Future Fitting the Sports Industry by Integrating Business Success with Regeneration of People & Planet

ISPO & NOW Partners teamed up at ISPO Munich to support businesses in the sports industry to integrate economic success with regeneration of people and planet.

Munich, Germany November 2022 – From the 28-30th of November, the sports industry came together in one place, the Trade Fair Messe München, to meet, show and experience product innovations and market trends that shape the future of the industry.

At the ISPO Munich tradeshow, attended by 40,000 visitors from around the world, ISPO and NOW Partners delivered a series of Master Classes and Innovation Workshops designed to support companies globally to integrate business success with the regeneration of people and planet.

Tackling the Sports Industry’s Most Pressing Challenges with Solutions that Regenerate People & Planet

Covid and the war in Ukraine have disrupted supply chains and revealed that efficiency needs to be integrated with resilience. The climate and other natural and human crises point to both the need and opportunity to make supply chains regenerative and resilient – while positively impacting people & the environment. Businesses must also respond to financial markets that push companies towards ESG & regeneration. This rapidly accelerating situation creates risks, but also opens opportunities for companies that align themselves with these unavoidable trends by learning how to build business success through positive impact.

How can businesses concretely make these key transitions in ways that both reduce risk for the company, and increase positive impact on societies and the environment? A team of experts in Regenerative Value Creation from NOW Partners provided insights into these pressing challenges & opportunities. Topics addressed in the Master Classes & Innovation Workshops included: 

• Resilient & Regenerative Supply Chains
• Real ESG Finance, Banking & Investment 
• Lobbying for Sports, Health & Climate 
• B Corporations & B Certification

Leaders in the Sports Industry and Experts in Regenerative Value Creation Shared Latest Market Trends:

• Alexandra Araújo, board member of Portugal’s Textile and Apparel Association
• Dylan McNeill, Director of Sustainability & Human Rights, Philips
• Andreas Knezovic, Group CEO Smartfiber & Fair Trade Cashmere (FTC) 
• Miguel Mendes, Sales and Innovation Director of A. Sampaio 
• Oliver Ouboter, CEO of Micro Mobility Systems
• Tom Cummings, former leader at ABN AMRO Bank, advised banks like Rabo and helped Triodos
• Patrik Frisk, 30 years of top leadership in sports, outdoor and fashion with Gore-Tex Fabrics, The North Face, Timberland, Vans, Jansport, Aldo and Under Armour
• Georg Schürmann, CEO, Triodos Bank, Germany 
• Dr. Andreas Wagner*, corporate finance leader at UniCredit Bank
• Laura Santucci, Chief of Staff of Political Operations at the Obama White House
• Prof. Dr. Stephan Geisler, President of NSCA-Germany and Co-founder of the German Fitness Science Board
• Hendrikje Lučić, Federal Association of the German Sporting Goods Industry 
• Peter Renner, Board Chairman, Foundation for Development and Climate Alliance
• Merijn Dols, Managing Partner of NOW Partners and former Global Head of Open Innovation and Circularity at Danone
• Joao Paulo Ferreira, CEO of Natura and Natura &Co Latin America that includes The Body Shop, Avon and Aesop 
• Mattijs Visch*, European CEO of Patagonia, the Outdoor industry’s leading B Corp

Moderated by:

• Walter Link, Founding CEO of innovation accelerator NOW Partners, a Benefit Corporation and B Corp
• Hunter Lovins, Managing Partner, NOW Partners, Co-author of 17 business books, including on Climate Solutions and Natural Capitalism 

For more information about the ISPO & NOW Partners 2023 Innovation Labs, contact renske (at) now (dot) partners.

Redefining the Sports Industry with a New Economic Logic that Goes Beyond Sustainability

Tobias Gröber, Director of the ISPO Group, commented on the first day of the ISPO Munich trade show, “Climate change is real. It affects all of us because it affects all of nature. Since much of today’s climate change has been caused by humans, it must be up to all of us to step up and work hard to reverse or at least mitigate the effects of this ever growing emergency. Fortunately for us, more and more individuals, groups and organizations exist with intelligent and promising strategies to do combat on all our behalf.”

Walter Link, Founder and CEO of NOW Partners & the Future Economy Forum said, “We need strong models that embody the full integration of business success with the regeneration of people and societies, of nature and planet. These two things have often been running in parallel, and then regeneration is left behind while financial success takes the leadership. And this has brought us to where we are today.

Today, we need to learn how to fully integrate the two – to have business success only because you regenerate. This is not any more just a nice dream that we want to achieve in the future – this is happening already around the world. Companies in operation for decades already are successful, because they implemented Regenerative Value Creation. This is what we need to recognize and bring to scale globally.” 

Regenerative Business Solutions in 3D Virtual Reality

In the Future Lab, Virtual Reality goggles allowed viewers to see regenerative business solutions that have been successfully implemented by leading global businesses and B Corps in 360 Virtual Reality.

Viewers experienced regenerative business solutions from Natura &Co, the world’s largest B Corp that has pioneered business success as integrally linked to its positive impact on communities; Natura &Co works with indigenous people in the Amazon to create a mutually beneficial supply ecosystem from fruit to sustainable product. Rizoma Agro, a Brazilian company, has perfected regenerative agriculture to address climate change, biodiversity, food security, health of people and farming communities. More business solutions that are financial successful through Regenerative Value Creation were featured in the Master Classes on-site at ISPO 2022 & the Innovation Labs that start in 2023.

For more information about the ISPO & NOW Partners 2023 Innovation Labs, contact renske (at) now (dot) partners.