Nighttime birds eye view of a city with interwoven web of lines that connect the city in an energy grid. iStock/Chaay Tee
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
12:00am – 11:59pm

Scaling Sustainability Innovation

This conference seeks to bring together leading academic scholars, sustainability-focused entrepreneurs [aka ecopreneurs] and business leaders to share challenges and best practices in scaling sustainability innovation.
Open to
Faculty
Staff
Students
Stanford Community
Alumni
Public
Nighttime birds eye view of a city with interwoven web of lines that connect the city in an energy grid. iStock/Chaay Tee

Location

Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center

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Stanford GSB Primary Logo
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About the Sustainability Research Conference Series

The Stanford Initiative on Business and Environmental Sustainability Research Conference Series is hosted by Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.

Stanford Ecopreneurship Programs, a partnership between Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and Doerr School of Sustainability, is pleased to host a conference on the subject of Scaling Sustainability Innovation.

This conference seeks to bring together leading academic scholars, sustainability-focused entrepreneurs [aka ecopreneurs] and business leaders to share challenges and best practices in scaling sustainability innovation. This knowledge-sharing aims to generate new holistic understanding about effective strategies and practice when scaling sustainability innovation in a variety of contexts, to accelerate a multi-trillion dollar transition to address current global climate and sustainability challenges and create a future where humans and nature thrive in concert and in perpetuity.

Key themes of discussion include (but are not limited to):

  • Various pathways to scale sustainability innovation, spanning startups, established for-profit corporations, nonprofits, governments, universities, etc.
  • The role that people/leadership development has in scaling sustainability-focused innovations/organizations
  • The role that various forms of capital play at different stages of scaling sustainability innovation
  • The role that various forms of partnerships play at different stages of scaling sustainability
  • How entrepreneurs and business owners navigate their relationship with government at different stages of scaling

The conference will also include an Innovation Expo, aimed at showcasing sustainability innovation coming out of Stanford’s ecosystem and fostering fruitful connections between ecopreneurs, investors, and partners.

Agenda

Time Event
8:30 am - 9:00 am Registration
9:00 am - 9:05 am Welcome
9:05 am - 9:20 am First Talk
9:20 am - 9:40 am Second Talk by Bill Barnett
9:40 am - 10:00 am Leadership Traits and Pitfalls when Scaling Sustainability Innovation by Julia Novy
10:10 am - 10:25 am The Evolving Capital Landscape by Sophie Purdom
10:25 am - 11:10 am The Role of Capital in Scaling Sustainability Innovation by Stefanos Zenios, Sophie Purdom, Brock Mansfield
11:20 am - 12:05 pm The Role of Policy and Government Relations in Scaling Sustainability Innovation by Panelists TBA
12:05 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm - 1:45 pm Breakout Session 1 - Financial Tools, Contracts, and Partners
Breakout Session 2 - Panel on Accelerators and Incubators
Breakout Session 3 - Panel on International Innovation Ecosystems
1:55 pm - 3:25 pm Innovation Startup Showcase on Transportation, Carbon Management, and Electricity/Grid
Innovation Startup Expo at Franklin Fountain
3:35 pm - 5:05pm Innovation Startup Showcase on Energy Storage, Hydrogen, and Industry
Innovation Startup Expo at Franklin Fountain
5:05 pm - 6:35 pm Closing Remarks and Reception

*Further details on the speakers and session locations will be shared for registered attendees.

Conference Organizers

Stefanos Zenios
The Investment Group of Santa Barbara Professor of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Operations, Information & Technology, Stanford University
Yi Cui
Fortinet Founders Professor, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, of Energy Science and Engineering, of Photon Science, Senior Fellow at Woods and Professor, by courtesy, of Chemistry, Stanford University