Loliware is the world’s first seaweed resin company providing products to replace single-use plastics. Loliware is a woman-owned firm partnering with experts in regenerative aquaculture from Maine to New Zealand to expand the ‘blue economy’ with its proprietary SEA Technology® resins. Made from compostable seaweed, Loliware’s Ocean Blue straws, utensils and other products are currently used by famous chefs, restaurant chains and eco-chic hotels. Their new category of materials are “Designed to Disappear”, offered to help advance our planet to a plastic-free, decarbonized future.
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
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
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
Ooooby is an digital platform that functions as a decentralized network for local and small-scale food producers, empowering independent farmers and artisans to sell directly to consumers through strategically placed packing hubs. This approach bypasses traditional distribution channels, giving producers greater control and a larger share of the profits. Ooooby utilizes technologies to enable local producers to set up their shopfront and streamline the ordering and delivery process, offering convenience to customers of fresh, local, and sustainable food options. Their mission is to rebuild a food system centered around small-scale community-oriented producers using ecologically sound approaches to food production and consumption. Ooooby also partners with local institutes to support market gardening education and learning opportunities.
- digital infrastructure
- digital platforms
- marketplaces
- reduced food waste
- sharing economy
- social media / community
BackMarket’s digital marketplace for refurbished electronics helps coordinate stakeholders to close the loop on e-waste and open up access to reliable tech for all. The platform connects buyers and sellers of smartphones, laptops, TVs, wearables, gaming, e-mobility, and countless other devices from all the leading manufacturers. Promising “better than new,” it partners with certified refurbishers to repair electronics for resale, at a ~70% lower price than new. The digital platform helps coordinate discovery, customer service, payment, logistics, tracking, a 25+ point quality assurance verification of authenticity, functionality, security, data erasure, battery, testing, cleaning, and more; and manages partners to refurbish products. Refurbished devices reduce an average of ~90% raw material extraction, emissions, water use, and waste relative to new devices.
- circular economy
- digital platforms
- e-waste
- electronics
- mobile devices
- refurbishment
Olio a free app to reduce household and food waste by fostering a hyper-local sharing economy. People can list unwanted but usable items, including surplus food, as well as clothes, books, and furniture. Neighbors can browse listings and arrange free pickup, giving unwanted items a second life and saving it from landfills. This approach combats waste, promotes sustainability, and fosters a sense of community by encouraging people to share and connect with those around them. Because it diverts far more greenhouse gasses across the 49 countries it operates in than it produces, Olio is a carbon-negative company.
- circular economy
- digital platforms
- marketplaces
- reduced food waste
- sharing economy
- social media / community
Socialbnb is an online platform that allows people to book accommodations that support social and environmental projects around the world, and connect travelers with local communities in ways that directly support local economies and causes. Each overnight "Impact Stay" supports a social or ecological project and travelers can also book "Impact Trips," which are multi-day trips that combine socialbnb accommodations with activities. Socialbnb currently has 6 different types of projects: Nature conservation, animal welfare, education, health, equality or sports.
- digital platforms
- marketplaces
- rentals
- sharing economy
- travel
Waterbear is a digital streaming platform that hosts short films, stories, documentaries and original content to empower communities to make positive change in the world. Topics cover a breadth of topics in the environmental and humanitarian space. Waterbear is also home to a network of more than 100 NGO partners as well as brands. Members can join their communities directly through the platform, by taking action for the causes they care about most. Waterbear is free to access, and uses data to measure impacts based on member viewing.
- digital platforms
- marketplaces
- media
- streaming
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
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
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
