Member: Elias Toni Tondo
In today’s marketplace greenwashing has become a pervasive problem. Businesses and companies are increasingly capitalising on consumers’ growing environmental awareness by making false and misleading claims about their sustainability practices. This deceptive marketing not only undermines genuine efforts to combat climate change and environmental degradation, but also leaves consumers, businesses, and regulators in the dark about the true environmental impact of products and services.
To address this problem, the team's solution proposes a data-driven platform that rates and reviews products and companies based on their environmental impact and transparency in sustainability claims. By providing accurate and reliable assessments, they would empower stakeholders to make informed decisions, support genuinely sustainable products and companies, and promote responsible consumption for a healthier planet and a more sustainable future.
Member: María Teresa Irusta Dalenz
The aim of the team's project is to upcycle waste materials brought to them by both businesses and individuals and upcycle them into unique, sustainable items. Pallets, pipes, jars, bottles, or any other object can be given a new, special life by being turned into coffee tables, lamps, chairs, shelves, or toys.
The hope us for individuals to be able to buy these finished pieces, sell their own unwanted objects to be upcycled, and take part in workshops to learn how to repurpose objects at home.
Member: Sa Le
As Vietnam struggles with plastic waste and its generation, ranking fourth globally in terms of waste created, and proper recycling of this waste remains low, Mekoco hopes to address this issue by empowering female farmers in the country's Mekong Delta to take an active part in the recycling of plastic waste and turn the plastic into new products and home decor items.
By recognising that there are seasons during which farmers are not engaged as much by their farming duties, Mekoco seeks to provide the with additional income and increased self-reliance by enabling them to weave these eco-friendly products in their down time. The products would then be sold in Finland, the Nordics, and eventually at a global scale, allowing for people around the world to enjoy the unique crafts of the Mekong Delta while also helping alleviate the impact of unrecycled plastic waste on the Vietnamese environment.
Member: Emmanuel Bongmoyong Sanguf
When a car crashes, is heavily damaged, or comes to the end of its lifecycle, too often much of the still usable materials and spare parts remain underutilised, if they are recycled or reused at all. At the same time a market for these parts and materials, some of which are very scarce and highly valued, exists in many countries, especially in the global south. In these markets, repairing cars and extending their lifecycles far past what is typical in the global North means that there is a constant demand for these crucial parts and materials which often end up overlooked in countries like Finland.
The team's solution is to find those cars which would otherwise be destroyed and systematically dismantle them in order to distribute all parts which can be reused to those markets that need them, boosting the circular economy.
Members: Krishna Sudhir
For many people, the idea of acting sustainably is one that could be interesting, but they feel like finding ways to do so is difficult, and many of the options available are inconvenient. This kind of thinking is slowing down the transition from a linear economy to a circular one, which calls for a systemic change on how people view sustainability and a further increase in visibility of available sustainable brands and services.
Funfo imagines a web application that provides a concrete, consolidated list of verified sustainable products under various categories (cosmetics, food, clothes, etc.), alongside their prices and compares them to non-sustainable options. In addition, the team would partner with others in the ecosystem to provide interactive workshops which would give consumers a space to be hands-on and learn how to refurbish products usually seen as waste. The hope is to make being sustainable fun, light, and easy for people.
Members: Anne Suurhaasko, Liubov Obraztcova, Steve El-Sharawy, Vladislav Shor
In our current society as never before there is a compelling need for decision-makers leading businesses, municipalities or whole cities, to be able to make informed, mindful decisions which would fundamentally account for their short- and long-term consequences. In order to take responsibility and admit accountability for the full environmental and social impacts of their decisions, the private or public leaders have to possess essential knowledge and expertise to do so. As far as the planetary ecological and social degradation goes, it is remarkably clear that there is a lack of thereof.
Team Prosultants wishes to help that. With multidisciplinary expertise, insights, knowledge, capabilities and tools they plan to facilitate transformation of the private and/or public sector for a liveable future. They draw inspiration from circular economy, regenerative models, bio-mimicry, and the doughnut economics framework to re-design businesses and create product solutions with the entire life-cycle in mind. The team would equip public decision-makers with empirical evidence what sustainable actions are the most beneficial and what are the costs of inaction. In addition, they would assist companies to comply with tightening regulations and provide actionable solution-services for local authorities with focus on impact assessment and forecast modelling as the road-map for fact-based sustainability actions planning.
Members: Maria Dunaeva, Lidija Simoliunaite, Sonja Pöytsiä
The team hopes to establish a clothing rental service to provide users a fun and hassle-free way to rent clothes and try new styles and brands without the guilt of "fashion waste". Their subscription-based service would offer a simple and affordable way for consumers to keep up with the latest fashion trends, while also allowing for fashion brands to reach a wider audience and promote their products in an innovative and sustainable manner.
Member: Steve El-Sharawy
As it becomes increasingly apparent how living in a concrete jungle is detrimental to our overall well-being, the team wants to test bringing greenwalling to a significant area of the Pasila neighborhood in Helsinki, known for its bare concrete walls. The hope is that by using eco-friendly bio-cladding in addition to the traditional green/plant/moss walls, as well as utilising unused rooftop spaces for energy generation and rooftop gardens that the local ecosystem and biodiversity would improve and simultaneously increase the mental and well-being of residents.
Member: Joonas Mustonen
To tackle the ongoing component shortage and address the limited lifespans of computers, the team wants to sell SBC-based laptops and replacement parts for those machines. The aim is for customers to buy machines with just the features they want and give them the ability to add, replace, or repair components as needed. The hope is that this would lead to fewer machines being thrown away, fewer components being used unnecessarily, and acting as an example for other device categories, such as phones.
Member: Rafael Avila Solano
Revoloop wishes to address the growing concern surrounding EV battery waste and the limitations of both battery life and charging infrastructure by providing a comprehensive solution that addresses both the environmental impact and limited lifespan of these crucial components. Their approach involves recycling, leasing, and swapping EV batteries to minimise waste, optimise resource usage, and provide hassle-free mobility to EV owners.
Members: David Israel, Daniel Builes, Kanitta Ruaysap, Kim Yrjälä
Urban people are highly dependent on food supplied from expansive supply networks. This not only lowers their self-sufficiency, but also leaves the abundant resources for food production in urban environments unused. The team's mission is of increasing local food production in cities would shorten supply chains, reduce carbon footprints as well as the heat island effect of cities, increase urban biodiversity, and add more green spaces. This would be done by using unoccupied and underutilised spaces such as rooftops, cellars, or non-productive lawns and parks.
Users could rent spaces all year round and grow a variety of plants, including exotic ones, while also being part of a growing community where people could share tips for growing vegetables, exchange products, or offer their crop to those wanting to buy.
Members: David Israel, Kim Yrjälä
Green spaces are often heavily managed, but produce very little in return. This is partly due to low biodiversity and degraded soils. By changing the style of management and incorporating more forest gardens, the effort and resources required to maintain green spaces would be decreased, while also increasing the benefits brought by nature to our lives.
The team is looking to run a proof-of-concept to redesign green spaces to emulate natural ecosystems, which would increase the amount of useful outputs such as food, fibre, and timber as well as improve biodiversity. This would also help restore soil and fertility as forest ecosystems naturally do, while reducing erosion, nutrient leeching, and eventually further improve productivity. The hope is that a successful PoC would then lead to a spreading of this model elsewhere through advisory services etc.
Member: Elixabet Peciña Ortiz
A lot of new entrepreneurs start their businesses to do good for the world. However, they face problems trying to reach their customers or meeting their needs with their services. Ep Design wants to help these entrepreneurs place their customers at the centre of their services so that they can have their needs and interests into account from the beginning.
Using design thinking methodology and co-creating together with the entrepreneurs, Ep Design wants to help entrepreneurs design their services to be socially and environmentally sustainable to enable their businesses to grow, creating good for the world and people.
Member: Justin Raj Anthony
Due to the ever-increasing price of real estate property in urban areas and a rising trend for spaces to be unused or vacant in well-developed cities, an opportunity exists to efficiently utilise these empty spaces for economically and ecologically sustainable activities. Based on the type of property, be it residential, commercial, or a public space, the team could work with the property owners and entrepreneurs in fields like hydroponic farming, food preparation, small business, art, etc. to match users with spaces, while also offering the space users supporting services as needed.
Member: Rike Henry
Pesukarhu offers hand-made, biodegradable cotton-based cleaning products which can be used across a wide range of applications, replacing traditional ones made of plastic, metal, and other materials which fail to biodegrade and have less versatility.
In addition, the hope is to spread the use of these materials to other applications such as packaging, offering people biodegradable, multi-use packaging materials.