Plastic Bank is a for-profit social enterprise whose model is designed to reduce plastic pollution and alleviate poverty in developing countries. It does this by establishing plastic collection centers where communities exchange plastic waste as currency for income and life-improving benefits such as income, zero-interest loans, education, or other social benefits. Exchanges are recorded through their proprietary blockchain-secured platform, enabling traceable collection, secured income, and verified reporting. The collected material is processed into Social Plastic® feedstock for reuse in products and packaging. The company re-invests the majority of its profits into collection benefits, development and maintenance of recycling infrastructure, and technology development for material traceability for a greater social, environmental, and economic impact.
- blockchain
- community
- credits
- digital platforms
- digital wallets
- fintech
- plastics
- pollution
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
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
Fairbnb is a short-term rentals marketplace platform that aims to provide an alternative to traditional vacation rental platforms like Airbnb. It focuses on promoting sustainable tourism, social impact, and community development. Fairbnb prioritizes properties that are owned by locals rather than investors, and it allocates a portion of its revenue to support local community projects chosen by residents. The platform aims to address concerns related to overtourism, gentrification, and the negative impacts of short-term rentals on local communities by fostering a more responsible and sustainable approach to travel.
- community development
- cooperative
- hospitality
- tourism
Freegle is an online platform for exchanging stuff. The platform pair speople who have stuff they don't need with people who need stuff they don't have. This promotes reuse and keeps things out of landfills and incinerators. Freegle has over 2.7 million members across the UK.
- digital platforms
- marketplaces
HowGood has 17 years of research on global food supply chains. The team consolidates and analyzes findings from over 600 accredited data sources and certifications. These include a range of resources such as international frameworks, NGO guidance and standards reports, peer reviewed life cycle assessment studies, journal articles, academic conference proceedings and texts, aggregated commercial databases, targeted industry studies, NGO research, government publications, and news reports from reputable outlets.
- artificial intelligence
- big data
- farming
- food system
- regenerative agriculture
- standardization
DepolarizingGPT is a political AI chatbot that gives three answers to every prompt: one from a left-wing perspective, one from a right-wing perspective, and a third answer from a depolarizing or "integrating" perspective. DepolarizingGPT was created by data scientist David Rozado and political philosopher Steve McIntosh. DepolarizingGPT's left-wing responses have been fine-tuned with content from left-leaning publications and writers, while its right-wing responses have been fine-tuned with content from publications and writers. The model's depolarizing responses have been fine-tuned with content from the Institute for Cultural Evolution think tank, from McIntosh's inclusive political philosophy. The model's depolarizing responses are designed to transcend centrism and reach a "higher ground" balance by exposing users to multiple views across the political spectrum.
- civic engagement
- decision-making
- politics
- sensemaking
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.
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
Memri.io is a company developing a regenerative AI platform designed to empower individuals with data ownership and control over their digital experiences through AI products that are fair, accountable, and designed to prioritize positive impact and sustainability. Memri AI's approach emphasizes explainability, allowing users to understand how the AI arrives at its conclusions. The core components of Memri's platform are open-sourced, allowing developers to inspect, modify, and contribute to the code.The core compo In its first product, which focuses on content organzation designed to help users balance social media and their own mental health and wellbeing, it ensures users have agency over the data used by the AI and the decisions it helps them make. Memri also operates as a self-governed distributed organization where every individual has influence and autonomy in how the company is run and what is built.
- artificial intelligence
- data
- data sovereignty
- digital platforms
- social media
Regen Registry allows scientists, project developers, and land stewards to design and govern scientifically-rigorous methodologies and credit standards for ecological regeneration projects, including carbon and biodiversity.
- blockchain
- digital assets
- digital platforms
- ecocredits
- marketplaces
- regenerative agriculture
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
