PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Out of 37 nominated startups, Skeleton Technologies won the Gold ECO15 London Award at the Ecosummit 2015 conference. The company manufactures high-performance, graphene-based ultracapacitors — energy storage devices with much higher power and longer life cycles than batteries.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Startups that are innovating around nutritious, sustainable food are invited to pitch for a £3000 cash prize and a three-month mentoring program with the Unilever Foundry. The competition is open to innovators tackling food system challenges such as heart health, obesity, under-nutrition, food waste, and sustainability of the food chain.
CLEANTECH -
More than 2,500 young social entrepreneurs applied to the Forbes Under 30 $1M Change the World Competition. Six finalists will compete on the main stage at Forbes’ second annual Under 30 Summit for a portion of the $1 million prize money.
LEADERSHIP -
Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has announced it is reincorporating as a public benefit corporation, The New York Times reports, a legal designation that protects for-profit companies that want to do well and do good at the same time by affording them the freedom to pursue corporate purposes beyond maximizing profits.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The ongoing plight of the millions of refugees fleeing Syria and other parts of the world has captured the world’s attention, but what happens once they’ve found somewhere safe to settle?In the midst of the refugee crisis, socially conscious jewelry brand Liberti USA is asking you to support the American dream and help resettled refugees exercise their right to work.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
27 African social and environmental startups were recognized with awards last week at the 2015 SEED Africa Symposium. The recipients’ business models benefit local communities and help meet sustainable development challenges. Two of the awards were specifically designated for women-led ventures that focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
German social enterprise B-Energy has developed portable “digester” bags that produce methane gas out of food waste or animal droppings, which can help low-income entrepreneurs in the global South make a living through a franchise model, BBC News reports.The bags, which are heat and fire resistant, come with a tap and pipe that users can attach to a gas stove. They hold up to 1.2 cubic meters of gas — enough for about five hours of cooking.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
In Spring 2014, the Social Venture Network (SVN) began asking its conference speakers to share words of wisdom that they wished they’d heard on their road to success - and the tradition has continued ever since. Here, we hear advice from companies large and small on the importance of transparency, listening to your customers, believing in yourself, and being ok not having all the answers.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
We know from the emerging discipline of biomimicry that natural systems can stimulate sustainable designs for human use. Two recent innovations use trees for inspiration and materials in unconventional products that may revolutionize very different industries: large-scale metal production, and battery technology to suit cars and wearable devices.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
We have been following Chile-based startup Bureo from its launch in late 2013 to its first incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign last year. Now the company, which got its start upcycling plastic marine waste lining Chile’s waters and shores, has expanded its product range to sunglasses.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Agriculture consumes close to 70 percent of water demand, but a significant 10 percent goes to domestic applications, such as maintaining lawns and other landscaping.Arguably, the best and most sustainable course of action is to let your lawn die and plant indigenous landscapes but, realistically, not everyone is going to do that. The next-best thing, however, would be to find a way to maintain non-native landscaping using as little water as possible.A company called Blue Marble hopes to help people do just that by leveraging Internet of Things technology to conserve water during domestic irrigation.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Many business leaders today are trying to step up their game and do more than create profitable businesses; they are attempting to use their skills to better the world. Yet in the current business culture, return on capital and financial profit are the sole metric of success. But we can apply tools from cultural evolution to “redesign” business culture — beginning with startups — so that businesses are better equipped to solve social problems.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
San Francisco Bay Area startup ECOlunchbox has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $30,000 to bring to market its Blue Water Bento collection, a new line of lunch containers that combine no-leak silicone lids with non-toxic stainless steel bottoms.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Today, President Obama hosted the first-ever White House Demo Day focused on inclusive entrepreneurship, welcoming startup founders from diverse walks of life and from across the country to showcase their innovations. The President also announced new public- and private-sector commitments that promise to provide more Americans with the opportunity to pursue their bold, game-changing ideas.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
If you’re a small-scale designer or apparel brand, managing your supply chain efficiently and sustainably can be a challenge. MadeRight, a startup that recently launched out of Y Combinator, wants to change that.MadeRight is helping designers simplify the textile manufacturing process through its consortium of ethical, global factories and its procedures to streamline product movement.
CLEANTECH -
As water-dependent companies seek to cut their usage and survive through punishing droughts, Costco is finding solutions with the help of the latest computing technologies – the cloud, data algorithms, wireless tech and low-cost sensors. Through a partnership with Washington-based startup Apana, the retail giant is employing innovative water-conservation technology to cut water use and generate significant cost savings.Costco first tested the Apana technology on several of its buildings in Mexico. After saving thousands of dollars at each facility, the company has now expanded its use of the technology to over 50 buildings in North America.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Canadian startup Daymark has developed a fully electric, solar-powered scooter capable of playing music from built-in speakers, charging your phone and traveling up to 10 miles using its 24V battery pack, which is available in lithium or lead acid varieties.The Photon scooter re-charges under daylight during any kind of weather, gaining approximately 0.2 miles for every hour of exposure the 6W solar panel receives.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Last week, courier service Shyp announced it will convert its contract workers to full-fledged W2 employees. The company’s decision bucks the surge of startups fueling the 1099 economy, which avoids paying workers benefits by classifying them as independent contractors.“This move is an investment in a longer-term relationship with our couriers, which we believe will ultimately create the best experience for our customers,” Shyp CEO Kevin Gibbon wrote in a company blog post.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
London’s first subterranean farm will begin selling produce to its first commercial client later this month, marking a breakthrough for the city’s urban farming.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
London-based startup SolarLayer claims to have developed a new additive for paints, coatings and flooring that transforms any surface into a solar energy receptor.Through its application, any roof, wall, street or path becomes a photovoltaic generator, that works as a replacement or supplement to the traditional power grid. This technology is designed to work in 3 / 12V and is expected to lasts for more than 20 years, the company says.SolarLayer was created by a group of scientists from the United Kingdom, Argentina and Switzerland who claim that the paint additive will revolutionize everything known in photovoltaics. The product already has been tested for durability and performance in different parts of the world.