higher energy consumption in data centers than on the tablet itself, according to a study by the Institute Borderstep.

This year, the two leading conferences covering Green IT, the EnviroInfo and ICT4S, come together to form a common event. From September 7 to September 9, 2015 the participants meet in Copenhagen. Title of the conference: "Building the Knowledge Base for Environmental Action and Sustainability" on various aspects of Green IT.

On May 21st and 22nd Linda Bergset, researcher at the Borderstep Institute, will be presenting a paper on the topic of sustainable entrepreneurship and the financing of green start-ups at the Born to be Green workshop in the UK.

The title of the paper is “The rationality and irrationality of financing green start-ups”.

The workshop on the economics and management of green start-ups is organised by the University of Southampton in collaboration with the British Academy of Management and will take place in Southampton, UK.