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5 reasons to apply for B Corp certification Tom Greenwood Sat, 05/14/2022 - 03:00 Register or Login to like Register or Login to like

Wholegrain Digital just passed its fifth anniversary of being a certified B Corp. B Corp is one of the most robust independent certifications assessing whether a business is run responsibly in terms of its environmental impact, its treatment of workers and suppliers, its impact on communities, and its governance.

As one of the longest-standing B Corps in the UK, we're increasingly asked for advice by companies considering going through the B Corp assessment process, known as the B Impact Assessment. There is one question that seems to come up more than any other, and it is, "Is there a business case for becoming a B Corp?"

In this article, I'll share my own perspective on that question, based upon what I've experienced in our business and what I've observed from other B corps that I know.

Do it for the right reasons

First of all, I need to highlight what B Corp is not. It's not a marketing gimmick. There are loads of certifications and badges that companies can get to make themselves look good, but which don't really mean anything.

B Corp is different in that it's both independent and really hard to obtain. The difficulty of the assessment is exactly what makes it meaningful. Therefore, if you're thinking that the business benefit is that it's a cheap marketing gimmick, then you're headed in the wrong direction. B Corp certification can have significant benefits to any business, but only if it's pursued for the right reasons and with a genuine commitment to become a more responsible business.

So, let's look at the real benefits.

More great content Free online course: RHEL technical overview Learn advanced Linux commands Download cheat sheets Find an open source alternative Explore open source resources B Corp helps small businesses grow up

From day one, we always tried to run Wholegrain Digital as a responsible business but it was hard to ever know how well we were doing. When we first started the B Impact Assessment after being in business for about 9 years, we quickly realized that we needed to get more organized about how we manage things across the business.

We needed to put some structures and policies in place and properly document evidence of what we're doing. As a small creative business, this was something that we were not very good at and so the process of going through the B Impact Assessment helped us to grow up as a business. It not only gave us better visibility of our performance, but it also encouraged us to put in place the structures that the business needed in order to grow and progress.

This benefit is probably mostly applicable to small businesses, but it's one that can help take a business over that hurdle from a small scrappy startup to a serious, mature business.

B Corp guides you to better performance

The B Impact Assessment is largely multiple choice, with evidence being needed to prove that you have delivered the options that you select. The beauty of this multiple choice format is that for every issue, you can see a variety of options and you can see which ones are considered more responsible than others.

This is a great learning tool because in most cases, you probably won't be able to select the "best" option, but will then know what the best option is considered to be. With this knowledge, you can take action to improve in the future. The assessment process therefore helps accelerate progress and give you some targets to aim for.

B Corp helps create a culture of positive change

As mentioned, the impact assessment process can help you see where you could create more positive impact, but the positive change that can come from certifying as a B Corp can go well beyond the things actually included in the assessment. The process gets you thinking more deeply about where you have impact. It also sends a signal to everyone in the organization that there is a deep commitment to creating positive impact.

The result is a stronger culture of positive change from which new ideas and initiatives emerge. For example, we've implemented schemes such as Climate Perks, extra holiday for using renewable energy at home and a vegetarian food policy, even though they don't gain us any points in the B Impact Assessment. More significantly, the thought process that was sparked by our first attempt at the B Impact Assessment led us to research the environmental impact of digital technology and go on to become world leaders in the emerging field of sustainable web design.

The innovation inspired by this pursuit has led us to learn new skills and constantly improve the quality of the work that we're delivering, not just environmentally, but across the board. It's inspired, motivated and educated us to perform at the highest level, making us truly proud of the work that we're doing and in turn, helping us to be more commercially successful too.

[ Download the eBook: The Open Organization Guide to IT Culture Change ]

B Corp shows that you are serious

Two of the benefits that I often hear mentioned are that B Corp certification can help attract talented staff and new clients. In my experience running a digital agency, I would say that this is partially true. I don't think it's a magic bullet in delivering either of these things, but it certainly can help.

Awareness of B Corp certification among the general public is still relatively low in the UK so many people won't think much of it. However, for anyone who cares about creating a positive impact, it's a great way of demonstrating that you are serious about it. It helps you to earn their trust and respect and this can definitely help in attracting employees and clients with similar values.

B Corp is a real community

There are many things out there today that claim to be communities, but almost none of them are. However, when we first achieved B Corp certification, we were amazed to find ourselves welcomed into a community of business leaders who genuinely cared about creating positive impact and wanted to support other businesses to do the same.

The openness and enthusiasm to share and collaborate was refreshing. We've made some great friends, had some amazing shared experiences, and learnt a huge amount from others. This has helped us to stay engaged and motivated in the journey of evolving our own business, as well as providing practical support where we needed it. We are a more successful business as a result.

When we joined the B Corp community, it was very small in the UK, so it was a very tight-knit group. The pandemic paused most in-person activities and some of this community energy was lost temporarily. I hope it will soon return to full force.

As the UK B Corp movement is now reaching momentum, with 700 companies certified to date and a huge waiting list, there is of course a risk that the true sense of community gets diluted. I therefore hope that the sense of community will be able to be maintained over the long term.

[ Read also: How to make community recognition more inclusive ]

So is being a B Corp good for open source business?

As Managing Director, I have found that becoming a B Corp has been hugely beneficial to us as at Wholegrain Digital and has contributed to our success in recent years.

I believe that it should only be pursued if you truly want to run a more responsible business. It's a lot of work that won't immediately pay for itself but if you're in it for the long term, it can pay dividends for people, the planet, and be financially profitable too.

This article originally appeared on the Wholegrain Digital blog and has been republished with permission.

B Corp certification shows that your open source business runs responsibly in terms of its environmental impact, its treatment of workers and suppliers, its impact on communities, and its governance.

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Newest release introduces performance and usability improvements, and marks welcome of O3DCon speaker proposals and discussion suggestions due July 15

SAN FRANCISCO, May 13, 2022 – The Open 3D Foundation (O3DF), home of a vibrant, diverse community focused on building a first-class, open source engine for real-time 3D development, has released 22.05, the latest version of the Open 3D Engine, with a focus on performance, stability and usability enhancements. 

With over 1,460 code merges, this new release offers several improvements aiming to make it easier for developers to build 3D simulations for AAA games and various applications across robotics, AI, metaverse, digital twin, automotive, healthcare, and more. Significant advancements include core stability, installer validation, motion matching updates, user-defined property (UDP) support for the asset pipeline, and automated testing advancements. 

Artists can focus on bringing their visions to life using the tools they feel most comfortable with, such as Blender or Autodesk® Maya®. The Open 3D Engine (O3DE) can now integrate user-defined properties (UDP) metadata into its asset pipeline from source assets so that scene-building and asset-processing logic can be customized using this metadata. UDP metadata can be assigned in content creation tools to store custom properties for mesh, light, animation, and other elements to power asset generation workflows for O3DE.

Animation artists can now utilize motion matching, a data-driven animation technique that synthesizes motions based on existing animation data and current character and input contexts to deliver photorealistic experiences. This feature, introduced as an experimental gem, includes a prefabricated character example that can be controlled using a gamepad. 

Other improvements include: 

• Simpler customization of the render pipeline is now possible using a new set of APIs. Examples of gems that currently exploit this capability include Terrain, LyShine and TressFx. 
• Developers can now re-use Material Types much more easily.
• Developers can now control the spawning of player-controlled, networked entities using an improved interface, a capability that is essential for building multiplayer games.
• Automated tests now verify that an installer build is valid, and ensures that all of the steps within the build are successfully executed. These tests are run nightly for O3DE, and have been designed so that anyone can plug them into their quality verification process. 

The 22.05 Release marks the Open 3D Engine’s first major release of 2022. Releases occur on a bi-annual cadence, in the first half and second half of each year. The next release is scheduled for October 2022, which will coincide with the Open 3D Foundation’s flagship conference, O3DCon.

To learn more about this release and all of its features, read the release notes, or join the community on Discord. You can download the 22.05 Release today. 

O3DCon Call for Proposals Now Open

The Open 3D Foundation also announced the call for proposals (CFPs) for its annual flagship conference, O3DCon. On October 18-19, 2022, in Austin, Texas, technology leaders, independent 3D developers, and the academic community spanning the 3D landscape will come together to share ideas, discuss hot topics and help shape the future of open 3D development across a variety of industries and disciplines. O3DCon will be presented as a hybrid event—attendees can join and participate in person or virtually. Workshops and pre-registration will be held on October 17, a day ahead of the actual conference events.

With over 25 member companies since its public announcement in July 2021, the Open 3D Foundation boasts a healthy, thriving community, adding Microsoft as its latest member. Other premier members include Adobe, AWS, Huawei, Intel and Niantic. The O3D Engine averages up to 2 million line changes and 350-450 commits monthly from 60-100 authors across 41 repos.

“I’m proud of the O3DE community’s focus on core stability while delivering new capabilities aimed to simplify and enhance 3D development for developers around the globe,” said Royal O’Brien, Executive Director of O3DF and General Manager of Games and Digital Media at the Linux Foundation. “I’m also incredibly excited about the opportunity O3DCon offers in bringing together diverse minds to collaborate on advancing the state of open 3D development across so many industries.”

Proposals to speak at O3DCon are being accepted now through Friday, July 15, 2022, at 11:59 pm PDT. All those interested are invited to submit proposals. Those who have submitted proposals will be notified of a decision by Tuesday, August 2. Learn more and submit your proposal today.

Submission types requested include:

• Lightning talks
• Session presentations
• Birds-of-a-feather discussions
• Panel discussions
• Hands-on workshops/training

Suggested topics include:

• 3D Development & Open 3D Engine 101
• Building & Sustaining Open Source in 3D Development
• Game Development
• Metaverse
• AI
• Robotics
• Digital Twin
• Automotive
• Healthcare

Sponsors have the unique opportunity to demonstrate their leadership in this burgeoning arena, forge valuable connections and help shape the future of 3D development. O3DCon offers multiple sponsorship levels for your consideration. To explore all of the sponsorship benefits, please click here. The sponsorship deadline is September 2, 2022. O3DF Members receive a 3% discount on all exhibitor packages. For questions about sponsorships and contract requests, or to become a sponsor, please contact us. 

Visit the O3DF website and follow O3DE on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for all the latest O3DCon updates and announcements.

About the Open 3D Engine Project

Open 3D Engine (O3DE) is the flagship project managed by the Open 3D Foundation (O3DF). The open source project is a modular, cross-platform 3D engine built to power anything from AAA games to cinema-quality 3D worlds to high-fidelity simulations. The code is hosted on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license. To learn more, please visit o3de.org. To get involved and connect with the O3DE community, please join us on Discord and GitHub.

About the Open 3D Foundation

Established in July 2021, the mission of the Open 3D Foundation (O3DF) is to make an open-source, fully-featured, high-fidelity, real-time 3D engine for building games and simulations, available to every industry. The Open 3D Foundation is home to the O3D Engine project. To learn more, please visit o3d.foundation.

About the Linux Foundation

Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation is supported by more than 1,000 members and is the world’s leading home for collaboration on open source software, open standards, open data, and open hardware. Linux Foundation’s projects are critical to the world’s infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, and more. The Linux Foundation’s methodology focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation Events are where the world’s leading technologists meet, collaborate, learn and network in order to advance innovations that support the world’s largest shared technologies.

Media Inquiries:

pr@o3d.foundation

The post The Open 3D Foundation Announces Latest Enhancements to Open 3D Engine, Invites O3DCon ‘Call for Proposals’ appeared first on Linux Foundation.

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