Tima Bansal’s Forbes Column


Tomorrow’s business can no longer operate under the same principles as yesterday’s. It not only needs to create economic value, it needs to do so by working with society and within planetary boundaries. Tima regularly contributes to a column for Forbes on what it takes to lead tomorrow’s companies.
 
Browse Tima’s recent contributions to Forbes.

University of Guelph Launches Community Approach to Agricultural Innovation


Although Canada is globally known as a leading agricultural producer, the country’s ability to move agricultural innovation into the marketplace doesn’t rank nearly as high. Innovation North collaborated with the University of Guelph to interview farmers, industry partners and academics about the challenges they face on the farm and how those might be addressed through innovation.

Read the full article on Farmtario.

Academics and Executives Join Forces on Sustainability Research


Most business school academics work at arm’s length from managers. Never has it been more important for researchers to bridge this divide, as climate change, new technologies, complex supply chains and geopolitical destabilisation generate uncertainty and turbulence.

Read Tima and Garima’s article on Financial Times.

How to Implement Sustainable Innovation

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Our world has become more complex and shaped by systems. But many organizations have kept a narrow view to innovation. Innovation North’s Compass helps businesses implement sustainable innovation to create a better future.

Read Hannah’s article on Sustainable Innovation for NBS.

Managers and Researchers Tackle the World’s Most Challenging Problems

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As wicked problems—such as poverty, pandemics, climate change, and species extinction—become increasingly urgent, researchers have found a new way to collaborate with managers to develop sustainable business approaches, according to an Academy of Management Learning & Education article.

In this article, Michael Bratsis provides a summary of the research article, which describes how innovators can tackle these problems with researchers. Unfortunately, the article is behind a paywall. Please contact us at Innovation North (info@innovationnorth.ca), if you would like a copy.

Corporations Need to Embrace A Made-in-Canada Approach To Innovation

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It is time for Canadian companies to recognize that we shouldn’t be looking to Silicon Valley for inspiration, but we need our own brand of innovation that involves collaboration.
 
Read Tima’s contribution to The Hill Times Policy Briefing on Innovation.

Systems Thinking – The New Approach for Sustainable and Profitable Businesses

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Traditional, linear business thinking won’t solve social and environmental issues. Executives need systems thinking. What does systems thinking mean, why is it important, and how can companies adopt it?

Read Ju Young’s article on Systems Thinking for NBS.

Managers and Researchers Tackle the World’s Most Challenging Problems

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Solving the world’s most wicked problems requires executives and academics to work together to reimagine corporate innovation.

Read this Academy of Management Insights article by Garima Sharma, Sylvia Grewatsch and Angela Greco.

Systems Innovations: Reimagining the Role of the Professional Accountant in Today’s Environment

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Today’s volatile business environment calls for innovation with better foresight and an integrated understanding of systems. Accountants that shift their thinking to systems innovations models will gain a crucial management competency in today’s economy.
 
Read this joint publication between Innovation North and CPA Canada. (Also available in French.)

Guiding Corporate Sustainability


This Ivey Business Journal Q&A explores why there is nothing anti-capitalist about sustainability, while making the case for old-school capitalists to a more enlightened form of capitalism through new thinking about innovation.

Read the interview between Tima Bansal and Thomas Watson.

How Corporations Can Change Systems through Innovation

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Corporate innovation often produces severe, unintended social consequences. Even as innovation creates value for a firm, it can destroy value within other systems. Here, the authors propose that companies move away from the traditional innovation model focused on the firm to a systems innovation model focused on the firm and its products in relation to other systems.
 
Read the full Amplify article by Tima Bansal, Ju Young Lee, and Alice Mascena Barbosa.

What is Sustainable Innovation?

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By building sustainability into innovation, companies can create products, services, and processes that are good for both society and the organization.

Read Ju Young’s article on Sustainable Innovation for NBS.

Business, Innovation, and Systems: A Conversation with Tima Bansal


What does it mean for a business or a corporation to be sustainable? How might businesses innovate to put people and planet alongside profit? How might businesses adopt systems thinking to shift business models and strategies towards regenerative value systems and circular economy? What role should businesses play in politics and public policies to enable global systems changes?
 
Discover the answers to these questions by watching a conversation between Tima Bansal and Joanne Dong of System Innovation’s Toronto Hub.

Podcast: The Frontiers of Purpose — Reimagining Your Organization’s Role in Society

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We live in a time defined by large-scale environmental and societal challenges. The climate emergency, rising levels of inequality, agriculture and food security, and growing unemployment rates are among many trends affecting all societies and sectors. In light of these, what role can organizations play to help tackle these challenges? How can organizations—whether in the public or private sector—reconstitute their ‘purpose’? How can they reimagine innovation to create shared solutions and build towards a more prosperous society? 
 
Listen to Tima Bansal and two of Innovation North’s Practice Partners on a podcast hosted by The Ivey Academy.

What an Indigenous Worldview Means to Me — and Business


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For social justice and for human survival, the Indigenous worldview needs to become our guide for decisions. Businesses can play a role in this transition.
 
Read Tima’s reflections on an Innovation North Lab session on this article for NBS.