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.
The Circular Economy: Driver of Business Model Innovation and Social Good
In this Issue in Focus, guest editor Adam Werbach and the SB editorial team explore the broad range of radical economic and business-model innovations emerging, through which both startups and some of the top global brands are rethinking the future of business and creating new economic, environmental and social benefits.Discussion question:What do you think are the biggest challenges to overcome in the shift toward a circular economy?Join the conversation!
Manufacture New York: A New Sustainable Model for U.S. Fashion Production
Sometimes an industry simply can’t move forward without changing the conversation and embracing more sustainable business models.
Ecofiltro: Quenching Thirst in Guatemala One Family at a Time
To prepare for this year's Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (SBIO) competition, we're catching up with some of our favorite entrepreneurial ventures from competitions past ...In most of the developed world, few of us give much thought to where our drinking water comes from. When thirsty, we need only to walk to the nearest faucet for an endless supply of fresh, potable water. Studies show the average American household wastes 100,000 to 200,000 gallons of water every year, while 780 million people in developing countries lack access to reliable drinking water — about one in nine people on the planet.
How Are Circular Economic Models Driving Innovation and Social Good?
Calling all innovators and implementers! In March 2013, Sustainable Brands will launch a new “Issues in Focus” editorial package, including daily features, interviews and case studies on the circular economy as a driver of business model innovation and social good.The Issue in FocusYou can't get a soy latte these days without hearing the words collaborative consumption, the circular economy, crade-to-cradle or the sharing economy. But how are these quasi-utopian concepts becoming real? What implications could they have for the future of business and the economy?
Ellen MacArthur Foundation Aims To Create $10B of Value by 2015 With New Global Business Alliance
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation today launched the Circular Economy 100 (CE100), a three-year program aimed at bringing together a network of 100 leading companies globally to facilitate development and commitment to new circular economy projects. The CE100 will provide executive education on key themes and emerging trends, share knowledge and new learnings, and identify and develop solutions to common challenges. The objective is that by 2015 participating companies will have triggered circular initiatives that will result in an aggregated economic benefit of $10bn for the businesses involved.
Aspirational Consumers Unite Style, Sustainability To Shape Market Trends
Is there such a thing as sustainable consumption? A new study by BBMG, GlobeScan and SustainAbility finds that a majority of consumers across six international markets are seeking to reconcile their desire for shopping and style with responsibility to the environment and society through their purchases.
Design Matters, for the Circular Economy
A team from Seymourpowell, one of the UK’s most established design and innovation consultancies, were thrilled to spend an evening in the company of a select group of motivated Design & Technology teachers, at the recent Tunbridge Wells Teardown Lab led by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation. It proved a fascinating evening of new insight and practical hands-on learning.
Circular Economy Not 'Silver Bullet' for Resource Crunch, Paper Says
This article first appeared on edie.net on January 28, 2013.Industrial systems based on circular economy models will be constrained by end-of-life material availability, limiting future improvements in process efficiency, scientists claim. A wider materials efficiency framework is required, they argue — one which encompasses not just circular resource flow systems but mitigation options for industrial carbon emissions and consumer demand.
Circular Economy Promises $700 Billion in Savings for Consumer Goods Industry, Report Says
The consumer goods industry could save $700 billion in materials alone through the adoption of a circular economy, according to a new report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The report also details how land productivity and supply chain stabilitydesigning products so they can be recycled or reabsorbed into the biosphere without toxic residuals.
Kendall-Jackson Joins Green-e Marketplace with 100% Renewable Energy Commitment
The Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) announced Wednesday that Kendall-Jackson and parent company Jackson Family Wines, based in Santa Rosa, CA, have joined Green-e® Marketplace after purchasing 36,000 megawatt-hours of Green‑e Energy-Certified renewable energy certificates from NativeEnergy. The purchase covers 100 percent of the total annual electricity needs for Kendall-Jackson's U.S.-based operations. By participating in Green‑e Marketplace, Kendall-Jackson can now display the Green‑e logo to inform its customers of its commitment to clean, renewable energy.
