You are invited to STEP UP! to Action with other decision-makers to reimagine and build future-fit
solutions to one or more of three major challenges concurrently impacting business and society.
Why Now?
There has never been a more important time than now! The converging crises impacting our world require us to speed up the discovery, implementation and use of scalable and future-fit solutions today.
The COVID-19 pandemic, economic uncertainty, social inequalities and racial divides, food insecurity and hunger, lack of affordable and healthy housing, spiking homelessness, extreme weather events, political unrest, and more – all covered around the clock by broadcast news and social media.
The magnitude of these crises can be overwhelming – causing people to retreat or revert to familiar siloed approaches that may no longer work in today’s environment.
To mitigate that risk, and encourage positive change, RSI has created three STEPUP! Initiatives for development actions and scalable, focused delivery during 2020 to 2022.
Highlights
Each of the three STEPUP! initiatives are structured to accelerate:
- The discovery of pragmatic, scalable and strategic
solutions to specific major challenges. - Adoption and use of these solutions by and for key stakeholders who represent different areas of expertise, business sectors and community perspectives.
STEP UP Food Security
Challenge / Need
Action Initiatives
How Achieved and Deliverables
Food insecurity and hunger affect over 1.1 million Canadians everyday. Without a systems-level solution to this monumental problem, it will only get worse.
Let us work towards a future where every Canadian has access to food without having to choose between paying the rent or eating.
Goals
Discover sustainable food supply solutions that can be scaled and adapted to fit different communities.
Promote a broad understanding of food insecurity and a systems-level solution approach beyond short-term, siloed solutions.
Aligns with UN SDGs:
2, 3, 12 and 17
How to Be Achieved
STEP UP! locally first. With two community pilot projects, STEP UP! will directly co-create and test system-level solution prototypes with people who are experiencing or food insecurity, hunger, and poverty + solution enablers.
STEP UP! nationally. With strategic partners and experts, will convert solution prototypes into scalable, actionable plans/blueprints for rolling out nationally.
Deliverables
Social innovation labs. Multi-media communications. Documented user-centric solution prototypes and applications for business, government, communities, social impact leaders and policy makers.
Project Scope:
$325,000
Fall 2020 to Spring 2022
A 1.5-year project to be developed and delivered by a multi-disciplined team of recognized thought and practice leaders who are concerned about the food crisis and committed to action.
NOTE: More details are provided in the Partner Opportunities and Benefits Package.
STEP UP Net Zero Footprint Climate Action
Challenge / Need
Action Initiatives
How Achieved and Deliverables
The Government of Canada has admitted it cannot meet its commitments to the Paris Accord on its own and needs the support of the private sector to meet and exceed this commitment.
Proven technologies that can support the achievement of the Government’s commitment exist, yet they are not gaining traction in the marketplace due to various institutional barriers.
Goals
To accelerate the implementation of proven ‘low hanging fruit’ energy conservation measures (ECMs) with the mitigation or removal of fiscal, regulatory or commercial impediments to immediate and continuous GHG reductions.
How to be achieved
STEPUP! Climate Action with ECM case studies in the commercial building sector to (i) demonstrate energy and GHG savings available to retrofits and new builds; (ii) illustrate systemic barriers to adopting ECMs and (iii) show how accelerating conservation strategies will serve interests of all stakeholders with building owners with fiscal benefits of attracting and retaining tenants with tangible health and wellness benefits, lower energy costs and lower GHGs for a healthier planet.
Aligns with SDGS:
13 and 17
Deliverables
Thought-Leadership Action Series: a thought leadership paper with supporting podcasts/webcasts that will:
- Discuss a selected sample of specific ECMs such as Ground Source Heat Pumps and the climate change mitigation potential.
- Identify and analyze the barriers to adoption of these climate change mitigation technologies.
- Recommend strategies to remove these barriers to adoption of ECMs in the commercial building sector.
This will be developed and delivered by a multi-disciplined team of industry recognized thought and practice leaders within the energy, environmental and technology sectors.
Project Scope:
$180,000 to $250,000
Fall 2020 to Winter 2021
NOTE: More details, including team members, are in attached project description.
STEPUP Reimagined Future of Commercial Buildings
Challenge / Need
Action Initiatives
How Achieved and Deliverables
The current COVID-19 crisis has drastically decreased usage of downtown commercial office space. Businesses are digitizing with remote working while downtown dwellers are struggling with space limitations and lack of in-person interactions.
The long-term, economic, and social sustainability of the downtown core is at risk.
A reimagined future where commercial spaces, traditionally allotted to siloed office towers are redesigned to meet demand for hybrid home and work dwellings!
Goals
A post-pandemic, evolved version of shared office spaces so that downtown condo dwellers can Work from Near Home (WFNH).
Affordable and inclusive housing especially for essential workers who work downtown.
Goods and services for downtown dwellers within a 15-minute walk of their home.
Aligns with UN SDGs:
11 and 17
How to Be Achieved
STEPUP! We will connect with industry thought leaders and recommend solutions that meet the current and near-future needs of downtown commercial office building owners and managers, that are simultaneously true to triple bottom line economics, i.e. social equity, environmental responsibility, and just & green economic recovery.
Deliverables
A user-centric thought leadership report with a portfolio of scalable actions that includes a practical, theoretical, design and rationale for the reimagining of a prototypical downtown commercial office building to serve today’s and tomorrow’s needs.
Project Scope:
$150,000
Fall 2020 – Summer 2021
This will be developed and delivered by a multi-disciplined team of industry recognized thought and practice leaders within the services, building, energy, and sustainability space in Canada.
NOTE: More details, including team members, are in attached project description.