Symposium to help small businesses, environment

By Leann Jacobson, Mike Ralston, John Stineman and Martha Willits

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If you are a leader of an Iowa business, you should attend the second annual Heartland Greenup Symposium and Expo on June 2 in Des Moines.

This event will connect you with new clean technologies and leading-edge strategies that will help you improve profits, harness business and boost the economy while lessening effects on the environment. In the process, you will be part of the collaborative, collective discussion on sustainability that is critical to Iowa's economic future. Sustainability will be about survival. Here's why:

You can get more business. Take IBM, for example. IBM requires suppliers to establish goals, measure performance and disclose results. Further, they expect their suppliers' suppliers to be sustainable. (Harris Warsaw, IBM's VP of General Business in North America, will be speaking at the Heartland Greenup.)

Consumers, the government and your employees all care about sustainability. They are pushing businesses to be transparent about their environmental practices.

Iowa is positioned to lead the country in energy independence. The state is home to groundbreaking work in the renewable-energy arena. Clean-technology innovations are flowing from our research universities and emerging businesses. Corporate sustainability strategies that rely on technology are reaping results that set the bar nationally. And large and small communities across the state are adopting green strategies for economic development.

Ultimately, you'll save money. In the last several years, energy costs have created the greatest cost increases for small and mid-size businesses. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “Small businesses that invest strategically can cut utility costs 10 percent to 30 percent without sacrificing service, quality, style or comfort, all while making significant contributions to a cleaner environment.”

You'll deflect global issues around the rising price of oil, which impacts the cost of everything. Energy independence also has become a national security priority. Broad strategies for smart business and innovation will help Iowa - and America - succeed.

Visit www.heartland

greenup.com to learn more about or register for the Greenup.

Submitted by Leann Jacobson, President, Technology Association of Iowa; Mike Ralston, President, Iowa Association of Business and Industry; John Stineman, Executive Director, Iowa Chamber Alliance; and Martha Willits, President and CEO, Greater Des Moines Partnership.