Announcing Innovative and Sustainable Solutions Coming Out of Oregon Benefit Companies in 2014

USA - English

News provided by

Ingenuity Innovation Center

May 19, 2014, 10:00 ET

St. Helens, OR (PRWEB) May 19, 2014 -- Ingenuity Innovation Center, out of St. Helens, OR, is putting innovation and sustainability into benefit corporations. Positioning themselves as a sustainable resource for benefit corporation incubation, Ingenuity is rapidly creating a network of individuals who strive to enhance their lives, the lives of their community, and the planet as a whole. Through their efforts in sustainable farming, alternative energy development, and education courses, they are setting the standard for what it means to be a benefit company with a strict focus on the triple-bottom line (People, Planet, and Prosperity for all).

The team at Ingenuity Innovation Center, the Ingenuers, are a network of politically and environmentally activated individuals focused on fulfilling the purpose of benefit corporations and creating a sustainable lifestyle for all on this planet. Kate Wildrick and Aaron Imhof founded Ingenuity Innovation Center after the recent economic downturn in the United States. They had a calling to serve a higher purpose and effectively stimulate sustainable change in the world around them. This calling led them to work with business visionaries to develop strategies and steps to become one of Oregon’s first benefit organizations (B Corporations). “We believe that if we give a place where local communities can come together and socially innovate around building sustainable solutions, that we will find new ways of living and thriving” says Wildrick.

The office of the Oregon Secretary of State declares that the purpose of benefit companies is to create general public benefit, which is defined as "a material positive impact on society and the environment, taken as a whole, from the business and operations of the company." One of the many ways in which a benefit company differs from a traditional company is in the concerted focus on accountability, transparency, and positive global impact as opposed to a bottom-line of money-making or providing benefit to a CEO, Owner, or Board of Directors.

Oregon Secretary of State - Kate Brown, reinforces that, “Ingenuity is a community-supported innovation center that develops sustainable solutions to challenges through nurturing creativity and collaboration.” One of the flagship innovations from Ingenuity is their Grow Your Own (GYO) Aquaponics unit. Aquaponics is the combination of raising fish and plants in the same water system. As fish produce waste into the water, the plants absorb the nutrients from the waste for growth and return clean water to the fish. The result is a highly sustainable method for growing vegetables in about half the time of a traditional garden and for raising healthy organic fish with a fraction of the water, and virtually no waste. Ingenuity Innovation Center feels that Aquaponics are a wonderful method for promoting sustainability and they would love to see their GYO units in more neighborhoods and communities, allowing for more sustainable local farming and readily available knowledge about organic produce.

Ingenuity Innovation Center plans to aggressively advance into the future of sustainable solutions for everyday challenges, with products like their Aquaponics Units and DIY Workshops. Welcoming the support and inquiries of any who are inspired to do the same, they are driven forward by, and for, the local community. The collaboration of peers, experts, and businesses propel forward the innovative and sustainable solutions to life’s challenges