The Global Flow Game

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Jeffry Walker
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1 The Global Flow Game

2 The Global Flow Game 02 Faced with the threat of a draught, the Brazilian cotton farmers decide to invest in new water pumps reaching even deeper into the groundwater. This will secure their access to water for years to come. The resulting lowering of the groundwater has unexpected consequences for the Chinese mega city Scar City, though. The mayor recently announced a plan for clean drinkable tab water, a smog-free air and a harbour with water so clean that you can swim in it. With a scarcity of water, this plan now seems unrealistic. The only solutions are to either build a pipeline to the mountains and pump clean glacier water into the low lands or to convince the textile factories of the Bangladesh industrial zone to use less water in their production. But who can make them?

3 The Global Flow Game 03 The game is about sustainable business development, the flow of the global market and water. It revolves around six global stakeholders; the mayor of a Chinese mega city, an Indian middle class family, the CEO of a US fashion brand, the owner of a textile mill in Bangladesh, a Brazilian cotton farmer and a EU-commissioner. In the game up to 300 participants try to create a sustainable future by investing in solutions and strategies helping the six global stakeholders. Along the way they unlock potential market opportunities for the Nordic countries. Unlock potential market opportunities for the Nordic countries. The players are divided into small teams that each has a sum of money to invest in unlocking achievements for the six stakeholders. Some of them are open for purchase right from the start, while some require other investments before they can be bought. The players have to provide whatever coordination is needed to manage these investments. During the game this causes competing strategies and coalitions to appear as it become clear that it is not possible to unlock all possible achievements. Participants take the roles of lobbyists for different causes and the last players with investment-ready cash learn just how valuable their position is. Through their investments the they uncover the causalities between the actions of the six global stakeholders and how their choices are connected through resource use, political pressure, social movements, government regulations, capital investment and the global market forces. They also learn that some important changes require the decision makers to take a step back and look at the whole picture instead of focusing on selfish short-term solutions.

4 The Global Flow Game 04 The Global Flow Game is an entertaining way for organizations and groups to initiate an active discussion about the theme water as a global resource. Søren Hvilshøj International Water Director Ramboll

5 The Global Flow Game 05 As a part of the 2013 Rebulld21 conference the Global Flow Game also served as an icebreaker and motivator for participation in the following workshops and breakaway sessions. The game helped the participants to interact with each other right from the start. It also framed the entire purpose of the conference; to unlock new market potentials for the Nordic countries in the future global market through new ways of cooperating, new technological partnerships and utilising the strength of the Nordic countries in fields such as water technology. At the core of the game is the supply chain of the textile industry and the new middle class of the emerging economies. We track the clothes from the farmers who produce the raw materials, through the production and treatment to the fashion brands and their consumers. Along the way the game deals with tangent subjects such as quality of life, ethical investments, green-washing, liveability in the new mega cities, extreme weather and, last but not least, water scarcity and resource management. Along the way the game deals with tangent subjects such as quality of life, ethical investments, green-washing, liveability in the new mega cities... Even though the game itself focuses on the textile industry the learning points can be applied to all other sectors. In the following workshops the participants were asked to draw parallels from their own sector to the situation in the game. This facilitated a cross-sector look on the future and the global market.

6 The Global Flow Game 06 credits Rebuild21 The Global Flow Game was a part of the 2013 Rebuild21 conference. Rebuild21 is an annual conference uniting international business leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs to redefine the cornerstones of 21st century business. The theme of the 2013 Rebuild21 conference was The New Nordic Way, focusing on six global challenges where Nordic businesses and innovators can work together in order to provide solutions and support growth globally and in the Nordic region. Rambøll and Rethink Water, an initiative coordinated by Danish Water Forum, were partners on this years Rebuild21 conference. The Global Flow Game As an interactive investment experience the game gave the 300 participants an inspirational introduction to sustainable business development and the future of the global market relations. Workz A/S and Rebuild21 developed the game with support and sponsorship from the Danish Water Forum and Rambøll. Danish Fashion Institute, Food Best, Danish Design Center, and the Copenhagen Municipality also contributed to the game content.

7 The Global Flow Game 07 RUNNING THE GAME AGAIN Danish Water Forum, Rambøll Rebuild21 and Workz are currently working on finding a way for the game to live on either as a re-run or in new versions. In its current form the game can accommodate between 30 and 300 players if the venue is large enough. The game takes two hours to run with a facilitating crew of 8 people. We are also working on two new versions of the game; a dynamic real-time version using mobile technology and a smaller web-based learning game suitable for a small group of players. In the real-time version, the participants use their mobile phones to invest in the global stakeholders. This will enable us to track the game progress in real-time and launch content as it is being activated instead of the turn-based mechanism we use now. Using mobile phones to invest will also enable us to track the investments of each player and score them individually based on the future markets they help unlock. The participants use their mobile phones to invest in the global stakeholders. The smaller web-based version is a different beast altogether. In this version of the game we remove the market dynamics and let the players choose which achievements to unlock and experience the effects themselves. This version of the game will let they players focus more on the relations between the actions of the six stakeholders and less on the role of the global market and the challenges involved in getting all the decision makers in line.

FASHION REVOLUTION DAY #INSIDEOUT AT SCHOOL 01. #insideout at school DO SOMETHING

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