This time I sought inspiration and learning from the words of Jorgo Riss, a political scientist, journalist, and director of Greenpeace. He generously shared his time with me to discuss the beauty of Earth, the impact of our individual and collective actions when consuming its resources and his hopes for the future.

What is the reach of your organisation?

We have a presence all over the world. We’re present wherever is necessary, from the Arctic to the Arctic, from South America to Far East Asia and anything in between.

What us your primary role in the organisation?

I’m in charge of defining and overseeing the development of campaign strategies that lead to real change in industry production and consumption, trade and environmental activity at European level.

Is your organisation government-funded?

We are the only global environmental organisation that does not rely on industry or government funding. We rely on over 3 million individuals who support us. Being in contact with our donors regularly is an important part of the work of Greenpeace. 

In order to create a real impact, do you harness any type of technology to help you? 

Internally, we use technology to coordinate our decision-making and ensure cooperation across different countries and different continents. Externally, we use technology to gather data and communicate with the public. 

Assessing the state of the global environment is one of our primordial tasks. Our action is informed by where environmental destruction is taking place. Based on that, we decide on the solutions we can promote and the best channels to promote them. 

Using technology is such a normal part of our daily workflow. We use it to analyze satellite pictures tracking deforestation in the Amazon, Africa or in the boreal forests of the northern hemisphere. We also use it to scan scientific literature primarily through our research laboratories in the U.K. and research by other scientists based all around the globe. It is an extremely important task as it enables us to draw information on problems as well as solutions. 

Are you running any exciting projects at the moment, that are enhanced by technology?

The projects that excite me are the ones where I see millions of people mobilised for emergency action on climate or hundreds of thousands of practitioners defending bees from harmful pesticides. Technology comes into the picture because it carries information and allows people to access it quickly, share it and collaboratively explore solutions. Sometimes people are inspired to act by a video that goes viral, by a profound study or even by a piece of legislation that we have successfully pushed through here in the European Union.

What kind of changes in the industry have you observed in the last few years? Do you see more organisations and businesses taking action and creating environmental solutions? 

As the ecological crisis worsens, awareness is rising and the sense of urgency is growing. There is now more attention being given to the very dangerous consequences of climate change, than 10 or 20 years ago. Politicians that I deal with here in Brussels and at European level, lobbyists of the industry, managers, and directors of certain companies, now understand that any type of economic activity must have the environmental conditions factored in, for it to be sustainable in the long term. 

Awareness is growing more broadly among the general population as media focus and coverage increases. Unfortunately, there are very real financial interests involved that benefit tremendously from the status quo. Some individuals and companies make their money with the current business model which is unsustainable. The current business model, by and large, is over-consuming natural resources, creating too much waste and too much pollution. It’s more than the planet can cope with and more than humanity can cope with. Fighting their agendas is inevitable to politics and if we’re looking at the size of the challenge and the urgency, then these companies remain a major problem. 

What is the most effective action that we as small agencies could take in order to help bring change?

That question speaks to me. I would say three things. 

1. Firstly, to communicate the awe and wonder of the natural world is absolutely essential. People act when they share a sense of beauty and respect for life. Share your experiences through documentaries, beautiful photographs of being in nature. Discuss the difference between breathing air in a polluted city and breathing clean air. Anybody who has the means to share their experience of the world with others is contributing to a very fundamental sense that there is something so precious and so essential about our planet, that we as humans need to take care of it. 
2. Secondly, don’t be part of the problem. Don’t sell your brain and your creativity to those who are simply greenwashing dirty, polluting, destructive activities. There are many intelligent and creative people who work for the wrong interests and who are just small wheels in a huge machine. Getting out of this destructive system and allying with those who are bringing forward the solutions is crucial. Anybody who has that opportunity to do so should be encouraged to take it. 
3. And thirdly, we all need to expose what’s going wrong. You and I are in a good position to do so. We are financially independent of any specific interests so we can expose damaging environmental activity and also work towards and campaign for the solutions to tackle such activities. And that’s where communication with the community comes into play again. What are the solutions? Who’s doing what? People get inspired when they see other individuals, collectives, cooperatives working for change and sharing their progress. We have the legal and political framework that can facilitate change, that can make the status quo, that can entrench current issues further or that can start to shift towards transition. So if you have the opportunity to become politically active and expose double-talk, do it. 

Are there any campaigns where you collaborated with a technological partner that proved to be very successful and had a major impact?

We did a campaign between a couple of European countries related to air quality. Individuals, families, schools participated in this crowd-sourced experiment of monitoring air quality using technology that we distributed. This campaign contributed hugely to raising awareness about the source and state of ambient air, particularly around schools. Findings on how school children play and learn in environments that are polluted by air connected to a campaign against oil to reduce car use. 

Another campaign that I loved was centred around meat consumption in France. Most school kids get lunch in school, but that differs from one European country to another. In France, the system is such that most kids eat at school. In the majority of their schools, no vegetarian option was available. As a result, kids were being made meat-eaters right from the start and they had no choice to opt-out, even if they wanted to. There was no data available to inform us of such conditions. The government essentially does not keep records of how many schools and how much meat they serve throughout the year. So we crowdsourced the data by inviting school kids and their parents to report what’s on their school’s menu. From thousands of individual contributions, a picture started to emerge which very clearly showed the overconsumption of meat in the French public school system. This successfully led to legislative initiatives to introduce vegetarian options for schools. This again was a part of a much broader campaign to raise awareness around the industrial production of meat, mass factory farms and their impact on the environment, specifically on climate change.

What is the best learning you have ever gotten during your time with Greenpeace? 

What I’ve seen in many campaigns is that we are in it for the long haul. You need to have stamina. And at the same time, it’s important to have small successes along the way. 

If we look at what we’ve done against pesticides, such as Glyphosate, for example. It is the world’s number one herbicide, which has huge environmental and health impacts. We were a part of a European citizens initiative, collecting over one million signatures quickly to ban this herbicide in the European Union. We had a number of national governments and many organisations in civil society lining up behind it and Monsanto on the other side defending this. A huge battle. Glyphosate is not yet banned in the EU, but the public awareness of this problem has drastically increased. It’s now almost a household name. This work has led to a number of investigations by journalists into how Monsanto had been lying about the health studies. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Austrian parliament decided to ban it nationally. 

So you set yourself a high target to have a toxic-free environment. You don’t achieve it straight away, but as you move through your objectives, you get a lot of support. And bit by bit, it snowballs.

You must have a lot of international support for what you are trying to achieve?

In Greenpeace, we’ve often managed to make an issue big. There are so many others who’ve worked before us, together with us and who will work after us to continue on. The environmental movement is so much bigger than any single environmental organisation. We’re all allies in this work. We’re not competitors.

We are working for the same goal and each organisation and each person contributes their particular strength. That’s why we got to a global climate movement.

That’s why I think the days of these pesticides are numbered. This is why nuclear energy and many other things are on the way out. Greenpeace made a big campaign and it inspired others at certain points. Others initiated campaigns that inspired Greenpeace. We took it to the next level and somebody else will take it one level further. 

Are you hopeful about the future? Are you optimistic?

Yes and no. If I look at the raw data in terms of environmental destruction and ecosystem breakdown, then I am extremely pessimistic. If I look at the millions of people who are mobilised, who are active, who are protesting, who are creating new types of zero waste food cooperatives, who are decreasing their meat consumption, who are working to fight the powers that sustain the current destructive systems then I’m optimistic. The glass is, simultaneously, half empty and half full.

Join the green movement: https://www.greenpeace.org/international/act/

Learn more about Greenpeace activities: https://www.greenpeace.org/international/explore/

Follow Greenpeace on Twitter: @Greenpeace

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What unites you as a team?

We share a common purpose to pioneer conscientious innovation. It’s an ambition, a vision. We are striving to make sure everything we do is at the edge of new business. It is not just about innovation, but innovation for good.

Are all the projects you’re involved in designed to bring good?

Not every company that comes to us is making something to specifically better society. What we have to carefully consider is that the projects we work on do no harm to society. A lot of the time, whatever we’re creating has never been done before. So we have to be especially aware of how our decisions may impact the process and the outcome.

Of course, some projects we initiate are based on explicitly good intentions and that would purely fall under tech innovation for good (“Tech4Good”).

It might not be part of our client’s initial agenda to positively impact society, but as soon as we discuss the use of AI with clients, be it related to automation, computer vision or any other new technology, the question of the overall impact to society almost always comes up.

What does ‘tech for good’ mean to you?

We organized a hackathon together back in December, where we analysed the concepts around conscientious innovation and tech for good. One of the outcomes we arrived at is that nobody ever sets out to do harm. The damage is usually caused by not considering the impact of certain decisions at the very beginning.

Tech for good is not just about the technology itself, but it is really in the application of technology. We are now at a point where a new tech innovation is hitting the market every couple of months. This creates a huge opportunity to solve multiple problems by combining these technologies in the right way. Take for example something like decentralized AI which combines blockchain, AI and new encryption technologies, enabling trusted AI across businesses, or the use of computer vision, data analytics and IoT (internet of things) for pollution and traffic monitoring in cities Then there are startups like ‘Open Mined‘ who are focused purely on enabling people to develop applications and services that do good (https://www.openmined.org/).

What are the most prominent societal challenges that you are observing/ recognising currently?

What we are seeing at the moment are issues around data privacy, ‘fake news’ or data veracity. How do you prove or show that something is actually true, and hasn’t been manipulated? Most of these issues, however, didn’t necessarily start with the technology but were enabled by technology. Their roots come from very complicated nuanced social interactions, geopolitics and manufacturing.

It’s quite interesting to see how we can now use technology, or think about technology differently, to counter these societal challenges. At the same time, we can now anticipate what are the next problems that are likely to crop up. As the algorithms evolve and get more sophisticated, ‘algorithmic fairness’ will become more and more of an issue. Is there a difference between accuracy and fairness? How do we start embodying ethics, moral values, corporate values or social values into algorithms? These kinds of applications will start to become a very big conversation for companies and governments.

What are you observing about the industry itself?

Employees are putting increasing pressure on companies to do better. The employees of some of the largest companies in the world are starting to use their power to make changes in their working conditions. Particularly in the field of data science where there is such a shortage of talent. The power now rests with the data scientists and they’re starting to leverage that power. It’ll be interesting to see how that evolves.

Increasingly, there are funds that are set up purely to be invested in ethical business ventures. On a consumer level, companies are expected to be more responsive, and to actively listen to people’s needs. Currently, the most valued brands have a purpose and stand for something. To be ethical is an ongoing commitment. You’ve got to be able to deliver on that and constantly evolve, change and self-invest.

Accenture projects that have inspired you?

We just recently started a collaboration with Unreasonable Group. The project is called Unreasonable FUTURE which looks at the future of work, particularly for youth. It’s a collaboration between Accenture’s The Dock, Unreasonable Group, Pearson and Fossil Foundation. This partnership scoured the planet looking for social entrepreneurs who are trying to do good and make money. They identified a number of companies that are now part of this program and some of them are truly inspiring in terms of what they’ve done already, how many people they’re reaching and how they collaborate. What we do here at The Dock, is use our global reach and our ability to scale in tandem with what our partners have already achieved. This has a massive potential to do a lot of good.

Another project here at The Dock we are excited about is aquaponics – a system for growing both plants and fish symbiotically in a mutually beneficial cycle. Fish waste is used to fertilize the plants, which in turn purifies the water for the fish. It is fascinating not only because of the technique itself but the community around it. People doing Aquaponics are very much in the “maker” community mindset – they share knowledge, tips, different setups, etc, and at the moment it’s definitely a grassroots community without a huge amount of input from big companies.

The technique involves growing fish and plants together. This method has been known since the Aztecs, or at least that’s the first documented evidence. Now with technology, it has become more accessible, more capable and there’s plenty of people doing great things with that. What FAO (food and agriculture organisation for UN) is looking at currently is whether there is a potential to use this approach to deliver food to everybody on the planet in a sustainable way. It would need some changes around monitoring the system, scaling it and the appropriate knowledge on how to maintain it. We can tackle some of those challenges with AI.

ID 2020 is a project that was designed to use blockchain to enable the identification of refugees and to give these people a certain level of security as they move between borders. This project was developed in collaboration with the UN.

How can companies contribute to positive change?

We need leadership to encourage change by giving their teams permission and space to collectively initiate solutions. Otherwise, the people have to agitate for action and that causes more friction and frustration. At The Dock, the purpose that we set forward is to drive conscientious innovation. This approach was 100% supported by leadership and space was provided for it to develop and grow. We care about the impact of our work and we make sure we truly honor the opportunity. It is not just about leadership telling us to do it. It’s ours. We asked for this. So we also have an obligation and a responsibility to make that happen.

To learn more follow @AccentureDock and visit accenture.com/thedock

A big thanks to:

• Jess Majekodunmi, Conscientious innovation lead
• Patrick Connolly, Research Manager
• Christophe Guéret, Research Scientist – Ireland Tech4Good lead
• Nick McCarthy, Research Engineer

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Empathy is the ability to recognise and relate to someone else’s circumstances, motivations and emotions. It is a capacity to see the world through the eyes of others and extend compassion through a deep understanding of their challenges and conditions. 

In his book, ‘Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain”, Dr. Antonio Damasio outlines how empathy is an integral part of building and enriching human connection. In his research, he demonstrates how patients, with damage in the areas of the brain associated with empathy, experienced difficulties in relating positively to other humans. 

Research professor and author, Dr. Brené Brown, discusses it at length alongside the topics of courage, vulnerability, sympathy, and shame. She describes empathy as a driver for human connection – it helps people feel included and understood. 

“Empathy is a choice and it’s a vulnerable choice. Because in order to connect with you, I have to connect with something in myself that knows that feeling.” – Dr. Brené Brown at 2013 RSA Talk, the Power of Vulnerability.

Many people often mistake empathy with sympathy. It is important to recognise, even though the two are similar, they are not the same.  In the article ‘Sympathy vs. Empathy in UX’ published by Nielsen Norman Group, Sarah Gibbons discusses what differentiates these two concepts. By sympathising with someone, you are acknowledging their challenges but not necessarily fully grasping or feeling their emotional state. Gibbons uses the following visual to demonstrate the journey from sympathy to deep compassion.

Image Credit: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/sympathy-vs-empathy-ux/

When we exercise empathy, we withhold judgement and encourage people’s trust. It enables us to form a deeper mutual bond and make more informed and objective decisions. In fact, empathy goes beyond just a capacity to internalise what others are feeling or thinking. It can and should be applied as a foundation for company culture and communication; in any ideation process; as a leadership approach and even as success criteria by which a company is measured. It doesn’t take much effort to imagine that an organisation, large or small, stands a better chance at long-term shared success and prosperity, where everyone is recognised, heard and valued. 

On the 30th of May 2019, New Zealand released the first-ever well-being budget. According to the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, this budget is redefining government spending, which is now going to be based on kindness and empathy.

‘Our five Wellbeing Budget priorities show how we have broadened our definition of success for our country to one that incorporates not just the health of our finances, but also of our natural resources, people and communities.’ 

Although the positive impact of such progressive decision-making is yet to be seen, without a doubt it is one of the most people-centric political approaches worldwide to date. 

As businesses are becoming more challenged by the current socio-economic climate and changing consumer trends, it is forcing us to go deeper, look harder at our motivations and come back to people-centric values. Empathy acts as the necessary cure to address these challenges.

In a report, 2016 Empathy Index, UK consulting company ‘The Empathy Business’ published insights after investigating the company culture of 170 businesses on their financial indexes. Belinda Parmar, founder, and CEO of The Empathy Business, related to the findings of the report: ‘The top 10 companies in the Global Empathy Index 2015 increased in value more than twice as much as the bottom 10, and generated 50% more earnings (defined by market capitalization). In our work with clients, we have found a correlation as high as 80% between departments with higher empathy and those with high performers.’.

Author and a science journalist, Dr. Daniel Goleman, wrote an article in the Harvard Business Review entitled “What Makes a Leader?“. He talks about three core reasons for empathy to be applied to every business:

• It is necessary when creating ecosystems within multi-disciplinary teams, as all members have their own unique needs and processes 
• It is an effective tool for peaceful conflict resolution within multicultural working environments as businesses grow globally
• It helps in escalating challenges around talent retention, as people are more actively challenging company leaders to consider their unique needs and points of view

The benefits that the application of empathy brings to business is exponential. Once it is weaved into the fabric of company culture, it shows an almost immediate increase in stakeholder loyalty, collaboration, productivity, and innovation. This collectively adds a unique competitive advantage in the market.

Multiple studies of research directly relate empathy to success in sales, product development, and overall team performance.

You can view some of the findings here: (http://www.eiconsortium.org/). 

So what exactly does it mean to apply empathy to your own personal life or work? And can it be cultivated? 

The answer is yes! Here are a few tips on how you can practice and improve your empathy skills:                                     

• Practice mutual respect, even if you don’t share someone’s point of view or life choices. Withhold all judgment when listening to ideas especially when they don’t align with yours. By inviting a broader point of view, you are opening a door to an unexplored potential. 
• Take time to actively listen to your friends, customers, employees, managers, and shareholders. Do not assume you are always the one who has the right answer. Pay attention to body language, tone of voice and even the pauses in between words. At times, silence says it all. Do not interrupt or try and assert your point of view. Creating a safe space to self-express is paramount.
• Respond compassionately to people’s questions, anxieties, and doubts. Remember there may be a multitude of variables and conditions that influence their behaviours and points of view. Recognise people’s emotions, even if negative. Being neglected and ignored will stifle their creativity, productivity, and critical thinking.
• Motivate people based on their unique needs and personality types. By nourishing people’s authentic capabilities you are opening doors to better richer ideas, energised team or even more versatile service offering.
• Stay present by smiling and referring to people by their name. Showing that you are a keen interest in what they have to say, will allow space to relate on a deeper level. Actively engage by asking questions and showing your interest in people’s point of view. Giving others space to freely express their thoughts will result in positively unpredictable, original and, in many cases, truly surprising insights
• Give recognition and praise freely. But remember it has to come from a genuine place, you are not doing anyone any favours by just massaging someone’s ego.

Most importantly, remain authentic and vulnerable through the process. Allow it to challenge your perspective. At the end of the day, the greatest growth comes from the things you don’t already know.

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For this month, I wanted to create something very colourful, so I finally got a chance to use the watercolour brush pens I bought last month.

With summertime as the theme for this month, I thought it would be very easy to come up with ideas, but it was actually the opposite – it took me a while to decide on what to do.

My initial idea was to paint three abstract summer landscapes – sea, city and mountains. I started by playing around with the background colours. For the first one, the sea, I wanted to blend the sea and the sand seen from above. To make it easier to see that this was a view from above,  I added a few simple silhouettes with some shadow which solved the problem.

For the second one, the city, I wanted to create a sunset landscape so I started with the blend of colours in the background and was inspired by a TV show I’m watching at the moment that is filmed in Los Angeles, so I added two palm trees and a lamp post.

For the third one, the mountains, I wanted to create a sunrise landscape so I started with the blend of colours in the background. These brush pens are very vibrant so while the paint was still very wet, I used some tissue paper as a brush to mute the colours a little bit. As I was adding the silhouette of the mountains (also inspired by TV shows) I thought it looked like the perfect place to add the golden gate bridge and still keep the summer feeling.

It was really cool to play around with colours and silhouettes and see that even simple techniques can end up as really visual pieces.

Zanya

The theme “summertime” sounded easy – I immediately imagined it should be something with nature and something colourful. I’m noting that everything I’ve painted so far in these challenges involves people so I thought it might be nice to paint a really vibrant scene of flowers. But the idea didn’t really inspire me to get started. I think this is the first theme we’ve encountered that seemed quite straightforward and not as introspectively challenging as previous themes. As a result, my brain didn’t really engage, and I found myself with very few ideas.

I left myself very little time and ended up doing it on my holiday. I brought a sketchbook and a little box of paints and also, charcoals. I decided to work from a recent photo on my phone that was of my daughter swinging on an old buoy hanging from a tree. I really liked the sun-dappled light that had come through the foliage and thought it might be an interesting challenge to replicate. I first tried using charcoals and really liked the atmosphere it created but it was hard to achieve accuracy in the face because the scale was small and charcoals are chunky. I tried again with paints for better control. As she’s under the canopy of a tree, a lot of the background is in dark shade.  To avoid the possibility of the picture being too gloomy, I chose to paint in dots to give a lighter, more summer-like feel to the piece. Painting with paints on standard paper was hard as blending colour isn’t an option – something I take for granted with watercolours or with oils. But I still really enjoyed the process.

Laura

When we came up with the theme, I immediately thought- nature. I wanted to create something with a ‘feel-good’ vibe.

A few weeks ago,  I walked a part of the Barrow Way. It is a beautiful forest path alongside Ireland’s second-largest river Barrow. I was so taken by the beauty of the river scene, that it further inspired to create this piece.

I was very lucky to find an old print I made years ago. Charcoal and yellow tones in the print suited me perfectly when creating a sunset feel. The rest of the scenery just followed. And soon, in my mind’s eye, I was sitting on a rock, in the middle of a pond marvelling at beautiful green and brown tones, bursting with life.

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How did it all begin? What inspired you to create FoodCloud?

In February 2012 while studying Business and Economics at Trinity, I met Aoibheann O’Brien at a college event. We got talking about how much food is wasted and how little is happening in Ireland to address it. While internationally, in the UK and Europe, there are networks of food banks that were dealing with the problem, there was only one registered food bank in this country at the time.

Aoibheann and I had a shared determination to do something about the mountain of food waste in Ireland every year. We arranged for the surplus food from a farmers’ market to be redistributed to a local charity. That initiative kick-started FoodCloud which has, in turn, led to a food revolution involving a growing movement of retailers, farmers, and distributors who are keen to tackle food waste at their individual level. This revolution also includes community groups and charities who are fighting food waste by working with and excelling at using surplus food.  Companies upload information regarding surplus foods to the FoodCloud app, which sends out a message to charities that the food is available for collection.

Foodcloud has developed a hugely successful social enterprise network, which already stretches across Ireland and the UK.

Tell me more about your cause. What societal needs are you addressing?

FoodCloud’s vision is for a world where no good food goes to waste.

Our mission is to redistribute surplus food in order to reduce food waste, increase social inclusion and inspire communities to take local actions that can create global change.

Within one community, a business is throwing away perfectly good food while there’s a charity just around the corner that’s struggling to feed people in need. This is a global problem with 30% of food produced going to waste. Excessive food production is utilising scarce natural resources and contributing to climate change. At the same time, 1 in 10 people is experiencing food poverty. The UN stated that if global food waste was reduced by 25% we would have enough food to feed all those who are malnourished.

What’s your vision for FoodCloud? What’s next?

Our aim is for Ireland to become a global leader in developing solutions for surplus food redistribution from an ever-growing network of sources. Our online platform is capable of redistributing food from hundreds of retail outlets. Now, we also have a solution for the rest of the food supply chain – including manufacturers and distributors and farmers.

Our population is set to grow to 9 billion people by 2050. We need to find solutions that will enable people to access the food they need, sustainably and equitably. Surplus food redistribution and food waste reduction across the supply chain has to be part of this strategy for 2050.

What greatest challenge have you faced so far, and how did you overcome it?

When we first started, donating surplus food to charities wasn’t common practice in Ireland.  There was a lot for us to learn about what works and what doesn’t. We relied on the businesses and charities that signed up in the early days to give honest feedback and work closely with us while we developed and perfected the model.

There are some particular challenges around social entrepreneurship, not in terms of business operations, but that the whole concept may not be well-understood. Messaging to explain what social enterprises are, and how they operate needs to be included in our communication. Our goals and objectives have more of a social focus than a financial focus.

Give us an example of the most significant impact your venture made on someone?

Our aim is to help reduce the cost of food for charities allowing them to reinvest their food savings back into their services. To date, we have saved our charity partners over €68.1 billion. One of our partner charities has managed to save up to €25,000 per annum on food.

What are the biggest industry changes you’ve noticed between starting and now? If the situation better or worse?

FoodCloud has three warehouses in Dublin, Cork, and Galway. These are referred to as the FoodCloud Hubs. Brexit has had an impact on food traveling into the hubs as we believe that businesses have tightened up supply chains and may be stockpiling. Retailers are introducing food waste policies and initiatives which is reducing the amount of food that is available to charities but reducing food waste ultimately.

What can we do individually and collectively to help drive positive change?

On an individual level, we can all try harder to reduce household food waste as the majority of food waste is domestic.

What is the greatest transformation in technology you’ve witnessed in your career?

Traditionally, food banks are big warehouses housing large volumes of food which are then redistributed to charities. The whole idea of using technology for virtual food banking (‘delegated distribution’) to connect the source of food directly to the local charity is quite new.

What part of your work brings you the most joy?

It’s great to see the positive impact we have made, even on such a small scale. It is this that has really inspired us to do more. We are also very proud of the team that has joined us on our journey.

What started as an idea with two people, has now become a movement with over 50 staff based in Cork, Galway, Dublin, and London.

Would you like us to include any call to action at the end of the article? Please provide the details on links, hashtags or any info you would like to share.

We are always looking to work with more food industry partners at every level of the supply chain. If you are a producer, manufacturer, or wholesaler with surplus food and you would like to contact FoodCloud Hub’s business engagement team, please email food@foodcloud.ie.

If you are a charity and you would like to learn more about FoodCloud, please email: support@foodcloud.ie

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Here are a few examples of technology projects we admire that are paving the way for a safer, greener and more informed future:

Rainforest Connection

This exciting San Francisco start-up is truly reinventing the wheel. It’s combining AI technology with old smartphones to build audio sensors that help collect vast amounts of data on illegal activity in the world’s tropical forests.

Rainforest Connection (RFCx) has spent years forging meaningful partnerships with indigenous tribes, governments, and NGOs and work closely with them to prevent illegal deforestation and animal poaching. To date, their system monitors over 26,000 hectares of forest!

(We have an interview planned with the inspiring Topher White, the founder, and CEO of Rainforest Connection, later this year so watch this space!)

Living IoT: A Flying Wireless Platform on Live Insects

Caption: Bees with “backpacks” on can still eat, control their flight and perform other normal behaviors.
Credit: Mark Stone/University of Washington

Nothing warms our hearts more than seeing technology adapted to saving bees. There are several companies across the globe who are now addressing this daunting reality with hive management systems, drones monitoring the health of crops, research on parasitic cultures and more. And some are pushing the creative boundaries with the projects like this one.

In 2018, the researchers at the University of Washington developed sensor backpacks to be placed on bumblebees. Yes, you read that right – teeny, tiny backpacks on bumblebees that require only a small rechargeable battery lasting for 7 hours of flight. The sensor backpack weighs 102 milligrams. The intention is that when bees return to their hive every night, their batteries are wirelessly recharged while the information gathered throughout their travels uploads to the cloud.

Such an ingenious solution would help farmers identify and combat issues that affect bee behaviour before the pollination and proliferation of their crops further declines. The team is also planning to develop backpacks with cameras that can live-stream information back to farmers.

FLOW

The pollution of our environment is an exponential challenge that seldom gets the attention it deserves. City dwellers especially lack knowledge of the daily air conditions in their local areas. Unfortunately, such information is not easily accessible. Plume Labs has built a personal air quality monitoring device called FLOW that integrates with their phone app. With this technology, people get a chance to actively participate in gathering information collectively within their network. At the press of a button that illuminates animated LEDs, the device gives its users immediate feedback on the air surrounding them, indoors and outdoors. The accompanying app provides a minute-by-minute breakdown of the pollutants people would be exposed to throughout the day. This system blends impartial global data that can be used in real-time for informing people, organisations and governments on local pollution levels. These statistics, gathered through millions of users, could build the case for better regulation and for the provision of innovations targeting air contamination.

Earth Insights

Collecting statistics is one part of the environmental challenge, but helping people and their governments to connect to the troubling figures is another story altogether. The collaboration between HP and Conservation International called ‘Earth Insights’ achieves such an impact very successfully. This project not only uses data-processing technology to monitor and assess biodiversity loss across the world’s tropical forests, but they provide the findings in the most beautiful way. With the help of hidden camera technology, millions of animal photos are captured. Through these insights, scientists can then assess how human activity and climate change have affected different species and their habitats. The project’s beautifully immersive online platform communicates vast amounts of complicated biodiversity data in a simple, impactful and emotionally engaging way.

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For this month, I really wanted to create a very colourful piece so I bought some nice watercolour brush pens that got delivered too late so I ended up going with pointillism again.

I couldn’t really find a deep meaning for the theme “Mirror Mirror” so I decided to literally draw a mirror itself. I remember back in Brazil when I was young, my Portuguese grandmother had a really old colonial Portuguese-style living room where there was a very ornamental mirror. This mirror always freaked me out at night when I was passing by it, thinking that one day I would see something in the reflection, so I took this as inspiration to create this illustration.

I started out drawing the mirror and as it evolved, I thought it would be nice to include this bit of fear that I had in the drawing. I decided to add a blurred silhouette trying to come out of the mirror. Following this idea, I thought it would be nice to add some details to the wall where the mirror hangs. I started drawing a wall that is falling apart with cracks and exposed bricks. I also added some texture in order to create a frame for the image.

I’m really happy with the result and it’s nice to see that I’m developing my own illustration style.

Zanya

I spent about 10 days trying to decide on what to create for this theme before I started. I knew I wanted to portray the inner child that lives in all of us – the unconditioned version of ourselves that makes us happiest but the one we somehow lose connection with through the push and pull of adult life.

I finally settled on the idea of painting a self-portrait with my eldest daughter. She’s the embodiment of my inner child. I wanted to portray our connection through the heart. I put my hand on my heart first and my daughter’s hand on mine almost as if she is the one guiding me – reminding me to connect to that peaceful part of myself that is often neglected.

I painted our clothes in white to portray innocence and I wanted the background of flowers to bring a softness and a gentleness to the connection we’re sharing.

I chose to paint in oils because I find them easier for painting skin. The downside is that they take a long time to dry, making progress slow. I really enjoyed the challenge of painting this piece and found myself continually wanting to escape to the canvas at all times of the day to work on it.

Laura

‘Mirror mirror’ is a saying I use when I’m strongly relating to people. I believe that every one of us is a reflection of another – what we see in others is usually what exists within ourselves.

I also contemplated that people are much more generous when showing kindness to others, but struggle to receive it.

With that sentiment in mind, I chose to create an interactive empathy game, that would allow us to experience kindness through each other’s eyes. Since I had to produce a large volume of cards, I went for a unified cover theme, a subtle colour palette and free-hand illustration.

I treated the piece as an experiment, having very little expectation of the game running smoothly. And yet I was pleasantly surprised. I received an emotional reaction for my team members, experienced beautiful moments of connection and even nearly shed a tear. Delighted!

Make your own and play!

1. Create X number of cards, depending on the number of players
2. Ask each player to write down a kind intention, a wish or a compliment while thinking of a particular person (e.g. a family member, a friend, someone who has done you harm, a perfect stranger and finally yourself). Remember to be kind.
3. Put the cards back in the pile and shuffle
4. Ask the players to choose X number of cards each
5. Now pass your cards to the person to your left, then have those cards read to you
6. Make sure you sit face to face when receiving kindness, look each other in the eye and say thank you after each statement

Pay attention, stay connected and watch your heart open.

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Based on years of experience, we’ve compiled a list of key considerations a B2B SaaS provider needs to take into account before commissioning work on a new website:

Non-technical Needs

The work and problem-solving invested in a SaaS solution are usually second to none. The platform is built using the latest technology and by the brightest minds. But how is this all relevant and relatable to a customer’s needs? SaaS providers often fall into the trap of promoting technical prowess as a differentiator. It may seem impressive but it’s not relatable. Customers engage more if it’s clear how a solution will make their lives better/easier. Technology is getting increasingly sophisticated and capable and consumers automatically expect that of a SaaS solution. Communicating the value of its application is the route to the customer’s heart.

Selling Personality

Promoting features and benefits will only achieve so much. It’s how they’re presented that counts. Exhibiting characteristics via language, tone, typography, and style contributes to an important first impression, evokes emotion, and helps humanise a website.

Recruiting talent

SaaS solutions have great potential for growth. With this comes the need for high calibre talent. Employees worth their salt know their value, so how do you get them to consider applying for a role in your company? A careers section on a website affords an important opportunity to convey culture and values in a way that feels authentic and peer-to-peer. To attract good people, it’s worth getting this right.

Demonstrating Credibility

For new SaaS vendors new to market, it can be a challenge to demonstrate credibility before they acquire their desired client base. Without supporting case studies, testimonials and industry awards, we focus on the vision of the company and how that’s infused in the way the company moves and behaves. The language needs to be confident and reassuring. Too much content smacks of trying too hard to convince. And that triggers scepticism.

Weak Screenshots

When creating websites for SaaS providers, it would seem logical to include screenshots of the software. But in many cases, we don’t. Or at least we won’t. This is usually because the interface is simply not aesthetic. SaaS solutions are often built by technologists and informed by industry experts without any design input. We have encountered numerous clients selling a solution built on cutting-edge technology that’s completely tailored to every need their customer could possibly imagine. And yet the interface is clunky and dated. In many cases, customers are willing to overlook look and feel for a solution that can seamlessly meet their needs. But increasingly it’s being proven that design can play a very influential role in our purchasing decisions. Showing a screenshot of a poorly designed UI on a brilliantly designed system will not do the brand or its reputation any justice. If this is the case, we opt for illustration or iconography.

Brand Consistency

Commissioning an agency to create a website is all well and good. They have all the skills to bring your content to life. But what about the ongoing effort required to support your marketing message on social media, in blog posts, at trade events, presentation decks, sales packs, promotional collateral? Sometimes these tasks are delegated internally after the website is launched. Unless a brand guide is established and faithfully adhered to, different assets are created as independent projects and the brand image begins to dilute. Commissioning a comprehensive set of brand guidelines is a worthwhile upfront investment. It ensures a consistent brand experience at every touchpoint.

Managing Resources

SaaS platforms are usually designed to streamline and optimise a series of tasks. Industries like retail, lifestyle or hospitality are spoilt for choice when it comes to powerful, emotive imagery. Technology is a harder visual sell. When creating a website to promote a technical solution, it can be challenging to source appropriate imagery that will bring the content to life. Stock imagery can appear cliché or generic. Absence of imagery will lessen engagement. Screenshots, as mentioned above, can potentially do more damage than good. When we create websites for SaaS providers, we often have to find ways to compensate for a lack of photography or quality footage. Our approach is to experiment with the visual identity – extracting elements of the logo to create watermarks, masks or navigational elements. We use illustration and iconography to make abstract concepts feel more tangible.

Attraction vs Conversion

SEO is an important requirement for most B2B companies promoting their services online. So too is lead generation. Occasionally, these two requirements can act as opposing forces which requires forethought to get the balance right. SEO loves content – lots of copy containing keyword-rich phrases. However, prospective leads don’t have the time or patience to wade through too much content. They want top level information to get a quick initial grasp as to whether their needs can be met. We start here – with an emotive and visual value proposition to tickle interest and invite engagement. Once the prospective customer starts to explore further and drill deeper, then we start to furnish more SEO-friendly content following a form of progressive disclosure.

Thought Leadership

Not only should a website focus on communicating value, credibility, relatability and personality, it’s also that it addresses the unique needs, questions, or concerns of its prospective customers. To be a leading authority in your space requires effort and resources and most importantly a strategic communication plan. A clearly defined tone of voice and shortlist of themes act as an important guide and focus for developing original and relevant content.

Marketing Automation

While this may take a bit of time to get up and running, marketing automation and well-considered lead-nurturing campaigns will help take a subscriber to a sales qualified lead with little to no effort on the marketer’s part. Integrating a 3^rd party CRM into a web-generated lead process is a relatively straightforward process and should be integrated in any brief. Once it’s in place, the sales team is free to focus their efforts on converting the higher-value customers.

Vendors of SaaS software exist in a fickle market. While it’s easy to acquire new customers online, it’s just as easy to lose them. With a website that demonstrates confidence, personality and empathy, you are more likely to win them over and keep them for the long-term.

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Unlike our previous project, I already started this one with the idea that I would like to use two techniques – pointillism and watercolour, which I only tried once back in college. So I felt that this would be a nice challenge.

With that in mind, I began to think about what colours I’d like to use before I started thinking about the drawing itself. I bought a kit of watercolour paints and played around with it. I really like the way blue and green mixed together so I decided that I would either create something relating to the sky or under the water.

I ended up choosing the latter and thought what if we were actually living under the water? With that in mind, I started to draw a human body. At first, I was thinking about drawing a mix of human and fish just like a mermaid. But I wanted to create something more interesting so I changed my mind and decided that a half-human, half-octopus creature would be nicer. I still wanted to keep that human feeling so I focused on the upper part of a woman’s body as if she was posing for a portrait and also put a lot of effort into making the hair feel like it was floating under the water.

I started adding the watercolour to the hair, mixing orange, red and purple so that I could have some vibrant colours to contrast with the greenish blue. I added a lot of water to the painting so that I could use a hair dryer to create splashes of colour.

I was really concerned about the watercolour part as colour has never come naturally to me, but in the end, I was really happy with the result and I’m looking forward to painting with watercolour again.

Zanya

The phrase “What if..” is an invitation to imagine a different kind of world. Sometimes we use it as an opportunity to dream. For some reason, my imagination took me to a darker vision of the future.

I had been really moved by Greta Thunberg’s recent address to the EU parliament on climate change. To watch her describe the consequences of our inaction and the damage befalling our biosphere, I was really jolted into truly acknowledging the environmental catastrophe our children are on the cusp of inheriting. I started to think about what that future might be like for our children. So my painting is based around the concept of “What if we get to a 4 degree warmer world..”

Polar bears are such an iconic symbol of life in the Arctic. It’s tragic to watch their habitat melting beneath them, see the starvation they’re enduring and the looming threat of extinction. In my painting of the future, this has already happened. Which is why I placed them as an exhibit in a museum. The children are all carrying heavy-looking oxygen tanks on their backs and masks over their faces. I wanted to convey the burdens and restrictions they endure to be able to survive in a warmer world where there’s less clean air to breathe. I gave the girls twin plaits as a nod to Greta.

I wanted the bottom of the painting to drip and melt into oblivion. I had chosen red for the children’s clothing to complement the museum rope, keep a reduced colour pallet and also to give a sense of heat. I hadn’t anticipated the drip effect would look so bloody – it makes the image quite stark and shocking. In a way, we are massacring our planet so this horror effect is quite fitting.

Laura

What if we always stood in our own truth.

With this task, I wanted to look deeper into the concept of being in harmony with your own self. People who stand in their truth and are naturally authentic, emit this energy field that is not possible to see, and yet it feels so magnetic, it makes it palpable.

I wanted to create a feeling of shine around the character. A representation of the inner light, an aura. I did not apply any sort of process in choosing the colour, and allowed myself to be led by my own intuition.

To represent the harmony and perfect balance, I played with some sacred geometry shapes. By placing the female in the centre, it became a little interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Vitruvian Man’. So I used some similar elements, like the positioning of the feet, in order to allude to that.

It was an interesting process for me personally. I found it quite disruptive as it brought up emotional reactions to the work. The little imperfections were especially triggering me, which I enjoyed and was fascinated by in my own way.

By the end of the piece, I wanted to do so much more. Thankfully, I ran out of time 🙂

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