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.
Greenpeace East Asia has released a new IT product guide ranking tech giants according to iFixit’s repairability score. Seventeen IT brands were represented in the study and over 40 best-selling smartphones, tablets and laptops launched between 2015 and 2017 were assessed.
Late last month, IKEA and entrepreneurial cooperative Rainmaking announced the launch of a new startup accelerator, IKEA Bootcamp, which will run from September 18 until December 8, 2017. The program will see startups create solutions for three challenges outlined by IKEA: creating products that are affordable, accessible and have positive impact on both people and planet.
Expanding its commitment to innovation in the food industry, Nestlé has teamed up with Rabobank and Rocketspace to support startups through the Terra Food + Agtech Accelerator Program. The food giant will collaborate with Terra to select and coach the most forward-thinking and disruptive startups in the food and agricultural industries.
Big news has emerged on the energy front, with a major application of a technology that harnesses the power of pee to generate electricity and new debate about the need for energy storage. The University of the West of England’s Bristol Bioenergy Centre (BBiC) is appealing to festival goers’ senses of humor to power this year’s Glastonbury Festival. The Centre’s signature Pee Power urinals have been installed across the festival grounds equipped with a revolutionary technology that transforms urine into electricity.
The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute has announced the winners of the 5th Cradle to Cradle Product Design Challenge, including MyEcoWall, a mobile acoustic wall made from Ecovative mushroom material and Scout, a children’s jacket that “grows” with the child. The Challenge is the fifth in an initial series of six circular design challenges that incentivize and inspire the design community to envision viable product design solutions for the circular economy using Cradle to Cradle product design principles.
Not all circular news is good news. As a new startup accelerator launches to drive forward sustainable solutions to everyday challenges, a prominent defender of the circular cause lands himself a spot in federal prison for copyright infringement. The UK’s first-ever sustainability accelerator fund — the cleverly named Sustainable Accelerator — has been met by enthusiastic reception, successfully raising over £700,000 through crowding.
I still clearly recall a professional practice class in architecture school that made the distinction between two types of architecture firms: the Business-Centered Practice and the Practice-Centered Business. In my view, the former was a business that simply happened to practice architecture, while the latter existed to practice architecture and simply happened to function as a business.
The International Coordinating Council of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Program has named the recipients of its 2017 Young Scientists Awards and the Michel Batisse Award for Biosphere Reserve Management.
Carpet manufacturer Interface has uncovered a new way to mitigate the negative impact of carpet production — a process that traditionally relies on petroleum-based fibers and adhesives and chemical dyes. Putting its Climate Take Back mission into action, the company has developed Proof Positive, a first-of-its-kind carbon negative carpet tile.
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.
Brands continue to uncover new ways to transform waste into valuable materials, providing critical solutions for pressing problems such as ocean plastics. Stella McCartney is the latest label to team up with Parley for the Oceans in an effort to keep plastics out of the world’s oceans. The designer, who previously designed a sneaker for adidas in partnership with Parley, intends to use the nonprofit’s recycled plastic yarn in lieu of woven or recycled polyester in her line of shoes, accessories and outerwear.
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.
In an effort to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the world today, National Geographic and GSK Consumer Healthcare have joined forces to launch the Chasing Genius Challenge. The competition aims to uncover innovative solutions for issues related to sustainability, global health and food security and will provide $25,000 to winners to scale their ideas.
The apparel industry continues to make progress towards shedding its bad rep, with even more brands making moves to rethink traditional supply chains.
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
Cross-Posted from Collaboration. How Detroit Can Become the Most Sustainable City in North America By Nithin Coca Joel Howrani Heeres It’s been an eventful week for Joel Howrani Heeres, the brand-new Sustainability Director for the city of Detroit, who welcomed over 1000 attendees at the final day plenary at SB ’17 Detroit, on what was just his fourth day on the job.
Levi Strauss & Co. continues to drive the apparel industry towards a more sustainable, circular model, announcing that it has awarded more than $350,000 grants to the inaugural class of its LS&Co. Collaboratory fellowship program. The funding will go towards new approaches and innovations in the apparel supply chain.
Cross-Posted from Walking the Talk. Day two of SB'17 Detroit picked up the momentum from day one and ran with it. ... Transforming Consumption Norms Around Food By Hope Freedman
Minnesota’s largest member-owned electric cooperative Connexus Energy is making solar sweeter at its community solar garden in Ramsey, MN where it is now producing honey. Bolton Bees has installed 15 beehives at Connexus Energy’s SolarWise garden and will be managing and expanding the hives throughout the summer.
What if there was an easier way to connect revolutionary solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges with the capital needed to initiate real change? That’s exactly what the Global Opportunity Explorer sets out to do.