What is the Senior Executive Accountability Regime (SEAR)?

The EU’s NIS2 Directive (Network and Information Systems 2) is more than a regulatory update, it's a shift in how digital security is viewed and valued. For tech vendors and service providers, it's also a rare opportunity: to not only meet compliance standards but to turn those efforts into a ...

Thanks to WakeUp Capital for an enlightening two-day trip on impact investing. Appreciation to Faye Walsh Drouillard for her unmatched hospitality and insights and WakeUp Capital Matias Wibowo Mark Peters and the organising team. The unpredictable rain 🌧️ in Glendalough and sunshine ☀️ during the ...

There are many principles that can guide sustainability leadership. Some of the key principles include:

What is ESG? Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles have emerged as a fundamental framework for sustainable business practices. While ESG might initially seem like an acronym-heavy buzzword, it holds significant relevance for boards of directors. This blog aims to provide an ...

ESG reporting is on a steep rise. Some of the driving factors include:

Leaders in organisations play a critical role in driving innovation and sustainability. Seven key things that leaders need to know about innovation and sustainability and how to implement them effectively:

There are several drivers for change in sustainability inspiring leaders at the C-suite and management levels, including:

Systems thinking is a holistic approach to problem-solving that recognises the interconnections and interdependencies between different components of a system. This approach emphasises the importance of considering the whole system and its impact on the individual parts, rather than just focusing ...

Each year approximately 2 billion metric tons of solid waste is produced. At least one third of this waste is not managed in an environmentally safe manner with global waste production estimated to double over the next ten years. To put this into perspective, this is enough waste to fill over 13 ...

Not all plastics are perceived to be equal. The traditional plastics industry includes the following sectors – Bio-based plastics, Biodegradable plastics, Engineering plastics, Epoxy resins, Expanded polystyrene and Fluoropolymers. Each of these sectors comprises of hundreds of firms producing ...

Different scenarios, same goal Countries across the world have always had unique energy needs. However, in recent years due to factors like climate change, many countries have adopted common goals. The EU2030 goals and Paris agreement for example, which has over 195 signatories across the world ...

Pandemic: Vigilance or Preparedness? One hundred years on from the deadliest pandemic, in history, the Spanish flu, estimates that if a similar event was to occur today, the death toll would be nearly 147 million people worldwide which would be more than the population of number of countries such ...

When civil war erupted in Syria in the spring of 2011, The International Center [sic] for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) (Moved now to Lebanon) had more than 140,000 packets of seeds preserved in cold storage just 19 miles south of Aleppo when it erupted into fighting. Those ...

INNOVATION, SUSTAINABILITY, DESIGN THINKING, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, STARTUP, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, UCD, ENERGY INSTITUTE This year marks the 6th year of our Sustainability Launchpad in collaboration with UCD Engineering and the Energy Institute. We continue to have a massive uptake of this programme. Over ...

Summer 2018 in Ireland experienced heat that it hasn’t experienced in more than 40 years with temperatures soaring above 30℃. The reality of this situation? It was an indication that our atmosphere is overloading with carbon dioxide and other global warming emissions, trapping heat around the ...

A reasonable answer to this question is “No” unless you were living in Nagasaki or Hiroshima in August 1945. What if I told you that the current rate of increase of global temperature due to carbon emissions is the equivalent of exploding four atomic bombs every second? John Tyndall, an Irish ...

There is no such thing as a baby pacemaker. For children with an irregular heartbeat, the only option is an adult device. That’s why when baby Sarah was born with a heart defect; she had an adult pacemaker wedged into her stomach because there wasn’t enough room in her chest. As her body grows, she ...

The phrase “Fake News” has become very popular recently thanks to its involvement in certain political campaigns. But it is a real issue for companies whose industry is being hurt by the false rumours being spread about it. This is especially an issue when it comes to renewable electricity ...

These days, tech giants are spending enough money on research and development each year to solve the world’s problems ten times over. Amazon spend $23 billion on R&D in 2017 alone. Alphabet and Intel spent $16.6 billion and $13.1 billion respectively. These figures are eye-watering. Flashing ...

Since the dawn of our nomadic ancestors, farming has continued to rapidly evolve. Due to industrialisation, technological advances and the continuous rise of our global population, we are constantly looking for innovative ways to increase productivity. Our local farmers are being put under constant ...

The drive to reduce our Carbon Footprint and protect our environment has been heavily documented in recent times. Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States and co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 is one of the more renowned figures in promoting environmental awareness. “Change ...

“We are putting the equivalent of 4 Hiroshima atomic bombs of pollution into the atmosphere every second” – Eddie O’Connor, founder and CEO of Mainstream Renewable Power.

Does it seem logical to dress a child in adult clothes or to expect a child to walk in adult sized shoes? No? Well why not? Because we understand that children are not small adults, they require clothing and shoes depending on their size. These are just two of the simplest things in life that ...

This year marks the 5th year of our Sustainability Launchpad in collaboration with UCD Engineering and the Energy Institute. We have more teams than ever this year thanks to the massive uptake of the programme. Over 60 engineering masters students are working together, to challenge the ordinary and ...

This autumn marks the fifth anniversary of our Sustainability Launchpad. We created the first programme in 2013 with UCD’s Professor Tom Brazil who was a curious, highly regarded and respected academic. Our aim is to not only to educate but to create change, set seeds and to innovate. Sadly, Tom ...

You see a problem in the world, so you set out to find a solution.

UpThink in association with EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ would like to invite you to a briefing session about the 2019 Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards.

Here we are, standing on the edge of the fourth industrial revolution and we’re all trying to figure this out. Never before has an industrial revolution had the potential to disrupt the global economy like this one.

Avocado toast, renting vs buying and a daily flat white: everyone loves to talk about Millennials and what they’re spending their money on. But, Millennials are growing up and becoming old news. Who is the future customer?

“Get used to feeling comfortable with ambiguity.” — CONOR HANLEY, CEO OF FIRE1 A simple message. But, can we sit with it? Can we play with it? How comfortable do you really feel not knowing, not being in control? All sensible people keep things in control, don’t they? I ask myself this while ...

WITH SUSTAINABILITY COMES CIRCULARITY Our ‘take, make and dispose’ economic model is breaking our planet – bad for us and bad for business. Climate change is now a part of life. Permanent migration and food shortages are upon us…unless we embrace the opportunities the circular economy offers us.

To create change, we need to learn how to develop a growth mind-set. It’s a skill! At UpThink we believe that to survive, engineering firms must embrace innovation and mind-set change as a fundamental part of their corporate growth strategy.

Many organisations are combining marketing, sustainability, corporate social responsibility and communications under one function.

Last Wednesday, The Grow Dome and O’Cualann Co-Housing Alliance were named two of the seven of the 2017 Social Entrepreneurs Ireland (SEI) awardees. It was an inspiring awards night at the Mansion House, Dublin.

Ongoing transformation of the energy industry, changes in climate plus societal trends have put energy front and centre in global thinking.

The jobs-to-be-done framework is a helpful way to look at customer motivations in business settings. It helps uncover consumer attitudes and behaviour by framing purchasing decisions as a choice to “hire” a product or service to do a job.

This is week two of our 12-week Sustainability Launchpad with UCD Engineering and the Energy Institute. This week our focus is on creating the value propositions which need to have environmental, commercial and social sustainability impacts.

UpThink is delighted to be working again with UCD Engineering and the Energy Institute on our fourth Launchpad.

Collaborative leaders take a more open approach in society – and in the workplace. Team building, power sharing and participation are replacing the traditional forms of corporate hierarchy. The world is changing and the workplace is changing with it. The future for successful innovation requires ...

“All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.” — SUN TZU Understanding your business strategy is essential to building and creating a valuable business model. There are many different levels to compete at strategy and ...

“It’s amazing the insights you learn when you talk to, listen and observe customers” — MARY CRONIN Most products fail from a lack of customers and NOT from Product Development. Customer Development is a four-step framework developed by serial entrepreneur and business school professor Steve Blank. ...