What is the larger dream / goal behind your venture?

The large dream of EcoRealm is to positively change the office workspace of corporate offices across the United States through the installation of EcoRealms. Our primary objective is to elevate productivity and well-being in the workplace while simultaneously reducing stress levels. Our ultimate aim is to develop EcoRealms that can be seamlessly integrated into conventional, dull, cubicle-filled office spaces.

 

With the help of a visual, describe a coalition you will build to address the larger problem you are trying to address.

 

A coalition that EcoRealm would build in order to a address the larger problem of 

employee well-being in the workplace would include coworking spaces such as VentureX that would allow us to install our first EcoRealms into their work spaces. This partnership would help us gain information and feedback on our product as well as help us analyze the effects it has on the people who conduct work around it. However, in order to get to this part of our product we would need to conduct a variety of research on the effect of nature and plants on well being. For these reasons, our coalition would also include groups such as the National Institute of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency who have done research relating to plant and human health. In addition to these groups, EcoRealm is also highly interested in potentially selling our product to interior designers. Therefore, our coalition would also include partnerships with organizations such as The National Association of Landscape Professionals. This partnership would propel us by providing resources and education that would help grow our business. Additionally, we will be able to utilize this part of our coalition to help EcoRealm enter into the market for landscape designers 

 

What (kinds of) organizations will you bring together? How might the coalition be transformative for the issue? How you might provide leadership and coordination for the coalition.

The biggest importance in bringing this coalition together is that we need more organizations to get funding, resources, and help with research technology. A big piece of our coalition is funding. Lehigh University for example is a huge funder of our project and without them we would be unable to structure our future company and our current research. Additionally, partnerships with other institutions to further our research are imperative because they can help to boost our productivity and build our credibility. An example of this would be CSU using our product to further their exercise science testing and we gain the benefit of our product being used and more of a research basis for the benefits of the Ecorealm in general. Additionally, places like NASA have the technology and funding to be able to exponentially increase our technological bounds by funding us and introducing us to their technology. This is an absolutely transformative partnership as we would then be able to use all of their resources and apply them to our small but exciting project. Additionally, these types of partnerships could open our product up for new use cases in places including space and high tech locations. 

Leadership is imperative in these scenarios and when entering into a coalition with an organization much larger than yourself, you must understand that they will most likely throw their weight around but that it is imperative to ensure that the integrity of your project is not being sacrificed for the partnership. Many techniques can be applied like the ones we discussed when we did the “Spikey” case study. Strong leadership is imperative because it maintains the solidarity of the concept/project that a team is working on versus allowing it to get manipulated to better fit the needs and objectives of another organization. While coalitions are powerful, they can also dilute the message and goals of a group which is the fine line an organization must walk.