WASTE NOT -
The 2016 FIRST® LEGO® League Arabia Open, the largest regional robotics competition in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, took place this past weekend at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. More than 50 teams of children from eight Arab countries competed in this year’s 'TRASH TREK Challenge,' working to find solutions to the world’s waste problem.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
John A. Mathews and Hao Tan, both professors based in Australia, believe that the country that consumes the most resources in the world and produces the most waste also has the most advanced solutions. In a recent article for Nature, they summarized China’s progress on closing industrial loops to reduce its industries’ consumption of virgin materials and waste generation – in other words, the development of a circular economy.
China’s levels of consumption and waste are completely unsustainable, and its resource use is inefficient. The authors provide several statistics for context:
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
On Monday, Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) released a second white paper detailing the final findings from its industry research partnership with Cranfield University.
CLEANTECH -
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The United Nations deemed March 22 World Water Dayas a way to call global attention to this diminishing resource.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
It takes just 30 minutes – using only a bucket, a spoon, a cloth and a four-gram Procter & Gamble sachet – to purify 10 litres of dirty, contaminated water.
Rose M lives in a semi-urban area in Kisumu County in Western Kenya with her husband and two teenage children. She and her husband, Sam, are HIV-positive, so they are particularly susceptible to waterborne diseases. Her entire family would often get sick from drinking the polluted water from a nearby river, which is contaminated by the local wildlife.
PRESS RELEASE -
Limburgerhof, Germany – March 3, 2016 – Today, BASF has launched MaglisTM, an online agricultural platform set to become a key partner in helping farmers manage their crops. With the platform, farmers will be able to gather, interpret, and monitor a range of crop-related data that will support them in making better decisions on how to grow and market their crops. The launch took place at the Commodity Classic agricultural convention and trade show, in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
WASTE NOT -
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is transforming both consumers’ shopping carts and companies’ supply chains by allowing intelligent barcodes to talk to a networked system that tracks products from Point A to Point Z.
A technology once limited to tracking cattle, RFID tags are now tracking consumer products worldwide. Many manufacturers use the tags to monitor the location of each product they make from the time it's made until it's pulled off the shelf and tossed in a shopping cart.
PRESS RELEASE -
Iron Mountain Incorporated® (NYSE:IRM), the storage and information management company, today announced the signing of a 15-year wind power purchase agreement that will exchange 30 percent of its North American electricity footprint with renewable energy. Additionally, the purchase of two-thirds of the power produced by a new wind turbine farm – currently under construction in Ringer Hill, Penn. – will provide Iron Mountain with long-term rate stability and expected annual savings of up to $500,000 in utility costs.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The “sharing economy” is today’s buzzword for Silicon Valley’s most recent batch of billion-dollar companies. So ring the headlines: $51 billion valuation for Uber; Chinese ride-hailing business Didi Kuaidi raising $4.42 billion; Airbnb valuation $10+ billion. In the last three years, the world has embraced this idea of the sharing economy. Who would have thought that a 23-year-old part-time student tooling around in her Prius would disrupt the transportation industry? Or that renting out your spare bedroom with the Star Wars sheets could make you part of the largest hotel network in the world?
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Last month Thomas Kolster, author of the critically acclaimed book, Goodvertising, compèred a packed SB’16 Copenhagen preview event featuring insights on Behavioural Economics from Krukow, the launch of a new sustainable packaging solution from Carlsberg and the announcement of a
PRESS RELEASE -
Each year, the Oracle Sustainability Innovation Award is presented to companies that use Oracle software or other Oracle products to save energy, waste or emissions, design more eco-friendly products or otherwise reduce their environmental impacts while reducing costs at the same time. Cisco was nominated by Pincvision, its partner for over ten years.
Cisco is known for its routers, servers, networks and matching software. The company has operations in 165 countries and recorded 47.1 billion US Dollar in sales in 2014.
CLEANTECH -
Last week, Veolia, The Water Council and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) announced the first-ever “Pow!
NEW METRICS -
This is part 5 of a 6-part series about integral thinking and true materiality. It proposes a new impetus to develop reporting that is able to serve the idea of a green & inclusive economy. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
A new age in gardening is dawning: Geological agriculture, aka gravel gardening — a completely soil-less way to grow all kinds of crops in sedimentary rock.Leading the charge is To Soil Less, a family business founded by former management consultant Richard Campbell in 2011.
NEW METRICS -
That the future of profit is purpose is the modus operandi of the YK Center, a self-proclaimed “for-benefit organization” striving to push the needle on a more sustainable economy.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
While consumers are becoming more comfortable with online shopping and are enjoying the convenience it can bring, there are growing concerns around its environmental impact. The human desire for instant gratification is driving faster and faster delivery services for e-commerce, and that quick service carries a hefty impact.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The Campbell Soup Company has announced that it is launching a $125 million venture capital (VC) fund to invest in food startups. The fund, under the banner Acre Venture Partners L.P., will be managed by unidentified outsiders independent of Campbell, although the food giant is its sole limited partner.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Unilever Foundry — Unilever’s startup technology incubator — has launched a search for the world’s top 50 marketing technology startups to pitch to industry leaders at Lions Innovation in Cannes in June. As part of the Unilever Foundry 50, the startups will have an exclusive opportunity to showcase their technology, pitch their solutions to brand and agency leaders from around the world and catalyze new partnerships.
CLEANTECH -
There’s plenty of talk about “smart cities” as the surest route to building strong and resilient urban environments in the face of mounting climate impacts, but what about a “smart country”? While Singapore technically is a city-state — being both a city and sovereign nation — it is embracing many of the same smart city techniques as cities across the world.Globally, cities are experimenting with smart city technologies to tackle issues such as waste collection and traffic light management, but Singapore is focused on two core global challenges: urban density and an aging population.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
As the demand for transparency and emphasis on consumer choice continue to grow, so do the challenges of supply chain management. Brands are increasingly expected to work with their suppliers to reduce their environmental impact, eliminate labor abuses, and replace certain ingredients. Ensuring product quality and label accuracy remains an issue, especially for brands with international suppliers or extensive supply chains.