PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the world’s largest organization for mechanical engineers, has announced the finalists of the 2017 ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW), the first international competition for hardware-led social innovation.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
McGill is at it again. Just months after researchers at the Canadian university revealed that metal powders could provide a zero-carbon, closed-loop alternative to traditional fossil fuels, a team of chemists have uncovered a way to produce and refine metals without the aid of toxic solvents or reagents.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Automation, artificial intelligence, the growth of the informal economy and shifts away from command-and-control power cultures are all trends that are profoundly shaping the workplace. But what will the future workplace look like? Of course, the honest answer is that we don’t really know.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
There’s no stopping the circular economy. Both the public and private sector continue to drive circular innovation towards the mainstream, offering new opportunities for budding disruptive businesses to gain exposure and scale up operations.
Italian banking group INTESA Sanpaolo hosted its 101st Start Up Initiative, in partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in London last week, providing budding circular innovators with the opportunity to present their ideas on a global stage.
PRESS RELEASE -
Here’s my prediction: in the not-too-distant future, circular economies – where the resources you use to create a product eventually return to the business to be reused or recycled – will be the norm. Businesses of tomorrow will look back at our sluggishness in making the switch and they will shake their heads in wonder.
But why has business been sluggish? After all, doing more with less, creating more value with fewer resources, has long been standard in business: you pursue profitable growth while also staying efficient with resources.
That’s just good business.
PRESS RELEASE -
DETROIT — General Motors’ sustainability approach enables the company to serve its customers and shareholders, increase operational efficiency, mitigate risk and improve the communities where it does business.
PRESS RELEASE -
Detroit Ento wins startup competition at SB’17 Detroit
COLLABORATION -
A new study released by the Better Than Cash Alliance has revealed how agriculture nonprofit One Acre Fund and Citi Inclusive Finance have cut payment losses and collections costs by over 80 percent for smallholder farmers in Kenya by successfully digitizing loan repayments. According to the report, the move has significantly boosted transparency and efficiency, thereby driving economic opportunity and financial inclusion for thousands of farmers and their families.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
After London air pollution levels surpassed allowed limits for 2017 just five days into the new year, new initiatives to improve air quality and draw attention to the city’s growing pollution problem have been popping up on the regular.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Startup accelerators designed to bolster support for the low-carbon transition seem to be popping up almost daily — within the last two months alone, H&M, Levi Strauss, Plug & Play, Target and even the
WALKING THE TALK -
To meet the growing demand for connectivity while managing emissions throughout the value chain, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has launched the world’s first comprehensive supply chain management program based on climate science. The initiative will provide suppliers with the tools they need to develop a customized plan to reduce emissions and drive a global standard for supplier greenhouse gas engagement and reduction.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Over the next few years, the private sector will inherit the enormous responsibility of sustaining the health of our planet. Although this daunting challenge may force companies to operate outside of their comfort zones, businesses should recognize that with great responsibility comes great opportunity. In a market where consumer attitudes and brand loyalties are shifting to prefer socially and environmentally conscious products, companies hoping to remain competitive must integrate sustainability into the core of their business models.
WALKING THE TALK -
Alipay parent company Ant Financial Services Group has released its first-ever Corporate Social Responsibility Report and committed to leveraging the company’s technology, partners and employees to tackle issues such as climate change, inequality and poverty.
The report includes the company’s progress update on Ant Forest, the in-app carbon tracking and tree planting initiative in Alipay, and Ant Love, its philanthropic platform.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
The two biggest disrupting forces transforming the market today are technology and sustainability, yet many marketers still don’t see sustainability as a priority. Sustainability has a business problem that needs to be addressed. Research by Ricardo Caceres, former Global Marketing Director of Sustainability at The Coca-Cola Company; and Omar Rodriguez-Vila, Professor at Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business, identified three core reasons:
PRESS RELEASE -
SAN FRANCISCO, May 17, 2017 – Sustainable Brands® recently unveiled the session schedule for the Activation Hub at SB’17 Detroit, running May 22-25th at the Cobo Center in downtown Detroit. The Activation Hub is the action-centered space within the conference program that allows attendees to collaborate on new tools, resources and ideas to accelerate sustainability-led innovation.
PRESS RELEASE -
Merit Partners Inc. and Sunbelt Holdings have been named recipients of the Industrial Project of the Year award by NAIOP for REI Goodyear DC, a distribution center for Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI), located at PV|303, a master planned business park in Goodyear, Arizona.
The facility is the only net zero energy, U.S. Green Building LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certified distribution center in the world. Its roof features a 2.2 megawatt solar system that produces enough energy to power the entire facility, or the equivalent of 390 homes for one year.
WASTE NOT -
How do you solve a problem like food waste? There’s no magic bullet, but realizing that discarded food attracts flies like nothing else, UK-based startup Entomics has engineered an upcycling solution that exploits the metabolic power of insects to convert leftover scraps into high-value protein and fertilizer product.
PRESS RELEASE -
Consumer goods giant Unilever has unveiled new technology that enables plastic sachets to be recycled.
The technology has been developed in partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV in Germany.
The process, known as CreaSolv, was inspired by a method used to recycle old television sets, whereby brominated flame-retardants were separated from WEEE polymers. Through this method, plastic is recovered from the sachet and reused in the manufacture of new sachets.
Unilever says that it will make the technology open source so that other members of the industry can help to scale up its use.
PRESS RELEASE -
Paper products giant Kimberly-Clark has announced plans to build a $75 million combined heat-power plant at its Mobile mill, which they say will increase the plant's efficiency while decreasing long-term costs and emissions.
The plant will generate electricity with a natural gas turbine and the exhaust gas will be rerouted to make steam for the plant's operations. It's a technique, sometimes called cogeneration, that's been used by many paper mills throughout the country in recent years to run more efficiently.
Todd Visscher, manager for Kimberly-Clark's Mobile mill, said the improvements will strengthen the Mobile Mill's position with Kimberly-Clark as a strategic manufacturing location.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Recycling protocol for consumer products packaged in plastic bottles and tubes is fairly straightforward. But for sachets, it’s a whole other story. To tackle industry-wide sachet waste, Unilever teamed up with the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV in Germany to develop CreaSolv Process, a groundbreaking new technology to recycle sachet waste.