---
title: "I'm Back, with a Start: Are You Ready for a 9 Day Sustainability Summit at the Prince of Wales' Gaff?"
date: 2010-09-01T16:16:34Z
modified: 2010-09-01T16:16:34Z
permalink: "https://redmonk.com/jgovernor/im-back-with-a-start-are-you-ready-for-a-9-day-sustainability-summit-at-the-prince-of-wales-gaff/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 2873
categories:
  - sustainability
tags:
  - sustainability
  - HRH
  - IBM
  - smarterplanet
  - Start
timestamp: 2010-09-01T16:16:34Z
---

![](http://www.startuk.org/media/26157/prince-charles-(alan-shawcross)

.jpg)So I am back from my holiday in Cornwall – and very nice it was too. But now the Back To School season is kicking in. That means travel, travel and more travel in the runup to Christmas, interspersed with a metric crapload of client consulting. When it comes to item 1 on my agenda though its A London Thing.

I am not sure where the idea came from but Prince Charles and his Charity Foundation have decided to open the gates of his London residence- Clarence House – for [Start UK, a sustainability summit and garden party which will last nine days](http://www.startuk.org/)… Yes- \*nine days\*. IBM meanwhile is running [a parallel sustainability event for businesses, each day with its own theme](http://www-05.ibm.com/uk/start-sustainable-future/index1.html).

The themes are:

> Day 1 – Smarter Cities for a Sustainable Future
> Day 2 – Smarter Energy for a Sustainable Future
> Day 3 – Smarter Transport for a Sustainable Future
> Day 4 – People and Skills for a Sustainable Future
> Day 5 – Start Young for a Sustainable Future
> Day 6 – Smarter Supply Chains for a Sustainable Future
> Day 7 – Finance and Sustainability
> Day 8 – Smarter Analytics for a Sustainable Future
> Day 9 – Smarter Business for a Sustainable Future

I am sure some of you are skeptical of Prince Charles role here, or IBM’s for that matter- but both HRH and IBM have a long history of championing Sustainability. I am pretty excited about the event. Greenmonk will be covering some sessions and we will of course be twittering incessantly. We’re helping with social media strategy too. With that in mind- if you’d like to be on the inside of the Business tracks, or working the crowds in the garden, please let me know. We may be able to bring you into the fold. I am not sure I can bring the web to Start, but I can perhaps bring you in!