If we want to understand where we are going as a global civilisation and get out of the societal crises rooted in the overexploitation of Earth’s resources and currently exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic, it is not enough to define the targets of sustainability and push towards them. Understanding the extent of C0₂ emissions reductions as well as other civilisational targets, captured by the SDG concept, encourage us to reach out to ambitions like the level of literacy or equality and life expectancy we would like to achieve, besides the environmental sustainability targets. The SDGs pinpoint a holistic societal transformation. Therefore, a shared understanding of a more integral concept could get more people involved and motivated to active themselves to achieve a more sustainable and inclusive society. Imagining where we are headed can help us all to distinguish the right moves from the wrong ones on our pathway into the future. We are talking about »Ecocivilisation« – a concept initiated by Violeta Bulc, that still needs to be fully imagined, described and understood.

First, we must all be able to engage in innovative solutions that contribute to transformations at multiple levels, namely the systemic, business and cultural genres. It is important to be able to clearly understand our common goals and to imagine our common destination. This way we can increase the proactive engagement of citizens as voters and taxpayers, as professionals, experts, businesspeople or as family members, students or mentors of all sorts. Broad and active participation is needed in order for Ecocivilisation to thrive.

Therefore, we are launching a series of debates, dedicated to imagining the concept of Ecocivilisation as a final destination of a common societal journey. The exercise aims at a common understanding of the future, explaining the paths to take and metamorphoses we are going through on this voyage. Together with other interlocutors and expert panelists we will visualise and clarify several relevant dimensions of this phenomenon.

This webinar cycle is supported by the Public Fund of the Republic of Slovenia for HR development.

(1) Imagining the Ecocivilisation: Introduction to the concept, imagining the life at our destination

Wednesday, 27^th May 2020 at 15.30

We can feel that nothing will be the same after this pandemic, even after the will have defeated the disease. Still, it depends on us, how we will design the world around us. It is time to connect and get ourselves and find a new balance with the Planet, the Universe, with ourselves and our fellow humans. Violeta Bulc, former EU Commissioner for Transport, entrepreneur, manager, advisor, lecturer and author, will present the Ecocivilisation concept, a civilisational shift, and elaborate on the idea the future models of society. She will present her vision of a network-based world after the pandemic.

The Swiss-Finnish business executive, board professional, and former Minister of Transport and Communications, Anne-Catherine Berner, will address the new economic and financial models, the impact of new technological shift, often termed as “Industry 4.0 revolution”, and the IT phenomena, such as blockchain technology. What impact will the technological discontinuity have on the progress towards a new paradigm, the Ecocivilisation?

The debate will take some 75 minutes including the initial presentation of the concept, followed by comments and reflections by your side and other participants. The last 15 minutes will be dedicated to a Q&A session.

(2) Designing societies going circular

Wednesday, 10^th June 2020 at 15.30

Christiaan Kraaijenhagen, Circulair Economy Entrepreneur & Innovation Strategist, at the Innovation Cooperative Innoboost and co-author of the book Circular Business: Collaborate and Circulate, will lay depart from imagining the Ecocivilisation through concept of the five P’s, or five layers of our societal engagement: personal, private (or, family-related), professional, public, or societal, and planetary. From there he will engage participants to deduct potential scenarios for the business world and understand benefits of such a re-design of the societal functioning, including, above all, the societal capacity of collaboration as a critical factor of the outcomes of this comprehensive trajectory.

Karin Huber Heim, Academic Programme Director, MSc Sustainability and Responsible Management at the University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna will pick up on the sustainability angle of our societal functioning and will develop the vies on how to transform the SDGs into strategies at different systemic levels (the 5 P’s) and elaborate on different ways how we can introduce it in our daily lives of individuals, organisations and societies.

Violeta Bulc, former EU Commissioner for Transport, entrepreneur, manager, advisor, lecturer and author will contribute her reflections on this and provide a wrap up of the Part II.

(3) Politics and geopolitics of Sustainability: A new balance within our societies and among global spheres of interest

Wednesday, 17^th June 2020 at 15.30

Is globalisation destined to be progressively replaced by macro-regionalisation? What are the major points of interest and levers of influence of major players in the trajectory towards the Ecocivilisation? The acceleration of the transition to the circular economy by the UK, the EU and other major global powers invite to a mass migration of businesses, institutions and households to renewable energy resources. In what ways can this shift redesign the global order?

Carlo Giardinetti, MBA, Dean of Executive Education and Global Outreach at Franklin University Switzerland, will depart from the question of the threshold. Just as much as we are seeking the threshold of “herd immunity” to fight the spread of the COVID 19 pandemic, we can reverse the question, grounded in the Pareto “80/20” rule. What are the factors determining the dynamics of the paradigm shift, what are peculiarities in different parts of the planet, the obstacles on this trajectory and possible pitfalls?

As a former EU Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc will address the relationship between a more resource-sustainable European – and global – economy and the recognition of the value of a human life. It means strengthening the nexus of social institutions across national borders, including healthcare, commercial and personal transport, pension system or financial regulation, to make it more just and less exposed to such symmetric risks. The COVID-19 crisis has challenged us to do much more in order to provide the basic healthsecurity to the European citizens – it is not a question of whether to provide it or not, but rather, how to provide it. A common sense of collaborative network- and stakeholder-based approach of the 21st century should prevail over national differences and, sometimes divergent views.

The participants are invited to share their vision and ideas on Ecocivilisation in a short essay paper, ideally, up to 2500 characters long and may not exceed 3500 characters (incl. spaces).

Alternatively, you can also choose two articles and briefly explain why they can help us understand future scenarios.

The best contributions will be published as a featured article in our CBA CONVERSATIONS section and possibly also discussed in Part II and III.

The winning authors will be awarded a free participation in one of our paying seminars of choice.

Language: English; other languages are also accepted, just write the title andan intro also in English. We will provide editing in agreement with the author.

Please, send your contributions to info@circularbusiness.academy .