By nature, shared value is designed to turn challenges into opportunities. And that’s why this community has built great momentum, despite a difficult year.

We’ve expanded on an eight-year legacy of change to create new shared value teams (such as at AIA Australia), form inspiring new shared value initiatives (like the award-winning PRISMA partnership) and welcome new leadership – including within SVP, with Sarah Downie joining us as CEO.

We congratulate you all for your steadfast leadership and example, and mark some other key highlights here.

We reached . . . more than 3.3 million people via media, and a record number of participants at the 2020 Shared Value Summit Asia Pacific:

• 500+ global participants
• 150+ companies
• Nine countries
• 75% new attendees

We recognised . . . eight change-making individuals and companies at the 2020 Shared Value Awards:

• Shared Value Organisation of the Year: AIA Australia
• Shared Value Champion of the Year: Adrian Cheng, CEO, New World Development
• Shared Value Trailblazer of the Year: Lee McDougall, Executive Manager of Shared Value Strategy & Projects, IAG
• Investing in Shared Value Award: AllianceBernstein
• Shared Value Project of the Year: CancerAid Coach Program – AIA Australia
• Shared Value Collaboration of the Year: PRISMA Partnership – Corteva Agriscience, Aus Govt, Indonesian Govt
• Shared Value Project to Watch: Shanghai Chemical Park – SUEZ NWS
• Shared Value Collaboration to Watch: Connected Future – CUA, Red Cross, Infoxchange

We developed . . . and contributed to world-first shared value tools and research:

• Creating Shared Value: The Business Imperative to Improve Mental Health in Australia – A report urging business-led socio-economic progress on the issue; produced in partnership with AIA Australia, IAG, NAB, PwC Australia and SuperFriend (here)
• Shared Value Action Plan Framework – Developed in consultation with members, the Framework guides users through the five key steps to create a shared value project or initiative (here)
• Purpose Playbook – Led by the Shared Value Initiative and FSG, with support from SVP and others, the Playbook outlines the journey from purpose to practice, through shared value (here) practice to lead companies through how to become a purpose-led organisation. 
• Built on the premise that shared value is the best way to move from purpose to practice,

We collaborated . . . to address socio-economic problems via roundtables with cross-sectoral leaders and workshops:

• Bushfire response workshop
• The Future of Australia NED lunch
• Circular Economy Roundtable (in partnership with Minister for the Environment, the Hon. Sussan Ley MP)

We heard from . . . high-calibre visionaries, business leaders and academics including:

• Treasurer of Australia, the Hon. Josh Frydenberg MP: “It’s clear that business as usual is no longer an option on the other side of [COVID-19]. We need business to help grow our economy, but we must also work to solve wider social and environmental problems in more innovative ways.”
• Harvard Professor and economist, Rebecca Henderson: “We are so used to focusing on me, right now, that the overwhelming focus on short-term profitability has really narrowed horizons… If we’re going to address the problems we face, we’re going to need to balance that with later, and us.”
• Co-author of New Power and CEO of Purpose, Jeremy Heimans: “Don’t wait until the Black Lives Matter movement forces a moment of accountability, and asks you, ‘Have you lived up to your rhetoric and your values?’ Do the work and adopt a posture of transparency in advance.”

We confronted . . . the measurement challenge:

SVP’s global partner, the Shared Value Initiative, published the report Hybrid Metrics: Connecting Shared Value to Shareholder Value in September 2020, which explores how we can push beyond identifying “good” and “profitable” companies, to recognise the companies doing the most good most profitably.