​At the end of March this year, 27-31.03.2023, Knowledge, Innovation and Strategy Management Club (KISMC) and CEED Bulgaria organized a seminar on "Sustainable Innovation and Culture of Change".

The seminar was organized within the framework of the international project Collective Innovation to Fight Climate Change - ERASMUS+ Project.

Twenty-one entrepreneurs and business representatives from Bulgaria, Greece, Belgium, Spain and the United Kingdom took part in this seminar.

Panels at the workshop were dedicated to turning climate change into business opportunities. Participants were presented with good practices and shared their own experiences of the role and impact of business on the transition to a green and circular economy. In particular, emphasis was placed on the growing role of innovative business models to combat climate change.

You can find out who the lecturers were and what the participants of the seminar in Sofia visited from the uploaded short film dedicated to the impressions and results of this training event. 

Climate change is a major global challenge, and we as an industrial cluster that unites knowledge-based companies have to message to all that we, the business can play a critical role in addressing it.

So, we believe that by adopting sustainable practices, investing in sustainable technologies, supporting climate policies, and adapting to the impacts of climate change, businesses can help create a more sustainable future for all.
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Here are a few ways businesses can approach climate change:

• Mitigate their own carbon footprint: Businesses can reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions by adopting sustainable practices such as energy-efficient operations, using renewable energy sources, reducing waste, and encouraging sustainable transportation.
• Invest in sustainable technologies: Businesses can invest in and promote the development of sustainable technologies and practices that can help reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable development.
• Support climate policies: Businesses can support policies that promote climate action, such as carbon pricing, renewable energy incentives, and emissions standards. This can help create a level playing field for businesses while also encouraging climate action.
• Adapt to climate change: Businesses can also prepare for the impacts of climate change by developing climate risk assessments, building resilience in supply chains, and investing in adaptation technologies.

Unconditionally, the corporate social business model must also take into account this aspect of the companies' behaviour, namely the fight against climate change and for sustainable development.

The Article was first published on the CSKC blog content.

Financing climate innovation is one of the topics of the "Innovating for Climate Change & Sustainability Toolkit" which is being developed under the Erasmus+ Project "Collective Innovation to Fight Climate Change". 

The projected market value losses could rise by more than 200% if warming reaches 5°C as compared to 1.5°C. The socioeconomic impacts from climate change and extreme weather will be felt differently across different sectors. Research suggests that every dollar invested in climate adaptation could result in 2 to 10 USD of net economic benefit. So, investing in sustainable environment and innovation climate solutions is financially and strategically one of the best decisions for the companies including SMEs but the reality is slightly different.

Despite its rising importance, the shortfall in funds to help reduce such weather-related disasters - the “adaptation finance gap” - is growing.

There are, however, some large investors, like the World Bank and Bill Gates’ energy venture fund, committed to funding adaptation measures, such as desalination technologies and dynamic mooring systems. Effective adaptation strategies may combine structural measures (e.g., flood protection), nature-based solutions and risk-transfer schemes (e.g., insurance products). Risk transfer can be a powerful mechanism for companies to buffer against economic impacts of extreme weather and may even incentivize companies to invest in further climate adaptation through discounted premiums.

Two types of investors in climate innovation are on a focus in this article - private and governments. The authors of the article “The Next Generation of Climate Innovation” (2021) give some encouraging facts, information and examples about investing in climate change innovation by private investors and governments.

The financial community needs to focus on how investors can contribute to financing the transition to new technologies and models. Venture capital funds and private equity firms describe themselves as a purpose driven investment organisation that has decided to align all investments decisions in support of achieving SDGs. Still, the climate solution perspective focuses first on opportunity - how companies can produce goods and services that contribute to the society we want to build. 

Venture capital investment in climate technology is growing five times faster than the average rate of investment across all industries. Climate investment soared from $418 million in 2013 to $16.3 billion in 2019.

There are identified more than 75 funds that are already taking a variety of approaches to climate investment, including focusing on general climate technology, high-impact technology, vertical technology, and deep tech. But all this money is still a fraction of the $1.4 trillion in private equity and venture capital that was available for investment in 2019.

Flagship Pioneering is an example of how a venture capital fund can adopt a kind of problem-focused approach taken by climate innovation ventures. It applies an innovation process based on existing new technologies in order to design products or reimagine value chains, helping in this way a start or nurture more than 100 scientific ventures, that finally resulted in more than 34 billion USD aggregated value of investments in climate.

Deep-tech investors also can adapt their expectations without accepting lower returns. To de-risk R&D and launch the resulting products they also can extend the fund lifetime. For example, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which has raised more than $2 billion, has a 20-year time horizon and is backed by Bill Gates and other notable limited partners, including Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Richard Branson, Vinod Khosla, Jack Ma, Xavier Niel, and Masayoshi Son. About 90% of the company’s portfolio consists of deep-tech ventures geared toward climate change or sustainability goals, and about 50% of its staff have earned doctorates.

More funds are combining investment with active support and assistance. In 2020, Amazon unveiled its Climate Pledge Fund, a venture capital program directed at sustainable technologies. The company plans to become carbon neutral by 2040.

Microsoft has created the $1 billion Climate Innovation Fund and announced that the company will be carbon negative by 2030. SOSV Investments, which invests in about 150 new startups a year, has an accelerator program that includes a network of 1,000 global mentors and an alumni community of more than 2,000 founders around the globe with deep market and technical expertise. The program provides access to an extensive infrastructure of laboratory and maker spaces, and SOSV introduces startups to sector-specific corporate partnerships and later-stage venture firms focused on the same verticals.

Private equity firms can also emphasize the impact of climate tech ventures on the SDGs to their investors and the companies that they invest in. Sweden’s EQT Partners, for example, describes itself as “a purpose-driven global investment organization” that has “decided to align all investment decisions in support of achieving the SDGs as well as ownership actions to drive the development of the portfolio companies in this direction.”  They can also fill gaps in skills and increase understanding of technology by building in-house expertise and networks. Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, the largest fund manager in the US, wrote in 2021 that “Climate change has become a defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects.”

Over the lifetime of the project Collective Innovation to Fight Climate Change the partners are being completing multiple surveys in order to understand the views and experiences of a range of actors regarding climate change. The newest survey aims to provide an overview of current practices adopted by SMEs and entrepreneurs to involve their employees in ‘green’ behavior within the enterprise while highlighting the successes and challenges that face these enterprises within this context.  Click here to participate in this new sustainable workplaces survey!

Previous survey was about the green transition process. It asked about the readiness, commitment and needs to do business or implement projects in the fields of fighting climate change, the green transition and the circular economy. Click here to view the results.
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The Article was first published on the CSKC blog content.

Within the framework of the Fight Climate Change project, where KISMC is one of the partners in the project, a survey was conducted in the period January - March 2022, which aimed to obtain indicative information about the readiness, commitment and needs for doing business or implementing projects in such sensitive thematic areas as "fighting climate change" , "green transition" and "circular economy".

The responses received, while not claiming to be representative, nevertheless contributed to a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges for conducting and doing business in these areas. 

Below is a brief analysis and conclusions from this study. 

The survey involved 75 participants from 15 countries, mostly from Europe, who were distributed as follows:

• 57 business representatives - production and consulting companies, suppliers or users of green technologies, services and projects, of which micro-enterprises predominated (36 companies with a staff of up to 9 people), 17 SMEs and 4 large companies with over 250 employees
• 18 representatives of NGOs, scientific and educational and public organizations.

It turned out that nearly 70% of the respondents are familiar with and/or interested in the issues of "fighting climate change", "green transition" and "circular economy". It can be seen that this topic, under the influence of the UN, world institutions and EU policies and programs, has entered a maturity phase in spreading in Europe and over the world, and there is already a clear interest in direct engagement and participation of bussines and public and non-governmental organizations.

Interesting results were obtained from the answers to the question whether and in which areas the respondents offer technologies, services and products or participate in green transition projects. It turned out that quite a large percentage (44%) of them do not actually offer such at the moment, but intend to do so in the future. This is indicative and shows that the topic is firmly on the agenda of business and educational, non-governmental and scientific organizations.

As can be seen below, the answers are distributed among the main thematic areas relatively evenly (taking into account that the respondents had possibility to indicate more than one answer):

• energy: measurement, monitoring and saving, mobility and transport efficiency, etc. - 27%
• air: quality and risk monitoring, harmful emissions, health protection, behavioral changes, etc. - 21%
• water: measurement and monitoring of consumption, purification, reuse, etc. - 19%
• materials: optimized consumption, eco-materials, recycling, reuse, etc. - 17%
• others related to this topic - 15%.

Following the objectives of the survey, we reviewed with interest the answers from which we can judge the future behavior of the surveyed representatives of businesses and organizations, i.e. in which areas they are most interested in innovating, investing or implementing various projects. Here, too, the distribution of answers is relatively even, but still the first three topics are of the greatest interest. Below is the distribution of responses as a percentage of responses received:

• recycling, reuse and efficient recovery of substances left over from the production process, turning waste into useful materials and fuels that would otherwise be thrown into ever-growing landfills - 51%
• improving wealth, health and the environment for people at the bottom of the pyramid - 48%
• reduction of energy consumption due to inefficient systems, new ways of consumption and higher energy efficiency - 44%
• improving processes related to agriculture and food production, such as making more food more available, cultivation more sustainable and processes less wasteful - 33%
• implementing smarter energy saving systems and developing alternative energy sources to reduce emissions and reduce costs - 33%
• development of alternative and clean sources of energy to reduce the use of expensive and polluting fossil fuels - 28%
• creating a more efficient and environmentally friendly construction process and building materials, thereby attacking one of the largest sources of harmful greenhouse gases and physical waste - 15%
• others related to the green transition - 5%

At the start of this project, most of us did not have an accurate idea of ​​whether and how much climate change and other similar phenomena are affecting business, and how much this impact actually creates new business opportunities for those who are developers, suppliers, customers or implementers of green projects, products, services and technologies? In other words, we asked the participants in which areas climate change creates new opportunities for doing business.

Below are the responses in descending order of their share in percentages:

• introduction of systems and business processes for green and circular economy - 53%
• reduction and reuse of waste and materials - 44%
• investing in "green" projects, products and technologies - 39%
• tools to improve energy efficiency - 36%
• increasing market demand and introduction of sustainable business models - 33%
• use of suitable environmentally friendly materials - 33%
• impacts to reduce harmful emissions - 25%
• optimizing consumption and improving water quality - 21%.

One of the important answers for us was what were the views of the respondents regarding the business models used in the circular economy. We wanted to know if the ones we put in the survey are known and which are the most used. It became clear that they are all familiar with two leading ones - platforms for sharing (47%) and recycling (36%). Below are the ratings of all the business models, ranked in descending order of their share in percentages:

1. sharing platforms (web-based digital platforms for using goods and resources by renting, selling, sharing) - 47%
2. replacement and recycling (renewable, recyclable and biodegradable materials are used for their products and design. Fossil fuels are replaced with renewable energy) - 36%
3. the product as a service (the manufacturer owns and maintains the product, and the customer pays for certain functions or services/activities) - 29%
4. use of waste resources (recycled waste is raw material for new products) - 29%
5. product life extension (providing repair and reuse services to extend product life) - 28%

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When asked what result the respondents would like to achieve if they implement or use an innovative business model, their desire to have better access to partnerships and funding from the EU, to improve their economic results, and to facilitate their access to knowledge and green innovation received the greatest result, respectivly 52%,48% and 48%  Interestingly, however, 11% frankly do not know what answer to give, which is an area for future analysis. Below is the distribution of the results obtained, again arranged in descending order of their share in percentages:

• new opportunities for partnerships in green projects (including those funded by the EU) - 52%
• improving production efficiency and economic results - 48%
• transfer of green technologies, knowledge, information and know-how - 48%
• securing new jobs - 24%
• improving the international image and innovative branding - 17%
• don't know - 11%
• other (specify) 3%

What are the attitudes of the respondents about how to finance their green projects. This was for us one of the most important questions because it would also determine our conclusions about the support and incentives needed to activate the green transition and the circular economy. We were not surprised that the largest percentage of respondents indicated that they would rely mainly on EU funding.

The green and social entrepreneurship is extremely difficult and a purely market approach is treated by businesses as risky, and besides, there were also public organizations and NGOs among the respondents, which also supports this thesis. That is why the search for funding from the EU and through national government grant schemes received the highest results, respectively - 72% and 37%, and such ways as direct investments and venture capital only at the level of 24%.

Below are the responses in descending order of their share in percentages, with the sum of these percentages exceeding 100% because each respondent could vote for more than one option.

• opportunities for EU funding and tenders – 72% 
• government grant schemes – 53%
• public-private partnership projects – 37%
• direct private and foreign investments – 24%
• venture capital - 24%
• business accelerators -17%
• lending from international financial institutions – 12%
• bank loans – 3%
• other (specify) - 1%

Our last question for this analysis was related to the extent to which respondents see their involvement in R&D and business processes related to the green transition and the circular economy. Of the mentioned opportunities, the largest percentage (53%) of the respondents saw their participation in partner projects, financed and/or financially supported by the EC or another financial institution.

Below are all responses, ranked in descending order of their share in percentages, with the sum of those percentages exceeding 100% because each respondent could vote for more than one option:

• participation in a partnership for the implementation of projects financially supported by the EC or other institutions or financial bodies - 53%
• participation as an expert or consultant in the development or implementation of private or public projects in this field - 33%
• participation in online meetings and webinars led by an expert to explain the new wave of work and funding and the use of appropriate business models - 32%
• receiving individual consultations and mentoring on your business plan and projects in this area - 32%
• long-term vocational training courses and/or training based on a university curriculum (traditional as well as distance learning or online life sessions) - 21%
• other (specify) - 3%

There is no doubt that the challenges of climate change are large, dynamic and will lead to ever greater changes in the behavior of governments and the international community. However, the business response must be in sync with all these measures, and the innovative behavior of entrepreneurs, small businesses and corporations must be based on a flexible approach of combining business purposes with the corporate social responsibility.

We believe in the motto of the social entrepreneurship - do business for good!


The Article was first published on the CSKC blog content.

• Climate Change Platform – a digital tool is being created that will measure the carbon footprint of businesses and people, and include advice and suggestions for entrepreneurs to improve.
• Climate Change & Sustainable You Handbook - a handbook is being developed that will contain various components and knowledge related to climate change and achieving SDGs that educators of managers and entrepreneurs can select and add to their training, teaching and/or mentoring. An initial draft version of this manual is available HERE.
• Innovating for Climate Change & Sustainability Toolkit - a tool designed directly for entrepreneurs and SMEs to help manage innovation, to facilitate the introduction of new ideas, processes or products related to the fight against climate change. In particular, the handbook will look at the effects of climate change on business and recommend how to adapt to it, how businesses can impact climate change and how to reduce this negative impact on the environment.

The second project, in which Euro-perspectives participates, is Biodiversity and Climate Change Community Champions and is also financed under the Erasmus+ Program. The project develops innovative means of continuous education for those representatives of the business community who can become leaders ("champions") in the fight against climate change and biodiversity, contributing to the achievement of 6 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The project aims to provide the local community, social entrepreneurship, business and volunteers with skills and knowledge to implement activities and initiatives as a countermeasure to climate change and biodiversity. Different models are possible to reverse the negative trends, all of which require the combined efforts of national and local authorities, producers and consumers.
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The models that will be developed/presented will be linked to the specific UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and more specifically to the following goals:

• Sustainable production and consumption - Goal 12 (SDG12)
• Conservation of biodiversity and good health and well-being - Goal 3 (SDG 3) and Goal 13 (SDG 13)
• Making cities and towns inclusive, safe, adaptive and sustainable places to live - Goal 11 (SDG 11)
• Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all - Goal 4 (SDG 4)
• Conserve, restore and promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainable forest management, combat desertification, stop and reverse the process of land degradation and stop the loss of biological diversity - Goal 15 (SDG 15).

The fight against climate change is not only a global challenge, but also a serious opportunity for starting and developing an innovative business. The projects we work for are in support of policies, measures and activities to combat climate change and preserve biodiversity. In turn, participation in business projects in this area returns money, creates jobs and builds potential for innovative development and business diversification.

​Both public and private investment in fighting climate change and preserving biodiversity will not only have a high return, but will also be a response to the moral debt that we as businesses and citizens owe to future generations.


This article was first published on the CSKC blog content.