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
Wildchain is a mobile game that merges fun with real-world conservation efforts and climate action. Players act as a virtual conservationist, collecting and caring for digital representations of endangered animals. By playing mini-games and making in-game purchases, players contribute to real-world initiatives that protect these animals' habitats and support conservation efforts. Wildchain allows gamers to build their own wildlife sanctuary and learn about endangered species, all while contributing to preserving biodiversity and habitat restoration. Wildchain utilizes blockchain to create unique digital collectibles representing the adopted animals.
- animal tech
- biodiversity
- blockchain
- conservation
- digital assets
- gaming
- play-to-impact
Flourish Science is a well-being and AI startup co-founded by psychologists from Stanford University and a designer and serial entrepreneur previously at Google and C3 AI. Utilizing a B2B2C model, Flourish Science offers a science-based app and organizational programs that helps employees and students develop and implement small habits for happiness and well-being. Flourish's proactive, personalized, and social approach seeks to provide an effective method to improve users' daily mood, social connectedness, and overall life satisfaction.
- artificial intelligence
- data
- digital platforms
- health tech
- marketplaces
- welltech
Reef Relief Sunscreen protects people's skin while also nourishing coral reefs. The company was inspired by the dangers of chemical sunscreen ingredients to coral health, as Oxybenzone, a chemical found in 80% of sunscreens, has been proven to have a lethal effect on sea-life and can kill coral and coral larvae in even very small doses. Reef Relief's sunscreen was developed in collaboration with cosmetic chemists and marine experts to create a unique formula, containing nutrients used by coral farmers to help coral thrive. It has undergone university testing and boasts increased coral growth with their formula, and has developed the Reef Protection Factor (RPF) as a new certification for the sunscreen market.
- bioremediation
- coral
- sunscreen
The Buy Nothing Project is a global network of hyper-local gift economies, founded in 2013. It uses a digital platform and mobile app to enable people to give away for free unwanted items and skills within local communities, fostering connections, circulating value, and reducing waste. The network transacts around 2.5 million gifts per month over 230,000 communities, 10 million neighbors with 13,000 volunteers.
- circular economy
- community
- localization
- mutual aid
Sway is a cleantech startup scaling seaweed-based, rapidly compostable replacements for plastic, beginning with flexible packaging. Sway's patented products match the vital performance attributes of conventional plastics and are designed to plug into existing infrastructure, enabling scale and competitive pricing. Unlike plastic, Sway's materials are made from an abundant, regenerative resource and decompose into healthy soil after use.
- agricultural tech
- bioplastics
- bioremediation
- nature tech
- plastics
Oneka is a desalination technology company focused on creating environmentally friendly solutions for converting seawater into freshwater. Oneka's desalination systems aim to minimize energy consumption and environmental impact while providing clean drinking water to communities around the world.
- desalination
- energy
- renewables
- tourism
The Indigenous Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) Working Group is a program focused on the intersection of artificial intelligence and Indigenous knowledge systems. The project’s interdisciplinary team of experts includes 37 co-investigators and collaborators who come from eight universities and 12 Indigenous community-based organizations in Canada, the United States and New Zealand. Most of the team members are Indigenous. They are motivated to expand the definition of intelligence by collaborating with Indigenous communities to integrate their knowledge systems with the AI research and development ecosystem to develop more integrated and practical approaches to building the next generation of A.I. systems.
- artificial intelligence
- indigenous peoples
- traditional ecological knowledge
Coral Vita is a company that works on restoring coral reefs by growing resilient corals and transplanting them to degraded reefs. They operate commercial land-based coral farms, using microfragmentation techniques to cultivate a diverse range of coral fragments which accelerates coral growth up to 50 times faster than natural rates and and assisted evolution, which trains corals to be resistant to the effects of climate change such as ocean acidification. Along with cultivatation of coral, Coral Vita also partners with local communities, eco-tourism operators, corporations, foundations, governments, mitigation banking, and other restoration organizations to design and accelerate projects supporting the restoration of vital marine ecosystems.
- agricultural tech
- coastal wetland restoration
- conservation agriculture
- coral
Tent Partnership for Refugees, or Tent.org, is a global network of over 400 major companies working together to integrate refugees into new communities. Businesses from various sectors like consumer goods, hospitality, and technology join Tent.org to hire refugees, support refugee entrepreneurs, and provide essential services through job prep & employment. Their goal is to empower refugees economically and create a more welcoming and inclusive world for those displaced by war or persecution.
- digital platforms
- human resources
- marketplaces
- social media / community
Liquidonate is a digital platform which helps retailers sustainably manage excess inventory and facilitates donations of unsold products to nonprofits, schools, or upcyclers. The platform offers retailers matching algorithms based on inventory and customer return information, a personalized dashboard and API integration into their existing systems, tax reciept automation, negotiated shipping rates, as well as a dedicated customer support agent. By facilitating the donation of excess inventory, Liquidonate’s approach benefits both retailers, who save on disposal costs and reduce environmental harms, and non-profit recipients, who gain access to valuable resources for their programs and beneficiaries.
- charities
- circular economy
- donations
- inventory management
- liquidation
- nonprofits
Ecosia is a search engine that uses its profits to plant trees around the world. It functions similarly to other search engines, using Microsoft's Bing as a foundation, but distinguishes itself by allocating a significant portion of its ad revenue towards reforestation efforts. Users can support environmental initiatives simply by conducting web searches through Ecosia's platform.
- internet
- reforestation
- search
