PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Selected from a pool of over 900 applicants, 20 promising African digital startups will participate in the XL Africa residency, the flagship initiative of the business accelerator launched by the World Bank Group’s infoDev program last April. Running from November 6 – 17 in Cape Town, South Africa, selected entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to learn from their mentors and peers, increase their regional visibility and get access to potential corporate partners and investors.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The Nature Conservancy has embarked on a first-of-its-kind partnership with entrepreneurial network Techstars to launch the Techstars Sustainability Accelerator, which aims to identify entrepreneurs with commercially viable technologies to address pressing environmental and social issues.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
P2Binvestor (P2Bi), a leading marketplace lending platform that offers crowdsourced, asset-secured lines of credit to growing companies with big ambitions, is catalyzing the growth of mission-aligned business with the launch of a first-of-its kind bank partnership program. The new program provides startups and emerging businesses an innovative way to quickly access capital while allowing banks to increase their addressable market and improve their conversion rates.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The African Innovation Foundation (AIF) has announced the seventh edition of the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA), with this year’s theme focusing on “investing in inclusive innovation ecosystems.” The IPA seeks to celebrate outstanding breakthroughs that deliver practical, sustainable and commercially viable solutions to African challenges.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Salesforce Ventures, the corporate investment arm of Salesforce, a global leader in customer relationship management (CRM), has launched a $50 million impact investment fund to accelerate the growth of companies using Salesforce technology to address challenges across workforce development, equality, sustainability and the social sector.
COLLABORATION -
Isle of Wight-based ethical apparel startup Rapanui has come a long way since its conception in 2009, when brothers Rob and Mart Drake-Knight launched with a mere £200. Now, with almost a decade of experience under its belt, Rapanui is helping other UK businesses achieve their sustainability goals.
PRESS RELEASE -
Complex problems require advanced solutions and new ways of finding them. This is the thinking behind Novozymes’ new open innovation initiative, HelloScience, which aims to foster collaboration across borders, expertise and technologies on serious global challenges such as those addressed in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
With the backing of a group of impact investors, Singularity University, a global community with a mission to educate, inspire and empower leaders to apply exponential technologies to address the world’s most pressing challenges, has launched SU Ventures, a program designed to address the more long-term needs of impact-focused startups.
PRESS RELEASE -
PepsiCo Recycling is expanding its second year of the Zero Impact Fund, which offers eligible* colleges and universities an opportunity to bring campus eco-innovations to life. Through the Zero Impact Fund, schools can submit ideas to accomplish their environmental goals, with winning applications receiving up to $10,000 each from PepsiCo Recycling. In its first year, the Zero Impact Fund received applications from more than 40 different campuses and awarded grants to eight schools.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
It’s easy to see why Israel refers to itself as the “startup nation.” With a population of just 8.4 million people, the success of its small-to-scale business landscape is widely acknowledged as something of a miracle, home to more startups than any other country in the world.
Today, Israel has more Nasdaq-listed companies than any country outside the US and China. It also has more venture capital per capita. In 2016, Israeli startups raised a record $4.8 billion in venture funding, and saw exits worth $9.2 billion. If you want help in starting a business – especially if it’s tech-based – heading to Israel is a safe bet right now.
PRESS RELEASE -
Nestlé has today announced a new ambition for its global youth initiative: Nestlé needs YOUth. By 2030, Nestlé will help 10 million young people around the world have access to economic opportunities.
The global initiative brings together all of the efforts to support young people around the world that Nestlé undertakes on its own and with others, including the Alliance for YOUth.
In addition to employability, the initiative now also focuses on the next generation of farmers and entrepreneurs across Nestlé’s value chain. It also seeks to encourage innovation, including through a challenge on the HENRi@Nestlé open innovation platform.
COLLABORATION -
Since 2009, Oakland, California startup Back to the Roots has been on a mission to "Undo Food" by reconnecting consumers (and kids) with what’s on their plates, and driving the food industry towards greater transparency and integrity.
WASTE NOT -
One-third of the world’s food — approximately 1.3 billion tons — is lost or wasted, a fact that is spurring startups to seek out new solutions to keep food out of landfills and stopping waste at the source.
California-based distillery Misadventure & Co. is working to drive down food waste in a completely unexpected way — by transforming discarded Twinkies and other dump-destined baked goods into vodka.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
A pioneering new sustainable homeware and accessories brand has emerged on the market and is ready to radically transform the way furniture is made forever. Materials sourcing is where digital furniture startup Pentatonic sets itself apart from its industry counterparts, with its line of contemporary designer homeware fabricated entirely from post-consumer waste.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The Postcode Lottery Green Challenge, one of the largest sustainable enterprise competitions in the world, has announced the five startups still in the running for a cash prize of €500,000. Finalists include innovators from France, Rwanda, the Netherlands and Denmark.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Certified B Corporation Thread is taking its commitment to end poverty by creating dignified jobs and responsible, high-quality fabrics to the next level with the announcement of a partnership with nonprofit Kiva. The startup, which transforms plastic bottles from the streets and canals of Haiti and Honduras into responsible fabrics, has used Kiva’s direct-to-social enterprise loan program to raise $10,000 for its zero-interest micro-loan program.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Organic agriculture is likely one of the first things that come to mind when considering a sustainable food future, but emerging news would suggest that it is the laboratory — not the fields — where the sustainable food revolution is taking form.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
While millennials have largely been the focus of city leaders’ efforts to attract new talent and residential growth, a new Brookings study finds that innovation districts — areas which are highly walkable and transit-oriented, rich with amenities and employment opportunities — would also benefit from attracting and serving adults 50 years of age and up, who can fill gaps in the innovation ecosystem, including age diversity, professional expertise and
WASTE NOT -
What do sulfur and urine have in common? Scientists and designers have uncovered new ways to transform the two smelly substances into smart solutions to tackle pressing environmental problems.
WASTE NOT -
Circular solutions for food waste are popping up almost daily, but agricultural and seafood waste are commonly overlooked, despite the value that can be derived from these biomaterials. Recognizing the opportunities these waste streams present for both economic and environmental ends, organizations across the globe have unveiled new products and procedures that could help set new industry precedents.