Newlight Technologies is a biotechnology company that captures greenhouse gases and transforms them into valuable products, specifically in foodware. Their technology uses microbes to convert methane and air into a bioplastic called AirCarbon. This plastic boasts similar performance to traditional plastics but has a net positive environmental impact. Newlight uses AirCarbon to create various consumer products, helping businesses reduce their carbon footprint with a sustainable alternative to traditional petrochemical-based materials.
- bioplastics
- bioremediation
- biotech
- circular economy
- computational biology & chemistry
- conservation agriculture
- nature tech
- plastics
Openbike is a project by Arquimaña, an architecture studio founded by Iñaki Albistur and Raquel Ares in 2011. They combine their passion for design, maker culture and mobile architecture (mobitechture) with the idea that technology can make us freer, more proactive and more creative. The result is their open-source bicycle and it's impact in promoting sustainable urban transportation. Openbike has been finalist in Arquia-Próxima 2018: Relevant Practices and part of the Spanish Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 and the Cities exhibition of the Seoul Architecture and Urbanism Biennale SBAU2021 curated by Dominique Perrault.
- bicycle infrastructure
- mobility
- open source
- transportation
Earth Species Project is a non-profit research lab and impact organization focused on using artificial intelligence to advance our understanding of animal communication, and ultimately to decode non-human languages. The organization is founded on the belief that understanding non-human languages will transform how we perceive the world and our relationship with the rest of nature. Their work involves developing machine learning models to interpret animal sounds and movements. While "decoding" communications are a long-term objective, the ESP supports other organizations along the way by supplementing animal and ecological research; supporting existing conservation efforts; and contributing to the fields of ethology, bioacoustics, and machine learning by making their research public.
- animals
- artificial intelligence
- bioacoustics
- conservation
- ethology
Fairphone is an electronics manufacturer that produces smartphones and headphones, focusing on social and environmental improvments across the entire mobile device value chain: mining, design, manufacturer, and lifecycle. They are focused on circumventing the use of conflict minerals and mining practices by prioritizing ethical sourcing of materials and fair labor practices and using recycled materials wherever possible; on designing for modularity, circularity, longevity and easy repair; and on reducing electronic waste. They also prioritize transparency, openly sharing information about suppliers and working conditions, enabling new relationships between people and their products, and prioritizing user data controls.
- circular economy
- electronics
- mobile devices
- modularity
The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit environmental engineering organization dedicated to developing and implementing technologies to extract plastic pollution from the oceans and rivers. For over ten years, The Ocean Cleanup has been researching, extracting, and monitoring plastic pollution in oceans and rivers globally – with millions of kilograms removed to date. Its technologies supporting ocean cleanup act as large-scale floating barriers, designed to concentrate plastic debris within a specific area for collection. They utilize ocean currents and wind to move through the water, gathering plastic along their path. The systems are also equipped with solar panels and wind turbines to power their operations. It also deploys floating barriers in rivers to intercenpt and prevent plastic from entering the oceans. The Ocean Cleanup also closely monitors and analyzes impacts, provides a dashboard and data insights, and is engaged in research on improving envrionmental impact analyses. The Ocean Cleanup aims to tackle plastic pollution in order to protect and restore marine and riverine environments and the wildlife they contain – as well as benefit the human communities living alongside these areas, and reliant on these ecosystems for their livelihoods.
- bioremediation
- conservation
- data
- nature tech
- oceans
- rivers
Matriark Foods is a social impact business that upcycles farm surplus and fresh-cut remnants into healthy, low sodium vegetable products for schools, hospitals, food banks and other foodservices. Matriark works with farmers and aggregators to make use of the vegetables that would otherwise go to waste, to instead provide nutritious food for people and reduce the environmental harms of food waste. They are using technology to manage their supply chains, inventory, sustainability tracking, and data analysis to underpin auditability of Upcycle Certified products.
- certifications
- circular economy
- food waste
- foodtech
- supply chain traceability
Cambrian Innovation is a water treatment solutions company that focuses on transforming wastewater into clean water and renewable energy, enabling clients in resource recovery, energy circularity, and environmental responsibility. It offers several wastewater treatment infrastructure options, which leverage biological processes and microbes to naturally break down organic pollutants in the wastewater, making it cleaner and safer for release and reuse. Its flagship offering, the EcoVolt system, utilizes bioelectrically-active microbes which do not only treat wastewater but also produce electricity, reducing reliance on conventional energy sources. All infrastructure is remotely connected and operated via its AVEVA Insight managed cloud solution, which gathers, stores, visualizes, and analyzes plant performance.
- as a service
- bioremediation
- circular economy
- material science
- microbes
- renewables
- water conservation
- water treatment
Hunome is a digital platform designed to help people understand complex issues by bring together diverse perspectives for multidisciplinary sensemaking. Its platform is designed to bridge fragmented information and siloed perspectives into clarity, and supports environments for people to spend the time in dialogue developing perspective, openness, accountability, and collective sensing around complex topics. It uses data to transparently show interactions, "thinking paths," and how decisions are informed. Hunome recognises 16 different "knowtypes." These encompass knowledge derived from experience, research, observation, intuition, aesthetics, and creative exploration. Exposure to diverse ideas can spark creativity and lead to new solutions for global challenges.
- city planning
- collective
- decision-making
- digital platforms
- market research
- sense-making
DoNotPay utilizes artificial intelligence to help consumers fight against large corporations and solve their problems, like beating parking tickets, appealing bank fees, and stopping robocallers. DoNotPay’s goal is to foster equity and equality by making legal information and self-help accessible
- artificial intelligence
- cloud
- data
- digital assets
- edge computing
Space4Good is a team of impact-driven data scientists, remote sensing & GIS experts, software developers, environmental and urban planners using their unique skills and experience collectively for social and environmental impact. They offer expertise in remote sensing, data analysis, geospatial analytics, capacity building, and developing bespoke solutions. It began in the European Space Agency (ESA) Business Incubation Center in The Netherlands, Space4Good B.V. in 2017 and became a certified Benefit Corporation (B.Corp). Now based in The Hague, the city of Peace and Justice, they work around the world and collaborate with NGOs, universities, public authorities, multinationals and other social enterprises to change the status quo for a better planet and society. Through their core values of Collaboration, Impact, and Passion, Space For Good delivers solutions for clients and partners that solves problems, enhances livelihoods, ensures peace & justice, and protects the environment.
- digital platforms
- marketplaces
- remote sensing
- social media / community
Empower.eco is a global marketplace platform for plastic waste, using technology for transparent recording and rewarding of plastic deposits. By giving plastic a marketplace value, the platform incentivizes stakeholders to contribute, fund, account for, source from, and monetize plastic circularity. The platform helps create an economic foundation for scaling the network effects needed to enable plastic circularity and ecosystem restoration.
LemonGRAFT is a peer-to-peer marketplace that connects homegrown food growers with people who want to buy it and hosts who steward its preparation and pick-up. The platform enables a local supply chain to make it easy for people to buy fresh, local food directly from the people who grow it. The platform helps decentralize the food supply, foster community connections, and increase local food sovereignty providing tools for growers to improve biodiversity and source nutrient-dense produce, seeds, compost, as well as source animal products from local certified producers.
- digital platforms
- food sovereignty
- food tech
- local
