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The Lens – UK Responsible Business Podcast
POLYMATERIA: The future of plastic: responsible innovation and biohacking business
Introducing Season 3 Episode 5 of The Lens: This month our host Oli Barrett MBE is joined by Niall Dunne, CEO of Polymateria and Siobhan Gardiner, Climate Change and Environment Lead at Deloitte Ventures.
In this episode our host Oli Barrett MBE meets a doctor on a mission to bring the value of science to those who need it most and CEO of the Tesla of plastic. Oli and our guests discuss how big business can learn from start ups and tech pioneers, the power of superbrands to shift from conspicuous consumption to conscious consumption and how the plastic of the future will have a sell-by date..
And of course, our host asks both Niall and Siobhan who they’d most like to meet for coffee and which books they’ll be adding to the famous Lens Reading List.
Niall Dunne joined Polymateria as Chief Executive Officer in January 2018 to tackle the global crisis of plastic waste and lead the company towards its mission of advancing science to help nature deal with plastic pollution. Niall is a passionate advocate of business aligning behind an inspiring purpose that can optimise its strategy, differentiate its brand and motivate its culture thereby enabling sustainable long term growth.
A World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Niall has worked on WEF’s Global Agenda Councils on Sustainable Consumption and Climate Change where he has launched and led initiatives such as Collectively.org and 100percentsport.org. These initiatives have unified some of the largest businesses and NGOs in the world behind systems level transformations seeking to tackle some of the biggest issues we are facing.
Siobhan Gardiner leads the work in Climate Change and Environment at Deloitte Ventures, having previously worked with Procter & Gamble and Unilever. A doctor of biochemistry and a passionate sustainability advocate, she is Women of the Future 2019 and InnovateUK Women in Innovation winner (+Industrial Strategy Robotics & AI cohort) and CWEIC Commonwealth Export Champion
Siobhan is also an ambassador for our podcast partner One Young World and represents the Institute of Economics & Peace. She is also the former Vice President of the BFWG. tech-leader on food security, supply chain and AI environmental technologies, she is a dedicated advocate of SDGs, STEM outreach and diversity initiatives.
Niall Dunne chooses Superpumped – a book about Uber, culture and learning from failure by Mike Isaac. He also selects
Bad Blood, the story of Elizabeth Holmes, by John Carreyrou and Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal. ‘It’s the best book for leadership, not just for anyone in business but all people.’
Siobhan Gardiner mentions Melinda Gates’ book and the parallels between force multipliers and her own work with Deloitte. She also chooses Rob Dunn’s Never Out of Season. “Coming from a farm, studying plants, looking at mechanisms, crops, detrimental impacts, selective genetics, this book shows us in an accessible way the story of the scientists trying to solve problems.”
Powered by Fujitsu, supported by McCann and in partnership with One Young World, The Lens represents the breadth, diversity and priorities of the responsible business agenda. From gender equality to zero hours contracts, learning on the factory floor to activist businesses, The Lens covers a range of topics from a host of varying perspectives.
Each episode brings together a business and future leader to foster disruptive conversations and fresh connections. Innovators and CEOs join Oli Barrett in the studio for a unique conversation covering their journeys, lessons learned, advice, insight and of course, the inspirational person they’d most like to meet for coffee.
Business in the Community is The Prince's Responsible Business Network. We convene a unique network of purposeful leaders to share insight, expertise and create innovative programmes that deliver impact. Together our ambition is to make the UK the world leader at responsible business.
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3. SPECIAL EPISODE: Ndidi Okezie: Visioning the future with convening, coalition and collaboration at the heart of business action
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