The European Union (EU) recently reached an agreement on a new "first-of-its-kind" piece of legislation, the EU Deforestation Regulation, with the aim of preventing companies from selling commodities that are linked with deforestation and forest degredation around the world on the EU market. With other countries (including the US, under the Forest Act) considering a similar shift from voluntary sustainability intitiatives to a more regulatory approach, this is an important and pivotal time to understand the impacts of "due dilligence" legislation. Raina Lang will lead a panel from Conservation International exploring the practical implications of the new legislation.

Drawing on her plenary talk, "Stories About Uncertainty, Priorities, and Hope," Cheryl Hung offers a more in-depth look at why we should care about market research and data as well as how to use it in your business through a number of case studies. 

This year’s class of eight Re:co Fellows will contribute to the event in numerous ways: first and foremost, with the Fellows Talks, which will take place during Thursday’s Seminar Program. With their wide range of backgrounds and areas of expertise, the 90-minute seminar led by the Fellows promises to be one of the most engaging, thought-provoking sessions of the event. The Fellow’s Talks will draw on the experiences of these coffee and research professionals to examine topics including: the role of coffee brewing technology in shaping our understanding of “good” coffee; specialty coffee as a vehicle for economic growth and autonomy for women in the value chain; and the history of gentrification in Portland.

Delegates will find some of the big-picture themes from the Plenary Program, like the idea of specialty coffee embracing diverse tastes, reflected in the perspectives offered by the Fellows, who are working to apply these ideas in a variety of supply chain roles and cultural contexts.

*This seminar requires a small amount of pre-event thinking and writing in order to make the most of your time during the session.

This seminar uses not-knowing as a way to think about new products and business models—in other words, creating and holding a productive space of not-knowing.

Clarity is required to create a productive space of not-knowing. The pre-work is designed to achieve this clarity about your business in three areas:

What you want to keep,
What you might be willing to change, and
What you definitely want to change.

The pre-work will take 30-60 minutes using this template.

During the seminar, we'll build on your pre-work to develop ideas for small, low-risk experiments aimed at discovering new customer segments, new products, or new ways of doing business.

Expect about 10 minutes of background from Vaughn, followed by a combination of individual work, small-group workshopping, and whole-group discussion. You'll leave the seminar with at least one fleshed-out idea for a low-risk experiment that you can implement within the next 60 days.