Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Gunter Pauli: Bhutan and the Blue Economy Gunter Pauli presents fascinating examples of new innovations and business models that can offer simple solutions to many global challenges. He shows that with creativity, an open mind and an understanding of whole systems, we can learn to view waste as resource and draw on nature’s design principles for inspiration. Together with the Zero Emissions Research & Initiatives ZERI , Gunter Pauli has identified and developed a large number of innovations and new business models inspiring entrepreneurs to shape a new economy based on competitive innovations. The case of Bhutan shows that a similar approach can be used on a national level. To find more examples visit zeri.org. Gunter Pauli is a born entrepreneur whose scope of initiatives spans business, culture, science, and education. In 1994 – with the support of the Japanese government and the United Nations University – he launched an initiative to design an economic framework and business model that converts all waste, including emissions, into a value added cascade, modeled on ecosystems. In 2004, he launched a research project identifying the innovations that will shift business towards higher levels of competitiveness and sustainability, while generating millions of jobs through the creation of a platform for entrepreneurship. In early 2010, he will personally direct a two-year initiative that each week for one hundred weeks will present another business model to inspire entrepreneurs to translate these opportunities into worldwide business initiatives. Pauli is the author of seventeen books published in twenty-one languages, and of thirty six fables that bring science and entrepreneurship to children at an early age. His latest book is The Blue Economy: 100 innovations – 10 years – 100 million jobs. Gunter Pauli is a teacher on Systems Thinking in a Complex World. Click here for more details.