The Spanish Institute of Family Owned Enterprises (IEF) presents the new publication “Innovation for a Sustainable Development, Improving the Productivity and Competitiveness of Family Owned Enterprises”, elaborated by CAD with the collaboration of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

The event was chaired by Javier Quintana, Director of the IEF; Carmen Becerril, President of Acciona Energía, Björn Stigson, President of the WBCSD and Fernando Casado, Director of CAD.
The report describes the greatest challenges, and at the same time biggest opportunities that exist when it comes to create a sustainable world, and defines how the global challenges connected with growth, urbanization, the scarceness of resources and environmental transformation have the potential to become strategic motors of economic development. It presents three dimensions that form the concept of sustainability, and identifies the areas where companies can use innovation as a means to shift the relationship between business, society and ecosystems. The three dimensions are Planet (water, energy and ecosystems), People (employees, clients and society as a whole), and Processes (design of products, life cycle and business models).

In the study, CAD and WBCSD analyze different innovative practices of companies like Mango, Sol Meliá, Mercadona, Acciona, Leche Pascual or Riu Hotels, and highlight aspects of sustainable operations.
At the presentation, Fernando Casado claimed that sustainability is a business opportunity and that companies which do not incorporate innovative practices in this sense – to save water and energy, support sustainable consumption, recycling, etc. – will fall behind and might become obsolete one day. The president of the WBCSD Bjorn Stigson affirmed that if big companies want to exist in the future, they have to become green enterprises and be competitive at the level of sustainability.
The report also presents a range of strategic recommendations for companies that want to transform into sustainable enterprises, as well as for governments on how to create a favourable environment for sustainability and innovation. The authors that collaborated on the report have been Marcel Engel, Christine Elleboode-Zwaans and Maria Mendiluce, from WBCSD, and Raimon Puigjaner, Raquel Villodres and Fernando Casado on behalf of CAD.

Get a PDF versión of the report (Spanish): www.globalcad.org
Visit the homepage of the WBCSD: www.wbcsd.org
Article of Fernando Casado (Spanish): www.cincodias.com