PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Mother Nature knows best: Even more companies across industries are harnessing biomimicry principles to drive forward renewable energy and develop strong, durable materials that provide protection and promise higher performance.
Tyer Wind, a startup based in Tunisia, has developed a new wind turbine technology based on the flapping of hummingbird wings. Instead of converting linear motion into a circular motion, the turbines mimic the mechanical action of hummingbird wings — a figure-eight pattern — which generates energy on both the upstroke and downstroke.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The World Economic Forum’s Community of Young Global Leaders, in collaboration with Accenture Strategy, yesterday announced the winners of the 2017 Circulars at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters.
The third annual Circulars awards showcased advances from the private sector, public sector and civil society that drive innovation and growth while reducing dependence on scarce natural resources.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Six African SMEs have been nominated as finalists for the African Finance & Investment Forum (AFIF) Entrepreneurship Award 2017, supported by the Rabobank Foundation. Out of the 51 projects from around the continent and following a few rounds of selection, the jury has selected these ground-breaking projects from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania for their social, economic and ecological impact, and their potential for growth and jobs creation nationally and regionally.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Leading Japanese consulting companies including Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting (DTC) and Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting (MURC) are actively enhancing their pro bono businesses. Rather than it being simply voluntary work, their aim is to use their employees’ specialized skills to help social businesses and the NPO/NGO sector, thereby increasing their employees’ positive motivations and, as a side effect, enhancing their companies’ social reputations.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
In a bid to reposition itself as a producer of convenient natural products, Campbell Soup Company is set to launch Well Yes!, a pivotal “clean” canned soup line, with a corresponding campaign that encourages consumers to make small, healthy daily choices rather than big, unrealistic resolutions. With the New Year only a week away, the launch of the new campaign is timely.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Earlier this year, the World Bank announced a fundamental shift in its role of alleviating global poverty, by refocusing its financing efforts towards tackling climate change through the lens of SMEs. Last month, the group launched a new Climate Business Innovation Network (CBIN) during COP22 in Marrakech to help commercialize and diffuse clean technologies through developing countries.
WASTE NOT -
Ending food waste is a key concern across the Western world, with new initiatives such as WWF and Sodexo’s sustainable meals program and Sainsbury’s Waste Less, Save More campaign seeming to crop up almost daily.
CLEANTECH -
A number of data platforms have emerged in recent months that aim to help give organizations an eagle-eye view of issues such as deforestation and climate resilience, but one startup is using the power of data to engage individuals who have yet to understand how global environmental problems may be affecting them personally.
CLEANTECH -
Siemens and New York-based startup LO3 Energy have announced that they are partnering up to make the energy-sharing economy a reality through the development of microgrids that use blockchain technology to enable local energy trading.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Earlier this month at Sustainable Brands’ New Metrics ’16 conference, IdeaScale, Topcoder and SensisChallenges presented on the use of crowdsourcing to drive innovation and de-risk the execution of corporate sustainability initiatives.
COLLABORATION -
Increasing access to clean, safe and sustainable sanitation to 10 million people by 2022 is a top priority for personal care corporation Kimberly-Clark’s Sustainability 2022 goals, and on November 19, World Toilet Day, the company renewed its commitment to its Toilets Change Lives program, a multi-national commercial program that leverages the power of its well-known brands to educate and engage consumers and help solve the global sanitation crisis.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
RB, the leading consumer health and hygiene company behind brands such as Lysol, Durex, Nurofen, Strepsils, Gaviscon, Mucinex, Scholl, and Clearasil, has launched a startup programme on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions are a major issue for oil and gas, chemicals, food and pharmaceutical industries. During the storage of ethereal liquids such as fuels and solvents, vapors can create a toxic, flammable or even explosive ‘cloud.’
In the past, oil and gas companies have fit their storage tanks with internal floating roofs made of assembled plates. The systems are efficient, but have high set up costs and can require significant maintenance work.
French startup Elbé Pétro has developed an alternative technology inspired by duckweed – small aquatic plants that free-float on still water ponds – to help address chemical evaporation in storage tanks.
CLEANTECH -
Two startups are advancing their solar power solutions in big ways: Arcadia Power, an online renewable energy company, has launched the first nationwide community solar program in the United States; and solar lighting and power systems provider d.light has secured a total of $30 million in funding this year for off-grid solar.
CLEANTECH -
Habit, a new startup at the intersection of nutrition, technology and food delivery, will offer personalized nutrition solutions for the likely millions of Westerners who have yet to find a 'diet' that works for them.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Six European startups have been selected as finalists for the third Green Alley Award, a prize that rewards business models and products that can improve resource conservation. Waste-reducing apps, a food packaging system, and a CO2-absorbing urban “tree” are among those in the running.
PRESS RELEASE -
SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced an SAP SuccessFactors initiative to support Girls in Tech (GIT), a global nonprofit focused on educating, engaging and empowering girls and women who are passionate about entering into high-tech careers and startups.
To generate awareness and support for GIT’s mission, SAP will donate one dollar for every Tweet that mentions both #sconnect16 and #All4GIT between October 3 and December 31. The initiative is part of SuccessConnect 2016,
taking place October 24-25 in Sydney, Australia, November 10 in Tokyo, Japan, November 15 in Singapore and November 28-29 in Vienna, Austria.
WASTE NOT -
Mission-driven startup Give Back Box® was founded in 2012 by Monika Wiela, who at the time was running an online shoe store. The idea was inspired by a homeless man she encountered in Chicago, who was holding up a sign saying he needed a pair of shoes. Wiela returned later that day with shoes for him, but he was gone. She spent that night thinking about what she could do with all the empty boxes in her warehouse and also help people like that man, and a new social enterprise was born.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Climate change demands new ways of thinking and startups have been rising to the challenge. Among the latest, the winners of the Living Product Prize and the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge took home cash prizes to develop their soil filtration systems and energy-generating windows, and a Voom business award-winning entrepreneur has plans to build plastic roads in Scotland.
PRESS RELEASE -
New York-listed Dow Chemical Company is working closely with six non-profit organizations in Cebu to help address pressing local challenges. Through the company's Leadership in Action (LIA), 40 DOW employees have formed teams to work on six important projects in Cebu that seek to advance access to water, increase production of high-quality food crops, and support product commercialization, among other challenges.
The Philippines is the second country in Asia selected by the company to develop solutions to address local critical needs. The program also enables new leadership development opportunities for Dow employees and a chance for them to learn more about realities of international business and identify new business opportunities.