By www.launch.org
At LAUNCH we see a future where the making of things has a positive impact on human prosperity and planetary sustainability.
An Invitation for Innovators: Summary
Founding partners NASA, NIKE, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Department of State formed LAUNCH in an effort to bring collective genius, unprecedented networks, and new resources to overcome some of humanity’s toughest sustainability challenges.
With this LAUNCH System Challenge 2013, LAUNCH seeks innovations that will transform the system of fabrics to one that advances equitable global economic growth, drives human prosperity and replenishes the planet’s resources.
We are interested in innovations with potential to scale in 2 years, as well as game-changing early stage technologies and prototypes. Innovations can be business models, financial instruments, technologies and programs that accelerate research, education and capacity building.
Specifically, LAUNCH 2013 seeks innovations in:
- The materials of which fabrics are made with a focus on positive social and environmental impact
- Multi-purpose synthetic and bio-synthetic materials.
- Smart and/or self-healing materials.
- Technical fabrics with novel or surprising attributes.
- Fabrics that efficiently and effectively enable recycling.
- Applications that eliminate toxins in fabrics.
- Low or positive environmental impact “feedstocks”.
- Models that accelerate the development of low or positive environmental impact fabrics.
- Data generation and capture technologies and mechanisms that enable traceability across a product or fabric’s lifecycle.
- Decision support and educational tools that guide positive impact design and inform better choices of chemistries and materials.
- Open technology platforms to enable sharing, collaboration, contribution and unlimited accessibility to data that improves the analysis of sustainability impacts and stimulates an open data ecosystem.
- The “making” or manufacturing of fabrics utilizing low or positive environmental impact approaches, with a bias toward inclusive business models that positively develop human capital, respect rights and deliver shared value.
- Solutions that increase energy, water, and raw material efficiency in the manufacturing process.
- Solutions that put workers at the heart of the innovation process.
- Zero waste or closed loop systems that eliminate waste and create equitable, empowered workforces.
- Scalable innovative business models that are sustainable and equitable.
- Manufacturing processes that reuse waste.
- Programs that support local Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise inclusion across the system of fabrics.
- Information and data exchanges that build entrepreneurial capacity & worker inclusion, enabling greater participation in value chains.
- Data generation and capture technologies and mechanisms to increase transparency across the value chain.
- Manufacturing processes and technologies that enable maximum conversion of materials and minimum consumption of natural resources.
To submit an innovation go to http://www.launch.org/challenges/systems-2013
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