The Waves Of Change Coalition & Its Aspirations Towards SDG17

By Nico Occhiminuti 21 July, 2023

As SDG17 is less tangible, it is less pursued but in face of unprecedented environmental issues, collaboration trumps competition. Enter Waves of Change. Hear more from it's President & Co-founder, Occhiminuti

WoC’s objective is to come up with ecosystemic solutions to environmental & social challenges; have 200 organizations from 19 countries participating
The multidisciplinary & cross-industries components (from fashion to sea level rise) are both definitely a challenge & a strength; 3 Pillars support Forum action
The goal is to make the 2024 Forum more qualitative, insightful, concretely impactful & building on initiatives made this year; call for contributors is open until Dec 31
Author: Nico Occhiminuti
Since 2019 Nico Occhiminuti has been President and Cofounder of Waves of Change, a Biarritz, FR based non-profit gathering 200 organizations from 19 countries with a mission of Collaborative Sustainability tackling United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #17 aka Partnerships for the Goals. Prior to this, he served as an innovation and marketing executive in various digital ventures in France. A keen surfer, creative and music+arts lover, Nico also spent extensive time since childhood riding the waves of Biarritz, Malibu, Montauk, Rockaways, Cap Spartel, Imsouane or Manly Beach, which would eventually draw him back to starting Waves of Change in order to give back and take care of the natural environment that saw him grow. Nico holds a Master from EDHEC Business School and University of Paris II and an MBA from UCLA Anderson. His focus has always been on systemic change, purpose driven innovation, change management, team dynamics and communications for common good.
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Each year, Waves of Change (WoC) a France based nonprofit hosts its annual forum that allows stakeholders to converge and discuss common challenges in-person and online. We had the opportunity to speak with Nico Occhiminuti, the President and Cofounder of WoC to learn about the organization, its mission, and its commitment towards Sustainable Development Goal 17 – Partnerships for the Goals. 

CWR: Nico, congratulations on a successful Waves of Change (WoC) Forum 2023 last month at Biarritz in France. We were happy to be able to participate virtually speaking in the “Water Positive Fashion – What the Textile Industry does and can do for the Ocean and our Planet” session. Before we delve in, can you tell us a bit about the background of WoC and what your mission is?

Nico Occhiminuti (NO): Thanks so much! Indeed apparently participants loved the 2023 edition even more than 2022, and we are very glad to have had this opportunity for them to get your eye opening Asian perspective on the Fashion & Textile industry and its use of the water resource.

Waves of Change is a France based Non-Profit with a mission of Collaborative Sustainability. We are addressing Sustainable Development Goal #17, that is “Partnerships for the Goals” with concrete shared value creation and multi-stakeholders action thanks to 200 participating organizations from 19 countries. Our member participants range from green/blue/clean tech startups to impact investors, corporations, local governments, academic research centers, non-governmental organizations and foundations.

Our objective is to come up with ecosystemic solutions to environmental and increasingly social challenges as everything is actually interconnected.

WoC’s objective is to come up with ecosystemic solutions to environmental and increasingly social challenges, with 200 organizations from 19 countries currently participating

CWR: What about SDG17, “Partnerships For The Goals” spoke to you and the WoC co-founders so much to make it your focus? And how is WoC unique with its work in this space?

NO: Many thanks for raising this. Indeed, SDG17 has probably been the least pursued among the SDGs at this point. Maybe because it is less tangible and more difficult to address than some other SDGs.

As SDG17 is less tangible, it is less pursued…

…but in face of unprecedented environmental issues, the new paradigm where collaboration trumps competition, is needed

However, we believe it is quite key in the context of unprecedented, environmental challenges facing us, which are proving to be rather complex, intertwined, volatile and multidisciplinary by nature to say the least.

Back in 2019 we founded Waves of Change being convinced that this context calls for a new paradigm, where collaboration prevails over competition at least in addressing this type of issues. In the 20th century smallpox was finally eradicated after existing for thousands of years and killing millions not by a unique breakthrough innovation but mostly because at some point a consensus was reached to unite efforts in eradicating it from the surface of the earth. Our work is animated by this spirit to tackle macro challenges together from the ground up, step by step.

CWR: It’s great to see the diverse profile of entrepreneurs and specialists in your team. This is also reflected in the topics WoC covers from fashion to sea level rise and biomimicry to the blue economy. How do you cover such an array? Is it ever a challenge doing so?

NO: Ha! Indeed, the multidisciplinary and cross-industries components to Waves of Change are both definitely a challenge and a strength.

Since the early days it has been a challenge especially to communicate this nature and explain to stakeholders and prospective partners how and why this initiative could make sense to them, in spite of not checking any of their usual boxes or fitting in their pre-existing spreadsheet columns.

WoC’s multidisciplinary & cross-industry nature is one of its strengths, it also means we get the bigger picture faster…

…communicating it to stakeholders & managing the diverse topics is when it becomes challenging

So first a natural self selection of like-minded organizations happened. This is how CWR became an early ‘adopter’ and partner alongside organizations like Basque Invest, Movin’On x Michelin, the Ocean Born Foundation, the French Tech Pays Basque, the Ocean & Climate Platform, the Cities of Biarritz, Santa-Cruz, Salvador de Bahia, Bilbao Port Lab, Maritime Campus Antwerpen, the Port of Bayonne, climate funds like Übermorgen Ventures, and a few more.

The second challenge is definitely in managing and making sense of this diversity of topics, disciplines and dimensions. The way we address it is with the framework we have kept refining across the years. Finally, this is also what makes it a strength and how we aim to make a difference as we manage to get a bigger picture faster, and to come up with ecosystemic solutions involving stakeholders across silos.

CWR: The first Forum was in 2020, how has it evolved since then and where do you see it going given the urgent increasing risks across many of the topics you cover?

NO: Our 2020 edition was definitely a pilot forum in between Covid lockdowns in Europe. It sure was a different time and experience with an in person part capped at 50 participants – mostly local stakeholders, sanitary restrictions and “online Waves” to prepare topics and share knowledge. From this beta version experience, we have moved with marginal exceptions to a full in person experience, involving a coalition of 200 stakeholders.

From there, we have made the conscious decision to grow not in numbers but in purpose, quality, creativity and impact. From one initial central pillar, which used to be our Forum, we have build 3 pillars to support our action, while achieving our vision:

  1. SHARE vision, knowledge, assets and opportunities via our gatherings including but not limited to the Forum,
  2. VALUE our human capital by empowering new talents and developing a business beyond usual collaborative approach and mindset for organizations,
  3. CREATE new pilot solutions helping better understand and address key challenges together.

We made the decision to grow not in numbers but in purpose, quality, creativity & impact

We are currently working on projects for all 3 pillars, with for instance our Collaborative Impact Leaders Program to start by the end of 2023 as part of our VALUE pillar. Waves of Change is all about new approaches to tackle unprecedented and urgent challenges as you say. So with this program we believe in bringing in a new mindset and approach inside key organizations that have the potential to become true forces for change and common good driven leaders.

Generally speaking our ambition is to go beyond climate related communication schemes and short term trends.

CWR: Climate change is one of those urgent and increasing risks. As it accelerates and issues become more complex, what is one message you would like to convey to individuals, entrepreneurs and investors?

NO: Our message is simple and hopefully straightforward: we at Waves of Change have little time to be cynical and little need to be critical. So we aim to speak less, act more and join forces. If this resonates, we will be glad to work with you, no matter where you are on our common planet.

CWR: Before we wrap, can you share any teasers about next year’s Forum?

NO: Every year our forum participants keep telling us: this year was even better than the last, which was already a blast. This is definitely positive pressure they put on us. So yes, be sure that we will use all our energy and resources in putting together a 2024 Forum that will be even more qualitative, insightful and concretely impactful.

The 2024 Forum will be more qualitative, insightful, & impactful…

But the truth is our participants are the ones truly raising the bar with the effort they put in shaping up the Waves and riding them together with a shared vision and impact.

In 2024 I can already tell you that we will double down on our Tideline Startup Challenge with more participating coastal cities, more startups looking to address their challenges, a more challenging jury of partnering investors, cities/governments, accelerators and corporations and even more prepared participants, as pre-registration is already open!

…topic-based workshops, task forces & the Tideline Startup Challenge are some efforts for 2024

…the call for contributions is open until Dec 31 2023

In addition, we will still have a mix of innovation and preservation projects in the Waves aka topic-based workshops aiming to build collective solutions. As of now, we are already seeing great traction on taskforces covering Sustainable Mobility, Sustainable Tourism, the Shipping and Energy Transition with our historical partners including Movin’On x Michelin as well as on our experimental bottom up approach for a new type of Marine Protected Area on the border of France and Spain in the Basque Country together with the City of Biarritz and Ocean As Common.

On top of this, a call for contributions window will remain open until Dec. 31 2023 for organizations willing to co-lead a Wave on a topic and agenda of choice. Interested stakeholders can already reach out at team@wavesofchange.earth.

The 2024 edition will definitely build on what was initiated during this year’s forum and sure bring in even more inspiration and opportunities to all participants.

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