Nelson Eduardo Alvarez Angel
Universidad Externado de Colombia
Jose Luis Camarena
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EkoBrain shows that change is achievable through play, collaboration, and sustainability. It is a concept that integrates playful dynamics into the processes of building sustainability practices and strategies in all types of organizations. EkoBrain comprises a card game and a book with 50 game ideas. In addition, the tool is so versatile that the user himself can create original activities for specific purposes.
EkoBrain's story is testament to how a small innovation can make a giant impact on people, organizations, and territories. In the words of Andrea Ángel, co-author of EkoBrain: "By playing seriously, we can all be protagonists of a better world." – Andrea Ángel – co-author of Ekobrain.
EkoBrain® is not a traditional consulting tool. Their focus is on co-building solutions; they do not advise from the outside but invite teams to become change-makers. EkoBrain, a card game and book in both Spanish and English, is the primary tool. It provides instructions for 50 activities designed to spark innovation in any organization or team. EkoBrain helps users with brain warm-ups or ice-breaking activities, promoting a culture of sustainability, analyzing organizations’ impacts, identifying sustainability actions and stakeholders, innovating, and developing strategies aligned with the SDGs, among others. This game mobilizes collective intelligence in co-creation workshops. The dynamics awaken creativity, systemic thinking and environmental awareness.
The EkoBrain game includes double-sided cards: 41 inspiration cards, 14 Advice of the Wise, 6 Impact cards, 6 MACROS cards, and 30 triangle cards. Players can use these cards with other company products, such as WakeUpBrain® and Forte®, as well as Inner Development Goals cards.
Users of the tool, who are part of a community called Brainers, can create original activities aimed at specific purposes. The community releases its games on the WakeUpBrain Academy website for others to use and share their knowledge. "What we are looking for is for each person to become a protagonist of change. Our game is not an end, but a tool that allows us to reflect and act." – Andrea Ángel – co-author of EkoBrain.
EkoBrain: unlimited creative gaming for sustainability
Most organizations manage innovation and sustainability processes from a technical, hierarchical, and non-participatory perspective. Global studies (e.g. those by McKinsey or the World Economic Forum) show that sustainable initiatives fail if they do not actively involve people. Colombia faces some obstacles, including a lack of sustainable supplies, cultural reluctance to use play professionally, and not having enough places for group critical thinking. EkoBrain was born as a response to this gap, transforming the game into a strategic tool.
EkoBrain contributes to various dimensions of sustainable development, for example:
SDG 4: Quality education, specifically with target 4.7, since EkoBrain is a tool that has been used in educational environments for the teaching of topics related to sustainable development. For instance, university professors have used it to promote the PRME Impactful 5 method to teach responsible leadership.
SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth, especially with Target 8.3, which implies encouraging creativity and innovation since both large organizations and SMEs used EkoBrain, a tool for innovation.
SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. EkoBrain's goal is to help businesses become more sustainable through innovation, which matches perfectly with Target 9.4. This includes promoting eco-friendly technologies and methods in industries.
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. Targets 12.6 and 12.8 are extremely relevant, because thanks to EkoBrain, it is possible for companies to identify impacts, as well as achieve the adoption of more sustainable practices. This game helps people from various parts of the world learn about sustainability.
SDG 17: Partnerships to achieve the goals. Finally, EkoBrain contributes especially to Target 17.16, on building multi-stakeholder partnerships; as the Brainers community is an international network that exchanges knowledge and good practices to promote the achievement of the other SDGs.
Thanks to this innovation, the company offers certification in the use of its methodology, known as EkoBrainers. The company offers this certification to sustainability professionals, business leaders, academics, consultants, and others interested in learning the playful methodology in a deeper way. Currently, the Brainers community amounts to over 8,000 certificates in 12 countries. The company reported annual revenues of close to 800 million Colombian pesos, about 200,000 USD.
On the other hand, EkoBrain represented Colombia at the international event Gamification Global Gathering 2025, a world summit on gamification in professional environments, as well as at the Circular Cities Conference 2025 event held in Oman, where it was used to exemplify how through games a shared vision for city design can be created.
Expansion plans include the internationalization of the Positive Impact brand, including the translation of the material into other languages, integrating artificial intelligence to personalize gaming experiences, as well as greater standardization of the model to facilitate its replication in new markets.
EkoBrain has worked with players of all sizes: from local artisans to multinationals such as Syngenta and large companies in the banana sector in Magdalena, Colombia. EkoBrain prioritizes empowering the participants in each intervention. EkoBrain users have assisted universities, rural areas, and exporters in many countries to make positive changes and grow. Although they do not currently have a formal social impact meter, their reach includes hundreds of people directly impacted in Colombia and Latin America.
In addition, sustainability runs through all levels of EkoBrain:
Use of eco-friendly materials and local suppliers in its manufacture.
They carry out its certification events with a measured and reduced carbon footprint.
Promotion of sustainable transport and preferential use of natural light.
Constant review of the impact of the digital tools they use.
"We always review the impact, from how we design the product to how we deliver it. Sustainability is part of our philosophy, not just a label." – Guillermo Solano – Director, WakeUpBrain Academy.
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Guillermo Solano / Andrea Ángel, Director
WakeupBrain Academy is a Colombian company founded in 2008 by Andrea Ángel and Guillermo Solano. With only four direct employees, they revolutionized the way people approach sustainability and organizational innovation through play. The company provides consulting services besides offering a series of recreational methodologies for the promotion of innovation in organizations, in addition to offering certifications in these. The company's EkoBrain project and Positive Impact brand allow people and organizations to co-create sustainable solutions.