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.
Inaugural Ocean Solutions Accelerator Cultivating Diverse Crop of Innovations
Can market solutions and innovative technologies help the world solve its growing ocean crisis? That’s what the nonprofit Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA) hopes, as it recently launched a new startup incubator program in Silicon Valley, the Ocean Solutions Accelerator, with five companies in the initial cohort.
Latest Youth Solutions Report Showcases 50 Projects to Support SDGs
The second edition of the Youth Solutions Report, which identifies 50 youth-led projects that aim to solve the world’s toughest issues, was released Tuesday in New York during a launch event at the headquarters of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The solutions, which come from 61 countries and operate across all continents and regions, address crucial sustainable development issues such as clean energy, education, digitalization, e-participation, access to healthcare, ecosystem restoration, sustainable agriculture and waste.
McDonald's Joins Starbucks in Quest for Compostable Cup; Ireland Already Found One
The NextGen Cup Consortium and Challenge, convened by Closed Loop Partners, announced today that McDonald’s joins Starbucks as a founding member of the group, working to develop a global recyclable and/or compostable cup solution. This announcement follows recent commitments by both companies to drive innovation of their packaging and help reduce plastic waste.
Jellyfish, Eyelids Among Inspiration for 8 Winners of 2018 Biomimicry Global Design Challenge
From soil erosion solutions that draw inspiration from natural tide pools and a kingfisher’s eyelid, to technologies that use protection methods developed by plants, the winners of this year’s Biomimicry Global Design Challenge present some truly creative solutions inspired by nature.
First Global Competition for Tourism Startups Seeks Future of Travel, Environment, Community
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Globalia have announced the first worldwide competition for tourism startups. The UNWTO Tourism Startup Competition is accepting applications from entrepreneurs across 164 countries whose companies aim to transform tourism, whether their focus is on the future of travel, tourism experience, environmental impact or community development.
Over 90 Startups to Compete in Urban Drinking Water Scarcity Challenge
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 calls for universal access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030, but the planet’s growing population is a major challenge in the way of achieving it. The UN predicts a 40 percent shortfall in global water supply by 2030. Meanwhile, about 54 percent of the world population currently lives in urban areas and the UN forecasts that percentage will grow to 66 percent by 2050.
Nature Your Inspiration for a New Product? Wait a Minute …
The rise of natural health products and cosmetics has set off a flurry of research and development to discover the next great breakthrough for skin care or for specialized foods that provide an energy boost when you need it most. From shampoos and natural medicines to herbal teas and healthy spreadable fats, Earth’s biodiversity is providing the inspiration for a growing number of consumer goods. What began as luxury products for high-end shoppers have now gone more mainstream, as ingredient-savvy consumers look to natural alternatives in our chemically saturated stores.
Q&A: How NewGen Surgical Is Redesigning Sustainable Healthcare
The U.S. healthcare sector is the second most intensive commercial user of energy. Hospitals are one of the largest energy users, contributing 8 percent of the U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through the purchase of healthcare goods and services, and produce more than 4.67 million tons of waste each year. Realizing the significance of these impacts, NewGen Surgical was started in 2012 with a vision to make single-use medical devices more sustainable through their redesign and material inputs.
Innovation in Apparel: 2018 Pulse Check
The fashion industry has made strides towards increased sustainability in the clothing we produce, but as outlined by the 2017 Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) report, A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion's Future, the need to advance these goals is paramount. Global apparel production has doubled in the last 15 years, and if growth continues as expected, it will triple by 2050.
Food for Thought: How Brands, Farmers, Entrepreneurs Are Reshaping Food and Ag
Last week, over 2,000 representatives from our global community of sustainability practitioners, brand strategists, product and service innovators, thought leaders and other change-makers converged at SB’18 Vancouver to share their latest insights on a multitude of themes pertinent to all of those committed to improving business around the world. Here, we dig into the supply chains, test kitchens, labels and apps behind good food. What’s on your label? How marketing affects food & farming By Marissa Rosen
New App Offers Transparency from Seed to Sip, Field to Fork
Launched today in the UK, an app called Almond digitizes fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) products aims to revolutionize how consumers interact with the food and drink they consume. By scanning the unique hidden codes printed directly onto product packaging, consumers can use the Almond app to learn more about what they’re consuming, including where each ingredient has come from, the journey the product has taken and its carbon footprint.
Technology at Its Tipping Point: A Design Manifesto for Humanity
Today, we are at a confluence of three global tipping points.
Interface Moving from Net Zero to Climate Positive by Rethinking Factories as Forests
Cross-Posted from New Metrics. With 3.8 billion years of R&D behind Earth’s systems and creatures, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what we can learn and how we can apply those lessons to our companies, products and processes.
Making Meaningful Connections with Stakeholders Through People-Centered Design Thinking
Throughout the week at SB’18 Vancouver, a host of organizations shared a range of strategies for making meaningful and lasting connections with customers and other stakeholders, while improving their contributions to society.
Startups Shine in SB Innovation Open, 'Shark Tank' for Retailers
Startups that positively impact people, planet and profit often bring the most exciting innovations to the sustainability space. Once again, Sustainable Brands did its part this week at SB’18 Vancouver to highlight the latest emerging companies addressing intractable issues — inspiring audiences and building connections with established brands. Shark Tank: Circular Economy Innovations for Retail First, in a Tuesday afternoon “Shark Tank,” startups pitched their solutions to retailers.
Garnier SkinActive Becomes L'Oréal's Third Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Brand
L’Oréal USA announced today that five products in its Garnier SkinActive line have achieved Cradle to Cradle Certified™ SILVER recognition. The product line, manufactured at L’Oréal USA’s facility in Franklin, New Jersey, earned this certification based on an evaluation of material health, material reutilization, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship and social fairness practices. Garnier is the first mass market skincare brand to receive this certification for its products and is also one of the few skincare brands to have multiple products certified in a portfolio.
Steelcase Draws Sustainability Inspiration from an Unlikely Source: The Healthcare Industry
Questions — and asking the right ones — are at the heart of Patricia Wang’s role as design researcher in WorkSpace Futures for Steelcase Inc. These days, the biggest question Wang faces is just as complicated and ambiguous as it is important: How can Steelcase encourage employees to get to a future state that is better both for them and for the planet?
Q&A: Continuous Improvement the Engine of Innovation at Shaw
Shaw Industries, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer and a leading floorcovering provider, has also become a leader in sustainability — in August, Shaw announced that 85 percent of its products are now Cradle to Cradle Certified™; and earlier this month, it achieved carbon neutrality in its commercial carpet manufacturing operations. We spoke with Troy Virgo, Director of Sustainability and Product Stewardship, to learn more about what drives the company’s efforts.
This Intelligent Database Could Be a One-Stop Shop for Sustainable Product Designers
Makersite is an all-in-one, open-source data platform for product design, costing and stewardship that product teams can use to analyze and collaborate on how things are made and improve the impacts of making them. The platform includes dozens of apps tailored to various business, compliance, health and environmental evaluations that developers and designers can use to quickly explore the effects of different product configurations, such as climate change, eutrophication, carcinogenicity, RoHS and REACH compliance and production costs. We caught up with CEO and co-founder Christoph Wilfert to find out more about this one-stop shop for sustainable product design.
Trending: Textile Startups’ T-Shirts, Purses Clean the Air, Fight Food Waste
While many aspects of the textile industry have notoriously harmful effects on people and the planet, we’re seeing a variety of solutions emerge that could shape the future of fashion. Two of the latest examples are Kloters’ RepAir t-shirts and Malai’s vegan leather-style accessories.