Marc Alt + Partners is a design, research and brand strategy agency dedicated to sustainable innovation.

Marc Alt speaks frequently to a wide variety of audiences and companies about green design, sustainability and creating value by aligning corporate strategy with environmental and social benefit. As an advocate of business transformation, Marc develops environmental conferences, including Grow, the first conference dedicated to the intersection of design, sustainability and commerce, and Greener Gadgets, a conference exploring the challenges, possibilities and trends in the greening of the consumer electronics industry. Marc serves on the advisory board of The Designers Accord and is founding co-chair of the AIGA Center for Sustainable Design.


news

01.05.09

Marc Alt will moderate a panel discussion about emerging trends and new technologies in sustainable design for consumer electronics at the 2008 International CES show in Las Vegas.

GREENER GADGETS: The Future Of Consumer Technology Moderator: Marc Alt, President, Marc Alt + Partners
Panelist: David Floyd, Managing Director, Freeplay Energy
Panelist: Mary Lou Jepsen, CEO, Pixel Qi
Panelist: Jeff Omelchuck, Executive Director, The Green Electronics Council and EPEAT.

Saturday, January 10
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Las Vegas Convention Center, North Hall


archive

12.11.08

Marc Alt presented at Sustainable Brands International in Miami Beach on The Role of Open Source Design & Collaboration.

The Fontainebleau Hotel, Miami Beach, Florida

11.19.08

Marc Alt moderated a panel on Making Consumer Electronics Green at the Clean Tech Summit in San Francisco. A two-day, multi-track, multi-disciplinary industry conference, the GLG Clean Tech Summit explored three key themes: Intellectual Property, Innovation and Investment. The other speakers on the panel were Richard Brown, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Gary Feather, Sharp Laboratories of America

The Palace Hotel, San Francisco

11.13.08

The Society of Graphic Designers/BC Chapter presented Practivism, Practical Methods for radical sustainability in design, the second in an ongoing series of design speaking events.

Marc Alt, Brian Dougherty and Eric Karjaluoto each presented their strategies and suggestions for practical activism within a design practice.

Science World, Telus World of Science
Vancouver, British Columbia

11.09.08

Marc Alt was a keynote speaker at Opportunity Green, a conference dedicated to facilitating business transformation for good. Through creating dialogue by bringing together some of the key innovators and influencers driving today's new green economy, the team behind Opportunity Green provides open-minded professionals unprecedented access and approaches to sustainability that are bankable and exciting. Other speakers included: Jane Savage, Considered Products, Nike; Rick Ridgeway, VP of Environmental Programs and Communication, Patagonia; Joshua Onysko, Founder and CEO, Pangea Organics; Michela O'Connor Abrams, President/Publisher, Dwell; Zem Joaquin, Founder/Editor In Chief, Ecofabulous; Adeo Ressi, Founding member, The Funded, Trustee, X Prize Foundation; Tom Szaky, CEO, Founder, Terracycle; Josh Dorfman, Host/Author, "The Lazy Environmentalist", Founder & CEO, Vivavi; Andy Funk, CEO and Chairman, Funk Ventures; Boise Thomas, Host, Alter Eco; Sonya Chawla, General Manager, Advertising, Slide; Michael Besancon, President, Whole Foods Market/Southern Pacific Region; Rand Waddoups, Senior Director of Strategy and Sustainability, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

University of California, Los Angeles

10.28.08

Marc Alt spoke at RGD Ontario's DesignThinkers Conference in Toronto, where designers from all walks of life gathered to share experiences, new ideas and celebrate the power of design.

Toronto, Canada

10.24.08

Marc Alt spoke to students in NYU's Tisch ITP (Interactive Telecommunications Program) about the intersection of design, sustainability and technology.

NYU Tisch ITP
New York City

10.21.08

Marc Alt moderated a panel on Best Practices for Greening Your Company at The 2008 CEA Industry Forum, a four-day conference designed to inform and connect leaders in the CE industry.

The Four Seasons Hotel
Las Vegas, Nevada

09.16.08

Marc Alt was the featured guest at PaperSpecs.com in a webinar on Far-Sighted Sustainability.

07.31.08

Marc Alt participated in the 2008 Yale/Green Electronics Council Sustainable Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Visioning Forum.

Thursday September 3-4
Yale University
New Haven, CT

07.25.08

T3 Middle East has a feature article on Marc Alt in their July/August issue. Marc shares his thoughts on what it takes for a company to take the green road. Also in this issue an 8-page story on the Greener Gadgets Design Competition.

07.10.08

Marc Alt spoke at The Future of Green Technology conference on a panel about Greening Design at SINOCES. The gateway to the Chinese consumer electronics market, SINOCES offers opportunities for leading consumer electronics business from China and abroad to view and showcase the latest technologies and cutting-edge products. The show is also a forum for communication between Chinese companies and their international partners.

Marc talked about best practices of design houses, designers, engineers or academics who introduce new environmentally-friendly attributes to new technologies. The other panelists were Chen Min, Senior Manager, Environmental Affairs, Nokia and Jeff Omelchuck, Director Green Electronics Council and Program Manager, EPEAT.

Thursday July 10
Shangri-La Hotel
Qingdao, China

06.28.08

AIGA Center for Sustainable Design featured on Dwell Magazine's Sustainability Timeline, bookended by Wal-Mart and Al Gore.

Dwell Magazine, July/August 2008 issue "Growing up Green"

05.22.08

Marc Alt spoke at the New York American Marketing Association about Going Green, Sustainability and Accountability - Ideas on Marketing in the 21st Century. The purpose of this talk was to help inform and inspire agency professionals involved in developing internal expertise on green marketing, sustainability and corporate social responsibility practice in their organizations.

May 21, 2008 & May 22, 2008 (Encore Presentation)
New York AMA, New York City

04.25.08

Marc Alt moderated panel about The Role of Technology in a Greener Future at the Business Goes Green Summit in New York City. Co-Located at the Go Green Expo, the summit explored how companies can create a sustainable future, develop environmentally friendly practices, adopt green policies and deploy energy saving technologies, while still keeping their competitive edge. The panelists were Chris Kimm - Vice President, Sales Engineering, Verizon Business, Laddie Suk - Global Partner, Innovation and Transformation Solutions, BusinessEdge, Ralph Avallone - National President, The Green Energy Council and Jeff Omelchuck - Executive Director, The Green Electronics Council and EPEAT.

Friday, April 25
The New York Hilton, New York City

03.29.08

Marc Alt spoke at AIGA San Diego's Y13 - Seeds of Change, a conference that examined how individuals, communities, nations and the world are developing new paradigms for a more healthy and sustainable culture.

March 27 - 29, 2008
San Diego

03.27.08

PSFK presented a day of trends, inspiration and creative ideas on Thursday March 27 in New York City. Investigating the most pressing themes of 2008, PSFK invited a select group of inspirational speakers that helped explore subjects such as Good Business, Tomorrow's TV, Collaborative Co-Working and New York culture.

Marc Alt lead a "Good Business" panel discussion with Graham Hill of Treehugger, Johnny Vulkan of Anomaly, Jeff Staple of Staple Design/Nike Considered and Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation investigating one of the key trends driving business. Is good the new green? Does being good mean making good profits?

March 27, 2008
The Art Directors Club, New York City

A streaming video of the discussion can be viewed here.

02.03.08

Greener Gadgets Conference

On February 1st, 2008 in New York City industry leaders, entrepreneurs, journalists, and designers gathered to discuss the business case for the greening of the consumer electronics industry. The one day conference featured key representatives from some of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world, innovators from academic thinktanks, members of startups focused on renewable energy, and some of the leading minds in the word of sustainable design and business. Topics addressed included: design for sustainability, product life cycle management, take-back and recycling programs, energy efficiency, greener materials, and green lifestyle and product marketing. An attached gallery space featured a green prototype office display and technology exhibits from companies on the cutting edge of green tech.

Greener Gadgets is presented by
Inhabitat and Marc Alt + Partners.

Friday February 1, 2008
New York City

www.greenergadgets.com

Here are some links to event coverage: Inhabitat, Metropolis, CNET News (photos, here), Core77 (photos, here), more Core77, Makezine, Wired News, AOL's Green Daily, Hearst's Daily Green, Smartplanet, Informationweek and PC Magazine's Gearlog. More photos here and here.

Conference Co-Chairs Marc Alt & Jill Fehrenbacher
announcing winner of Voltaic solar backpack raffle.
(photo: Glen Jackson Taylor)

01.21.08

Marc Alt, along with AIGA Center for Sustainable Design co-chair Phil Hamlett, presented a white board session on the outlook for AIGA's sustainability initiatives for 2008 and beyond.

Compostmodern '08 is an interdisciplinary design conference dedicated to promoting sustainable solutions within the design community at large. Designers from across the country experienced a day of turning idealism into actual business practice by exploring solutions for making the world a better place--and further defining design's place in it.

Saturday, January 19, 2008
Academy of Art University
San Francisco, CA

12.28.07

Marc Alt + Partners is one of the inaugural adopters of The Designers Accord, a coalition of design and innovation firms focused on working together to create positive environmental and social impact. Marc Alt is a member of the Advisory Board and serves as Vice President of the Executive Board of The Designers Accord. The organization was founded by Valerie Casey of IDEO as a call to arms for designers to engage in the environmental movement with optimism and creativity. Adopting The Designers Accord provides access to a global community of peers who share passion and ideas around environmental innovation.

12.10.07


Marc Alt spoke Saturday, December 15 in New York City at the AIGA/NY event CAUSE/EFFECT: Design as Change Agent

A one-day event that looked at the intersection of design and social responsibility in its current and historical contexts. When designers respond to local and global crises, design becomes their causal force and change their endgame. In this arena, good design is held to breath-takingly high standards. It is judged instantly ineffectual if it only serves as aesthetic anesthesia and fundamentally flawed if it does not garner real-time results. A wide range of creative practitioners demonstrated how they have embraced this challenge, tackling the causality of reform in their work while keeping their formalist integrity intact. An inspiring examination of accountable design that embodies the beautiful solution, the intentionally humane and the ethically sound.

Saturday, December 15, 2007
Parsons The New School for Design, NYC

09.25.07

Marc Alt helped AIGA Miami kick off their season in total green fashion, speaking about environmental and sustainable issues around the local community at the launch party for "Platform: green", the second issue of AIGA Miami's member publication.

Thursday, September 20, 2007
Grass Restaurant & Lounge, Miami Design District

06.26.07

Marc Alt was one of the Bad Boys of Design IV on the radio show Design Matters with Debbie Millman.

Saturday, June 22, 2007
Listen to the radio show here.

03.29.07

Marc Alt spoke on a panel on Greenwashing vs. Eco-Branding at the PSFK Trends Conference in New York City. Tamara Giltsoff of Live|Work and OZO Car moderated a discussion on how brands approach green marketing. The other panelists were Jill Fehrenbacher, publisher of Inhabitat and Hemal Vasavada-Gill of The Eightfold consultancy.

March, 2007
A streaming video of the discussion can be viewed here.

03.26.07

As an advocate of sustainability, Marc develops environmental conferences, including Grow, the first conference dedicated to the intersection of design, sustainability and business in New York City. This trailblazing event featured senior executives from Wal-Mart, Johnson & Johnson, Osram Sylvania, IDEO, Cook+Fox Architects, Material ConneXion, Russell Design, Flag, ValueNewsNetwork.com, Earth Pledge, the UN Global Compact and many other industry leaders who gathered to discuss the power of harnessing design to address the challenges of climate change and supply chain transformation.

Saturday 25 March 2006
Lighthouse International, NYC

03.24.07

Marc Alt and Don Carli appeared on the Lazy Environmentalist radio show with Josh Dorfman, talking about the Grow: Design for Sustainability conference in New York City.

Maximizing Sustainable Design
Solutions to today's pressing environmental challenges are coming from surprising quarters. A new strategic and financial logic is compelling the world's largest corporations to consider the environmental implications of the way products are conceived, manufactured, packaged and delivered. Indeed from packing materials to skyscrapers, sustainable designers are driving new solutions into the marketplace that promise to create greater alignment between modern living and environmental stewardship.

Wednesday, March 22nd
Listen to the radio show here.

11.01.06

Marc Alt joined some of the world's most celebrated designers and artists in The Urban Forest Project, an unprecedented outdoor exhibition in New York City, which employed the idea or form of the tree to make a powerful visual statement on banners that were displayed throughout Times Square.

Click here to see all banners.

contact

Marc Alt + Partners
223 Dean Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217

(917) 207-5387

View Marc Alt's profile on LinkedIn


friends

Worldchanging
Inhabitat
Treehugger
Club of Pioneers
Core77
PSFK


resources

Download the poster from the Grow Conference


photos

Greener Gadgets Conference
Click here for photo gallery.


press

07.25.08
T3 Middle East, July/August Issue - "Marc Alt," feature story

04.24.08
MediaBistro's AgencySpy - "The Greening Of Agencies: Lessons Via MAP's Marc Alt"

04.01.08
Web Designing Magazine (Japan), April - "Design Makes the World Move Forward"

03.21.08
Next American City - "NAC exclusive interview: Marc Alt, founding co-chair of the AIGA Center for Sustainable Design"

03.10.08
AdWeek - "One to Grow On"

02.15.08
Domino Magazine, March, "The Green Issue" - "my green life: the gadget guru"

02.13.08
Paper Specs - "Compostmodern 08: Trash Talking"

02.08.08
Core77 - "Greener Gadgets Competition Gallery (FINALLY) Online!"

02.07.08
Inhabitat - "Greener Gadgets 2008 Wrap Up"

Core77 - "Greener Gadgets Conference Review, by Tom Igoe"

02.05.08
Metropolis P/O/V - "In Search of Greener (Electronic) Pastures"

Smartplanet - "Greener Gadgets conference: the highlights"

CNET - "How green is my gadget"

CNET - "Gadgets go green at Greener Gadgets"

02.04.08
Informationweek - "Greener gadgets conference spotlights solar laptops, bioplastic printer"

02.01.08
Core77 - "Greener Gadgets Design Competition Results!,"

Wired - "Greener Gadgets Conference Practices What It Preaches"

Green Daily - "Green Daily covers Greener Gadgets"

The Daily Green - "10 Things You Didn't Know About Electronics and the Environment"

Gearlog - "Video Interview: OLPC's Mary Lou Jepsen"

01.25.08
BusinessWeek.com - "Quality over Green: Nike's new Air Jordan"

12.15.07
UnBeige - "Marc Alt Introduces the Center for Sustainable Design"

07.12.07
Print Magazine, July/August, "The Consumption Issue" - "Excess as Less"

04.01.07
CNET - "When corporate 'greening' chafes environmentalists"

09.01.06
Dynamic Graphics Magazine, August/September issue - "When recycling is not enough"


engagements

Ogilvy Greenery Lab - April 08

F.I.T. Green Design Lecture Series - Green Paper and Printing, New York City - April 08, speaker

AIGA San Diego's Y13 - Seeds of Change conference, San Diego - March 08, speaker

PSFK Conference, New York City - March 08, moderator

AIGA Philadelphia's Greenstock Spring Lecture series, Philadelphia - March 08, speaker

AIGA New Orleans Green Salon, New Orleans - March 08, speaker

Greener Gadgets Conference, New York City - February 08, Co-Chair

Compostmodern 08, San Francisco - January 08, Presenter

Solar One, New York City - January 08, Green Electronics Seminar

Cause/Effect: Design as Change Agent, New York City - December 07, Speaker

GAA Green Printing Conference, Philadelphia - November 07, Keynote Speaker

AIGA Miami Platform: green, Miami - September 07, Featured Speaker

PSFK Trends Conference, New York City, March 07, Panelist

Grow Conference, New York City - March 06, Chair

design by J.BJÖRK