Centers and Institutes

Hosted by the Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute at Baruch College and Mona Shah Associates Global, industry leaders discuss the current state of the EB-5 program and opportunities it presents for developers and investors. Panel 5: No to the wall but Yes to infrastructure and redeployment/bonds.

Hosted by the Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute at Baruch College and Mona Shah Associates Global, industry leaders discuss the current state of the EB-5 program and opportunities it presents for developers and investors. Panel 4: How much is too much for source of funds?

Hosted by the Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute at Baruch College and Mona Shah Associates Global, industry leaders discuss the current state of the EB-5 program and opportunities it presents for developers and investors. Panel 6: The EB-5 immigration category: an overview

The circular economy is gaining increasing attention in Europe and around the world as a potential way for our society to increase prosperity, while reducing dependence on primary materials and energy. The last 150 years of industrial revolution have been dominated by a one-way or linear model of production and consumption in which goods are manufactured from raw materials, sold, used and discarded as waste. This model has been exceptionally successful in providing affordable products to consumers and material prosperity to billions. Where there is still room for the linear model to expand geographically and realize even higher efficiencies, a global middle class of nearly 5 billion by 2030 will present unprecedented challenges: increasing strain on the environment, increasing stress to access new resources, increasing costs and commodity price volatility.

New York City is a global hub for innovation, and our anchor industries such as finance, fashion, and real estate will play a key role in advancing a circular economy. As emerging technologies disrupt traditional business models, anchor and emerging companies alike will benefit from tapping a new vision for value creation, in which economic growth is decoupled from resource depletion. Whether through sharing economy models, leasing models that treat a product as service, or reuse models that keep valuable resources in use and out of the linear waste stream, businesses in New York City have the opportunity to lead the world in creating new markets by transitioning industries to more sustainable long-term growth. How can we use our power as influencers, consumers, and practitioners to drive and support circular innovation in the buildings and communities we inhabit and the clothes we wear?

Join RZCCI, SPN and NYCEDC as our panel of leaders in the built environment, fashion, real estate construction, and sustainable community development discuss emerging circular models already in use in New York City, and best practices from around the world that will shape the circular city of the future.

The Harvard Business School’s influence on the world’s business executives, organizations, and outcomes has been immense. As the perceived pinnacle of business education worldwide, the school’s approach has been wisely studied and widely imitated. But despite the well-deserved plaudits that form the cornerstone of its reputation, journalist Duff McDonald argues that the school’s most significant influences are ones that get the least attention.

Drawing from the research behind his bestselling book, “The Golden Passport”, McDonald traces the roots of the philosophical shifts that changed Harvard’s Business School’s trajectory, and demonstrates how the combination of unintended consequences and inadvertent influence has reverberated throughout American – and global – business to this very day.

In recent years, political and legal developments have put two successful civil rights movements in direct conflict with each other. In 2015, the Supreme Court affirmed a Constitutional right to gay marriage in its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Further, over the last several years, numerous state and local governments have continued to pass laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and identity. During the same period, however, in its decision in Hobby Lobby, the Supreme Court also affirmed the rights of shareholders in some corporations to avoid enforcement of laws that they claim contradict their religious beliefs. In addition, a number of states have passed Religious Freedom Restoration Acts that could allow businesses to refuse to comply with gay rights ordinances on religious grounds.

This event will address the legal and ethical implications of the conflict between reproductive and gay rights, on the one hand, and religious freedom, on the other, as it plays out in the commercial world. First, we will host a debate between Gregory Baylor, Senior Counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, and Gregory Lipper, Partner, Clinton Brook Peed; former Senior Litigation Counsel, Americans United for Separation of Church and State. We will then hear a panel of academics and practitioners who will dig more deeply into the issues that arise when the newfound protections for gay rights collide with the reemerging movement for religious liberty.

In recent years, political and legal developments have put two successful civil rights movements in direct conflict with each other. In 2015, the Supreme Court affirmed a Constitutional right to gay marriage in its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Further, over the last several years, numerous state and local governments have continued to pass laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and identity. During the same period, however, in its decision in Hobby Lobby, the Supreme Court also affirmed the rights of shareholders in some corporations to avoid enforcement of laws that they claim contradict their religious beliefs. In addition, a number of states have passed Religious Freedom Restoration Acts that could allow businesses to refuse to comply with gay rights ordinances on religious grounds.

This event will address the legal and ethical implications of the conflict between reproductive and gay rights, on the one hand, and religious freedom, on the other, as it plays out in the commercial world. First, we will host a debate between Gregory Baylor, Senior Counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, and Gregory Lipper, Partner, Clinton Brook Peed; former Senior Litigation Counsel, Americans United for Separation of Church and State. We will then hear a panel of academics and practitioners who will dig more deeply into the issues that arise when the newfound protections for gay rights collide with the reemerging movement for religious liberty.

The central strategic challenge facing entrepreneurs is how to choose. Motivated by a significant disconnect between theory, practice and teaching, we propose a new approach to entrepreneurial strategy that places the forward-looking and uncertain choices entrepreneurs face at the center of the process of venture formation and scaling. Whether it is the choice of their first customer, the hiring of a first employee, or the choice about which partners to work with (or not), founding teams’ key choices often do not have a “best” answer but instead are choosing among alternative visions for their idea and their growing team. Ultimately, these choices come down not to a question of simple economic value but also to questions of founder purpose and ethics. For example, whether a sharing economy service offers full transparency and so allows for online discrimination is not simply a business choice but a choice about what values the founders choose to embed in the platform they are building. Our framework yields a new class of decision-making tools that allow entrepreneurs to clarify the role of traditional business development tools (e.g., the lean start-up approach) versus the role of choice among uncertain alternatives. We highlight one new tool – Test Two, Choose One – that offers a novel approach for how to undertake entrepreneurial decision-making under uncertainty, and offers a framework for honest and structures discussion about how to make choices under uncertainty that ultimately reflect the values and ethics of founders.

The circular economy is gaining increasing attention in Europe and around the world as a potential way for our society to increase prosperity, while reducing dependence on primary materials and energy.

The last 150 years of industrial revolution have been dominated by a one-way or linear model of production and consumption in which goods are manufactured from raw materials, sold, used and discarded as waste. This model has been exceptionally successful in providing affordable products to consumers and material prosperity to billions.

Where there is still room for the linear model to expand geographically and realize even higher efficiencies, a global middle class of nearly 5 billion by 2030 will present unprecedented challenges: increasing strain on the environment, increasing stress to access new resources, increasing costs and commodity price volatility.

In a circular economy, value creation relies on existing or renewable products and materials. Forming viable circular businesses can be achieved by building on existing trends in new business models, technology and partnerships. A circular economy allows tackling sustainability challenges AND stimulating economic growth, driving performance, competitiveness and innovation. No wonder governments and businesses alike are drawn to the concept. But how do we mainstream circular business and turn our linear economic engine into a circular one?

This panel will present inspiring business best practices and elaborate on opportunities and barriers encountered when making the transition to a circular economy.