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.
Trending: Spiders, Butterfly Wings Inspire New Solutions for Urban Ag, Renewables
Innovators continue to look to nature to create new solutions to tackle everything from water scarcity and depletion to climate change.
Gold Standard Unveils New Label, Carbon Credit Shop to Help Companies, Consumers Deliver SDGs
Gold Standard, an organization established by WWF and other NGOs to catalyze action on climate change, is making it easier for anyone to support sustainable development projects around the world while offsetting their carbon footprint with the opening of an online ‘shop’ for carbon credits. For the first time, members of the public, small businesses and organizations can offset their emissions by purchasing carbon credits online through Gold Standard. The carbon credits offered come from a range of projects in Cambodia, China, Sudan, Ethiopia, Laos, Panama and Rwanda, with plans to add additional projects within the coming months.
Designing a Sustainable Coffee Pod: Club Coffee’s PurPod100
It’s Waste Reduction Week in Canada, and to celebrate, I spoke to some superstar companies reducing waste through product design that are featured in the National Zero Waste Council’s Design Portfolio. Previously, I interviewed the inventor of the world’s first reusable beeswax food wraps. In this second article of the three-part series, I spoke to Claudio Gemmiti, Club Coffee’s SVP of Innovation and Strategic Growth.
Coded Yarns Poised to Weave Transparency, Traceability into Textile Supply Chain
Traceability is an ongoing concern for the textile industry. Technologies such as barcodes, QR codes and RFID tags have been put in place to enhance supply chain transparency, but they often fail to provide complete traceability. Researchers at the University of Borås in Sweden have developed a novel coded yarn-based tracking system that promises to overcome existing limitations and deliver improved traceability.
Ford Refocusing Strategy to Drive Disruption in Auto Industry
Ford has announced a new strategy to investors that will see the auto giant leverage its unique product strengths, trusted brand and global scale to refocus and thrive in an evolving and disruptive period for the auto industry. The shift will include greater focus on accelerating the introduction of smart vehicles and services. The investor presentation follows a four-month-deep dive into Ford’s strategy and business operations led by Jim Hackett, Ford’s new President and CEO, and the company’s senior leadership team.
7th Innovation Prize for Africa Seeks Solutions for Africa's Biggest Challenges
The African Innovation Foundation (AIF) has announced the seventh edition of the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA), with this year’s theme focusing on “investing in inclusive innovation ecosystems.” The IPA seeks to celebrate outstanding breakthroughs that deliver practical, sustainable and commercially viable solutions to African challenges.
#BusinessCase: Report Reveals 11:1 ROI for Remanufacturing-Focused Business Models
Earthshine, a consultancy and think tank focused on business and economic transformation, and remanufacturing company Norsk Ombruk have released a new business case white paper demonstrating how remanufacturing within a circular economy can deliver a wide range of benefits for society, environment and economy.
Trending: GM, Dyson Rev Up Efforts to Electrify the Future of Mobility
Following major electric vehicle announcements from Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover, BMW and Volkswagen last month, General Motors Co. (GM) and, unexpectedly, Dyson have joined the ever-expanding group of automakers and companies dedicated to
Trending: Mezcal, Crab Shells Fuel Circular Solutions for Food Waste, Pollution, Packaging
Inventive circular solutions to the world’s most pressing problems continue to stream in, with entrepreneurs and researchers across North America uncovering creative new ways to transform food waste into drivers of sustainable change.
Nissan Harnesses Power of Electricity to Improve Access to Energy, Mobility, Disaster Relief
The renewable and electric vehicle markets may be growing at an unprecedented rate, but approximately 1.3 billion people around the world still live in communities where power generation is restricted and access to electricity is virtually non-existent.
EU Launches Tool to Embed Circularity, Sustainability into Built Environment
The European Commission has launched the pilot of a new framework for sustainable buildings in partnership the World Green Building Council.
Trending: Flyleather, ACR Advance Circular Textiles; But Is True Circularity a 'Fantasy'?
Putting sustainability at the heart of the fashion industry is no easy feat, but key players across the value chain continue to demonstrate that they’re up to the task. Building on the success of its Flyknit process, which allows synthetic yarn to be woven into practically seamless shoe uppers, Nike has unveiled its latest sartorial innovation: Flyleather — a sustainable leather material made with 50 percent recycled leather fiber.
Discovery Leverages Vitality Shared-Value Insurance to Make 10M People Healthier by 2018
Earlier this week, financial services group Discovery outlined the growth in scale and impact of its Vitality Shared-Value Insurance model. Since launching Vitality 20 years ago, Discovery has invested considerably in building a platform that serves a global network of insurers, providing access to the Vitality brand, product offerings, technological innovations, actuarial and data insights and program assets. The Global Vitality Network now operates in 16 countries across North America, Europe, pan-Asia, South Africa and the United Kingdom, serving around 10 million clients through seven insurers.
TechForGood: The Israeli Incubator Helping Investors ‘Get’ Social-Tech Startups
It’s easy to see why Israel refers to itself as the “startup nation.” With a population of just 8.4 million people, the success of its small-to-scale business landscape is widely acknowledged as something of a miracle, home to more startups than any other country in the world. Today, Israel has more Nasdaq-listed companies than any country outside the US and China. It also has more venture capital per capita. In 2016, Israeli startups raised a record $4.8 billion in venture funding, and saw exits worth $9.2 billion. If you want help in starting a business – especially if it’s tech-based – heading to Israel is a safe bet right now.
How Brands Are Embedding Eco-Design at Scale
Eco-design is now synonymous with new product development (NPD). Sustainable businesses and brands have understood that to remain resilient and competitive, product eco-design must be at the heart of their corporate strategies. This requires a considerable amount of buy-in and commitment across every level of an organization and requires a disruptive approach to business-as-usual practices and procedures. Quantis is helping to lead this seismic shift, working with industry leaders to integrate sustainability at every level, driving systemic change with action informed by solid, science-based metrics.
Trending: 3D Tech Poised to Revolutionize Garment Industry
While alternative materials have largely been dominating the discussion around the future of fashion, startups and industry heavy hitters are like are now looking to 3D-printing technology to revolutionize the apparel market.
Trending: Auto Industry Introduces Scrappage Schemes for Diesel Vehicles Across Europe, UK
Scrappage schemes seem to be popping up almost daily as auto manufacturers across the UK and Europe ramp up efforts to drive polluting vehicles off the roads in anticipation of tightening governments regulations on air quality and emissions.
Circular Homeware Startup to Disrupt Global Furniture Industry with Landfill-to-Lifestyle Model
A pioneering new sustainable homeware and accessories brand has emerged on the market and is ready to radically transform the way furniture is made forever. Materials sourcing is where digital furniture startup Pentatonic sets itself apart from its industry counterparts, with its line of contemporary designer homeware fabricated entirely from post-consumer waste.
Trending: New Tech Helping Everlane, M&S Clean Up the Dirty Business of Denim
Jeans are a sartorial staple for consumers around the world, but denim is a ‘dirty’ business. The production process generates a considerable amount of waste water, which is often released — untreated — back into the environment, contaminating water sources and soil with chemicals and heavy metals. Poor practices and lack of regulation are having a negative impact on the health of local populations, with communities near denim manufacturing hubs demonstrating significantly higher instances of reproductive and fertility problems, as well as chemical poisoning.
BASF, bse Engineering Team Up to Transform CO2, Excess Current Into Valuable Raw Materials
BASF and bse Engineering have signed an exclusive joint development agreement for BASF to provide custom catalysts for a new chemical energy storage process. The process will enable the economically viable transformation of excess current and off-gas carbon dioxide into methanol in small-scale delocalized production units.