Product, Service & Design Innovation
The latest products, services, design approaches and business models that are helping organizations of all sizes deliver on their sustainability ambitions and establish a new business as usual.
Fool-Proofing Sustainability, Part 2: Materials Parsimony
The amazing diversity of life is founded on dramatic materials parsimony; almost everything in nature is built out of just four elements. Whereas, what we humans have gotten since the Industrial Revolution is *materials proliferation.*
Beyond Global Thinking: NASA’s Jim Adams on Ensuring Humanity’s Future
Ahead of his upcoming keynote at SB’19 Madrid and 50 years after the Moon landing, we spoke with Jim Adams — recently retired Deputy Chief Technologist at NASA — about the moonshot thinking humanity now needs.
Evolving Consumer Palates Demanding Better-Made Beverages
As we see greater attention to the growing climate crisis, plastic pollution and other global sustainability challenges, beverage makers who do more to reduce their impact stand to gain, while those stuck in a tone-deaf, business-as-usual model will be left behind.
Ask First, Give Second: The One-for-One Giving Model Gets a Revamp
Ideally, Western companies should adopt an attitude of *Ask First, Give Second*. We’d all benefit if we empowered those who will receive the donations to determine what they need most, rather than making that decision for them.
New Chocolate, Ingredients from Barry Callebaut Utilize Whole Cacao Fruit
‘Cacaofruit Experience’ eliminates 70% of waste in cacao processing while addressing consumer demand for tasty, nutritious, whole foods; WholeFruit chocolate is a fresh, fruity chocolate made from 100% pure cacao fruit, is available for chefs and artisans.
There Is No ‘Silver Bullet’ For Resource Management in the Climate Crisis
People have opinions about the ways we should address the climate crisis. There are many possible solutions, but however we decide to change, we have to do it now.
Meet the Latest 12 Startups Set to Change Fashion as We Know it
Innovations in garment fitting, recycling, intelligent machinery and a virtual garment marketplace are among the 12 new innovations joining the latest Fashion for Good-Plug and Play Accelerator Programme.
Wanted: ‘Moonshot' Thinking for the Planet’s New Challenges
'Moonshot' thinking means applying disruptive, innovative thinking to difficult problems. Today, we have access to means and resources that were unimaginable 50 years ago. Let’s make the impossible possible again.
A Designer Fix to Our Current State of 'Broken'
From alternative materials to circular production methods, sustainable design continues on a viable path forward; it is an approach that I hope other manufacturers embrace as the ultimate design challenge.
Mars Selects 6 Food Startups to Sow SEEDS of CHANGE™
Participants in Mars’ inaugural accelerator program will receive a four-month mentorship with industry experts and grants up to $50,000.
Latest C2C Certified Product Standard Open for Public Comment
Recognized as the world’s leading science-based standard for responsible production and consumption, the Standard encourages innovation to maximize the positive impacts of products and materials.
Trending: Fashion Edges Ever Closer to Circularity
Prada's new Nat Geo series highlights its Re-Nylon line; while the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Jeans Redesign Guidelines aim to ensure jeans are made better for the environment and the health of garment workers.
What If We Could Geo-Locate the Next Deadly Outbreak — Months Before It Happened?
The AIME platform uses artificial intelligence to enable countries and their health practitioners to proactively deal with deadly outbreaks of disease.
Trending: G-Star Raw, Gap Dyeing to Make Better Jeans
G-Star Raw launches its latest collection of garments dyed with upcycled plant waste; while Gap Inc will roll out foam-dyed denim that dramatically reduces water, chemical and energy use.
Trending: Brands Leveraging Tomorrow’s Greatest Minds to Solve Today’s Problems
From early-stage startups to college students to grade-school prodigies, 3M, the Biomimicry Institute and Unilever continue to mine the latest, greatest minds for the next sustainability innovations.
Finnish R&D Project Aims to Make Business from Circular Textiles
Telaketju, a Finnish network promoting sustainable recycling of textiles, shifts its focus from recycling to managing the whole value chain, extending textile lifespan and creating novel business models.
Best Buy Now Helping Consumers Reduce CO2, Save Billions on Utilities, Recycle More
The electronics retailer will now help its customers save billions while reducing their emissions, as it works to further decrease its own — and now offers expanded recycling and repair services.
E-Commerce Companies Can Be Guardians of the Environment
At Thrive Market, as we’ve neutralized our shipping footprint, brought our fulfillment centers to zero waste, and removed 90% of virgin plastic from our packaging, we’ve learned some surprising lessons.
See Change: Real-Time Visibility Into Land Changes Key to Ending Deforestation
With technological advances in Earth observation, we may be only a few years away from screening commodity index funds for environmental risks the same way we account for other financially material risks in public equities today.
Forum for the Future, Fashion for Good Examine Potential Futures for Fashion
New studies released today at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit dive into potential futures for the fashion industry — Forum for the Future examines four distinct, climate-changed scenarios; while Fashion for Good assesses the viability of three circular business models.