Business has been put at the centre of the stage to deliver the sustainable economy that the Government pledges to provide in the Natural Environment White Paper (NEWP).

This creates real opportunities for businesses, in terms of new markets (e.g. via Payment for Ecosystem Services/Offsets/Restoration) and new collaborations with delivery agencies and other institutions (e.g. via Nature Improvement Areas).

NERC has commissioned the Environmental Sustainability Knowledge Transfer Natwork (ESKTN) to run a 1-day workshop linking up key academics working in the ecosystem services area with businesses interested in refining their understanding of their dependencies on environmental goods and services, the opportunities opened up by new policies and developing better tools to manage the associated risks.

The workshop will start with a mixture of presentations from both academics and businesses.  The Valuing Nature Network (VNN), Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (BESS) and Natural Capital Initiative (NCI) programmes will be presented by their directors, and there will be a number of case studies showcased by business of existing relevant work in this area.  Defra will present its policies with an emphasis on the follow-up from the Natural Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) and the Ecosystem Knowledge Network, which are both highly relevant to businesses.   There will also be an introduction to the proposed NERC internship programme, and possible follow-on work, followed by a presentation on a ‘model’ project for which funding has already been agreed.

The second part of the programme will entail a workshop format, with sector specific groups working on developing materials and ideas for projects. Each group will produce a summary of their top priority requirements in terms of tools and information and then start to develop a focussed set of projects which could attract internship funding, leading on to development of KTP projects, or be taken forward under other Knowledge Exchange mechanisms.

The overall aims are 

• to launch a call for internships to be funded by NERC over the next 12 months
• to identify specific areas where there are already tools that could be used or developed further by industry in collaboration with academia 
• to identify opportunities and areas where the business communities perceive scope for further development/ refinement to produce first generation ecosystem service valuation/ risk management tools for their sector.

Draft Programme:

09.00-09.30       Registration and Coffee

09.30-09.45       Welcome and Introduction to the day                                                 Dr Anne Miller

09.45-10.05      The UK National Ecosystem Assessment, the Valuing Nature Network (VNN) and  

                         the Business Sector                                                                   Prof. Ian Bateman

10.05-10.25      NERC’s Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BESS) programme:

                         links and opportunities for Business                                            Prof. Dave Rafaelli

10.25-10.40      Valuing externalities in a business context                              Dr Bhaskar Vira

10.40-11.00       Partnerships for ongoing valuation - business, academia and the bigger picture.  The

                         Natural Capital Initiative(NCI)                                                         Prof. Rosie Hails

11.00-11.15      NERC’s internship programme:                            Dr Faith Culshaw and Dr Max Volpi

11.15-11.30        Coffee Break

11.30-11.50        Defra's work on Payment for Ecosystems (PES) and the Ecosystem Markets Task

                          Force (EMTF)                                                                                 Dr  Helen Dunn

11.50-12.10        Business case studies- Water sector:                                Martin Ross, SW Water

12.10-12.30        Business case studies- Tools used within the Extractive sector:      Annelisa Grigg

12.30-13.00       Discussion

13.00-13.45       LUNCH

PM programme- Parallel streams:

13.45                  Break out session 1: Water

13.45                  Break out session 1: Other sectors ( divided into several specific sectors

                          depending on who attends)

Workshop format:  Mixed academic and business groups, according to prior notification of interests.

Outcomes: 

1. Identification of what the business community see as the opportunities and operational challenges  in embedding natural capital/ ecosystem services into business decision making.
2. Identification of academic activities that are of interest to the business community in this area.
3. Identification of common themes of interest and actions that would address these.
4. Initiation of project developments for internship funding.

Mechanism:

13.45- 14.15  In each breakout-session:  2 minutes per participant with single powerpoint slide to

                      summarise the research they think is relevant to business (academics) or the

                      issues/ question(s) they want to address and the tools they currently have

                      available which need refining/ could have more widespread application ( business)

14.15-14.45  Facilitated discussion of what common themes emerge, participants to develop a list

                     of the opportunities for collaboration between academics and businesses, based on

                     the previous discussion. Short discussion of key questions they wish to address and

                     the information gaps they perceive, with the aim of signalling potential

                     collaborations to others outside the group.

14.45             Feedback to other groups and sign-up for project development groups

15.00             Tea

15.15             Break-out session 2: development of project partnerships: facilitated development

                     of potential partnerships and project ideas for submission to internship programme

                     or other funding sources

16.00             Final plenary and next steps.

16.15             Close

The next steps will be then to launch a bid for several internship projects which will be funded subject to rapid placement and turn-round times, as well as for academic and business merit.