We created Smart Ecologies as a blueprint for the (re)generation of stable economic growth. It is grounded in 5 operating principles:
- The protection and stewardship of local natural resources;
- The empowerment of the human being as measured by new jobs or vocations, new capabilities and diverse forms of intelligence;
- Deep and persistent training as an irrefutable requirement for stable, interpersonal growth;
- The thoughtful and adaptive integration of emerging technologies;
- The inclusion of any and all stakeholders committed to equitable change. This includes current system actors (politicians, legislators, corporate leaders, etc.) plus system change advocates.
The fundamental construct of the Smart Ecologies model is to create new assets + new asset classes in the form of natural resources (water, food, plants, healing properties, etc.) as well as civic utilities (energy systems, transportation alternatives, etc.) and intellectual capital (learning systems, public-private processes, partnership studies, etc.). New asset + new asset creation is precisely what we need to create viable economic alternatives – those which can provide people with access to an array of resources, as well as provide opportunities to capitalize & collateralize entrepreneurial endeavors far more adaptively.
Using this approach, we currently have several large projects in development around the world. Some involve enhancing preexisting institutional or corporate structures, others are more oriented around co-developing new business models with co-ops and various public entities.
A great example of a Smart Ecology is one of our most recent agricultural ventures, Vertical Innovations. With Vertical Innovations, we are developing an entirely new, regenerative organic food supply chain (farm-to-institution), which in the U.S. alone is a $15b addressable market opportunity.
