Our growth model is industrial franchising. It's a new approach to intellectual property for the 21st century. First we patented products. Then we patented processes. Now it's time to "patent" organizations. You find something that works, you capture it, and roll it out.
I want to go to investors and say, "Where are the growth markets for beer? They're not in Europe or Japan. They're not in the United States, unless you're talking about microbreweries. The growth is in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. But these are areas with serious water shortages, which means you can't build large breweries. We've created a model that supports 40 or 50 small-scale breweries throughout Africa. If you want to be there, this is the way to do it."
Our core technology isn't biology, chemistry, or engineering. It's the Internet. The zero-emissions movement faces big technical challenges. So we use the Net to support a global team of experts who swap ideas, brainstorm about problems, conduct experiments. It totally changes the technology paradigm. It's like creating the Stanford Research Institute without putting anyone on the payroll.
Today we have 4,600 scientists participating in 60 different electronic discussion groups. The lists are very targeted. On the brewery project, we have a group strictly for mushroom experts. There's another one to talk about earthworms, one for methane gas. There's so much energy on these lists, so many problems getting solved -- and we don't even know each other! I have a staff of four people in Tokyo. They ask questions, launch online conferences, keep the conversations going. Talk about productivity! We have a team of nearly 5,000 researchers, but only four people on the payroll.
We also use the Net to interact with our public constituencies. Last year in Tokyo, we held the First World Congress on Zero Emissions. We broadcast live over the Multicast Backbone, the Internet's video channel. Swedish Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson addressed us from Stockholm, and became the first head of state to speak over the M-Bone. Just this May, we convened the Second World Congress in Tennessee. President Suharto from Indonesia addressed us over the M-Bone.
The reach and speed of the Net is so critical. We're organizing a worldwide, decentralized movement around zero emissions. We need to move fast, generate breakthroughs, and spread the word. The Internet is the infrastructure that keeps the momentum growing.
Steven Butler (0005770171@mcimail.com) is Tokyo bureau chief for "U.S.News & World Report." Contact Gunter Pauli by e-mail (pauli@hq.unu.edu) or visit Zeri on the web, http://www.zeri.org.
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