econcept erstellt Forschungsarbeiten und Studien im Bereich Ökologie und Design für öffentliche wie private Auftraggeber.

Econcept ist Projektpartner des drei-jährigen ALPENRAUMPROJEKTES BB CLEAN in einem internationalen Konsortium. Es geht um die Verbesserung von Biomasse-Verbrennungs-Anlagen im Alpenraum. Dabei werden wir im Wesentlichen unsere Crowdsourcing Plattform INNONATIVES einsetzen, um gemeinsam mit Experten, Stakeholdern und  der Crowd innovative Lösung zu entwickeln. Neue nachhaltige Geschäftsmodelle und die Entwicklung von Handlungsempfehlungen für die Politik sind unsere weiteren Aufgaben.

In the Alpine Region (AR) there is a need to support a better use of local resources and an increase of energy self-sufficiency while reducing impacts on climate and the environment (EUSALP, AG9). Biomass is a local and affordable RES and its combustion avoids fossil CO2atmospheric emissions.

For these reasons biomass use is strategic in the AR. Nevertheless, Biomass Burning (BB) leads to consistent particulate matter (PM) emissions, often unknown to population and local administrators. Actually, PM has an impact on natural ecosystems, on human health but even on climate change considering Black Carbon concentrations contained in PM emitted from BB. The main project objective is thus the development of transnational policies for a sustainable use of biomass for domestic heating (aligned to the Alpine Space SO2.1) to minimize the above cited impacts and improve a smart use of this resource in the AR. The project will focus on innovative open-source and interactive approaches for the awareness raising of citizens and local administrators about the critical aspects linked to BB and on the definition of strategic technological, economical and regulative tools to reduce the impact of BB in the Alpine valleys. The impact of the application of selected policies (following a participated search for potential solutions even involving citizens) will be evaluated through modelling activities. Innovative sustainable business models will ensure long term success of the defined solutions. The development of shared policy-relevant documents will favour the application of harmonized regulations for a sustainable use of biomass in the AR.

Foreseeing the integrated collaboration of partners from 5 Countries of the AR and a large network of observers the project will drive an important behavioural, technological, environmental and regulative change in this Region but even at EU level since no common regulations at EU level actually exist for small scale biomass appliances.

Project Partners

  • Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
  • ARPA Valle d’Aosta (Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione dell’Ambiente della Valle d’Aosta)
  • Communauté de communes Pays du Mont-Blanc
  • Atmo Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
  • Zavod Energetska agencija za Savinjsko, Šaleško in Koroško
  • e-Zavod
  • FH JOANNEUM Gesellschaft mbH
  • econcept –Agency for Sustainable Design

INVITATION: CROWD INNOVATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY

2nd Convention of the Sustainability Maker Project

MAY 29TH 2015 FROM 9:00 TO 18:30 AT POLITECNICO DI MILANO

The 2nd convention of the Sustainability Maker project (funded by European LIFE+ programme) is coming to Milan this May as part of the EXPO2015 events. During the convention, current crowd-led approaches to sustainability innovation such as crowd-sourcing, open innovation, crowd-voting and crowd-funding will be explored. Companies, institutions, NGOs, designers, researchers and students are invited to help test innonatives, the world’s first open-innovation platform that combines all of these approaches to foster design for sustainability (www.innonatives.com). Participation in the workshop is free of charge and provides a great opportunity to launch own sustainability projects on the platform.

Join the next big thing!


Attend the Sustainability Maker Convention 2013,

the world’s first conference on Open Innovation, Crowd Sourcing and Crowd Funding for Sustainability.

October 15th 2013 in Cologne, Germany

REGISTER NOW at www.sustainabilitymaker.org

Be among the first to witness the start of the next Sustainability Innovation Movement and to know about the new Open Innovation for Sustainability platform
www.innonatives.com that is launched during the Convention.

This online platform is introduced by the EU funded Sustainability Maker Project and functions to solve Sustainability related problems and create, finance and implement sustainable solutions. All of this is done through cooperation of the international innovation community: The Crowd.

Meet the ‚innonatives‘ and become part of this exciting movement.
Get together with Innovators, Creatives, Designers and Sustainability Experts from all over the world.
Discuss with world renowned experts how Open Innovation, Crowd Funding and Crowd Sourcing work generally and for Sustainability.
Understand how you can work with the platform www.innonatives.com and how the platform works for you.
Work on the first Sustainability Challenges the platform will solve and suggest more Challenges to be tackled.
Celebrate and network during the Party concluding the event.
Speakers include Prof. Ezio Manzini, Design for Sustainability and Social Innovation expert from Italy, Prof. Chris Ryan, Design for Sustainability and Resilience expert from Australia, Prof. Han Brezet, Design for Sustainability and Base of the Pyramid expert from The Netherlands and Prof. Dominik Walcher, Open Innovation and Crowd Sourcing expert from Austria.

Please take this short survey about the future of design and art education for my new book.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Innovations-Workshop NIOS – Nachhaltige Innovationen im Outdoor-Sport-Sektor. Osnabrück, 15. September 2006

Unternehmen trafen Forscher, Designer und andere Interessensgruppen. Gemeinsam wurden Innovationsideen für den Outdoor-Sport-Bereich entwickelt, die zur größeren ökonomischen, ökologischen und sozialen Nachhaltigkeit des Sektors führen. Dieser Kick-Off Workshop diente zur Formung des erweiterten NIOS-Projektteams und zur Entwicklung konkreter Innovationsprojekte, die bei der Deutschen Bundesumweltstiftung zur Förderung eingereicht werden. Das Programm, die Präsentationen und die Resultate finden Sie hier.

NIOS-Projekt auf der ISPO vom 4. bis 7. Februar, Halle C4 Stand 202

Ausgerichtet von

  • econcept, Agentur für nachhaltiges Design Köln www.econcept.org
  • DLR Institut für Faserverbundleichtbau und Adaptronik, Braunschweig
  • 5 Unternehmenspartnern:  Bark Cloth, Invent, Sport Lettmann, Hess Natur-Textilien, Schoeller

Dank der Förderung durch die DBU (www.dbu.de) war die Teilnahme kostenlos.

Teilnehmer waren unter anderem:

BARK CLOTH
Invent GmbH
Sport Lettmann GmbH
Hess Natur-Textilien GmbH
Schoeller GmbH & Co. KG
DLR, Institut für Faserverbundleichtbau und Adaptronik
DBU
Institut für Textil- und Verfahrenstechnik in Denkendorf (ITV)
econcept
ecosense
Christian Gahle
Internationale Gemeinschaft für Forschung und Prüfung auf dem Gebiet der Textilökologie (Öko-Tex)
Europäische Forschungsvereinigung Innovative Textilpflege e.V. (EFIT)
SportKreativWerkstatt, TU München
European Outdoor Group
Composite Technology
Bayer MaterialScience AG
Britta Becker
SR-Webatex GmbH
Loods 5 Ontwerpers
Anker-Teppichboden, Gebr. Schoeller GmbH + Co. KG
Ortovox Sportartikel GmbH
Institut für Verbundwerkstoffe GmbH
Mammut Sports Group GmbH
Bekleidungsphysiologisches Institut Hohenstein e.V.
Vaude Sport GmbH & Co. KG
X-Technology R&D Swiss GmbH
Pascher + Heinz GmbH (www.ispo-brandnew.com)
Henning Eggers Produkt- und Prozessgestaltung
elkline
Zollverein-School

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=“3373″ img_size=““][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=“1/2″][vc_tta_accordion active_section=“1″][vc_tta_section title=“The Next Fashion Revolution is GREEN“ tab_id=“1513713310428-20da0d19-50ab“][vc_column_text]The GREEN FASHION project will revolutionise the Sustainability of fashion value chains and life cycles. Fashion shall be attractive, resource efficient, produced in a fair way, and deliver good value for the producers and consumer alike. And it is not just about fashion but all raw materials, the zippers, buttons and accessories, everything that you need to complete your outfit, the way we transport and offer fashion, and the end of its life… YES, THIS IS AN AMBITIOUS PROJECT !

The average European consumer consumes around 25 kg of textiles each year (around half of this is clothing, the other half home textiles etc.). Production of textiles is responsible for tremendous negative environmental impacts and consumption of resources, e.g. conventional cotton production consumes around 27.000 l of water per 1 kilogram of cotton and is responsible for 50% of the global use of pesticides. Also a lot of negative socio-economic impacts are connected to production of textiles and clothing, from unhealthy labour conditions in sweat shops to damage of local textile markets in Africa by huge imports of waste textiles from industrialised countries etc. While there are already several eco-efficiency and fair trade activities on the way, the fashion industry is far away from being sustainable.

This problematic situation as well as best practice and positive cases will be critically analysed by the GREEN FASHION project (managed by Cartesius Institute for Sustainable Innovation, funded by Senter Novem). The aim of the project is to revolutionise the Sustainability of fashion value chains and life cycles. Fashion shall be attractive, resource efficient, produced in a fair way, and deliver good value for the producers and consumer alike. The project does not only focus on fashion but on all raw materials, the zippers, buttons and accessories, everything that one needs to complete a fashion outfit, the way we transport and offer fashion, and the end of its life through re-use and recycling. Improvement along the whole supply chain is our ambitious aim.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=“Become a GREEN FASHION MEMBER“ tab_id=“1513713310439-fdefa90d-ab2e“][vc_column_text]One aim of this project is to set up a network of actors in GREEN FASHION. If you are Expert, Designer, Producer, Material Developer, NGO etc. working in the field, interested in becoming active, if you have a nice sustainable material to offer, or search for a more sustainable fabric or a Sustainable Designer, please join the team. As a GREEN FASHION member you will have access to the forum, you can register for events, and get informed by regular newsletters about all activities. PLEASE REGISTER ABOVE AND BECOME A GREEN FASHION MEMBER.

The network is open to Researchers, Designers, Producers, Material Developers, NGOs etc. working in the field, interested in becoming active, offering a nice sustainable material, or searching for a more sustainable fabric or a Sustainable Designer.

As a GREEN FASHION member you will have access to the discussion forum, you can register for events, and get informed by regular newsletters about all activities.

The next big event of the project is the expert workshop on 21st September 2009 (program and location to be announced). In this workshop a concept for a larger European Sustainable Fashion Project will be developed, open to a larger group of actors. Watch out for the developments, register for the event in September and become a member of the expert network.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=“About the GREENFASHION Project“ tab_id=“1513714213250-85d2d47c-f2cd“][vc_column_text]ABOUT – short:

Green Fashion” is a revolutionary research project by a team of experts in the fields of sustainable Design, fashion and material innovation. We want to improve the whole value chain of fashion and its consumption through making it more sustainable.

Our focus is to formulate and offer a new research and innovation proposal to the fashion market, which supports companies and consumers on their path to a more sustainable acting and thinking.

Therefore we now are about to set up a good network of partners to carry out an existent plan for a future-oriented change in producing and consuming fashion, in 2010 ff.

The Green Fashion member constellation:

The Cartesius Institute is the Institute for Sustainable Innovations of the Netherlands’ Technical Universities (Delft, Eindhoven and Twente). The institute researches and develops new products and services in the area of Energy, Water and Spatial Quality. The institute offers research, expertise and knowledge to creative entrepreneurs, policymakers and social organisations in the North of the Netherlands. The goal is to foster economic development in this area and to stimulate social profit as well.

(The Cartesius Institute is established in the North of the Netherlands because of the ambitions of the provincial board joined with the headstrong innovation power of the Frisian entrepreneurs, which offers a wonderful breeding ground for applied scientific research. Beside this the Northern provinces offer a great experiment garden; the ambitions to strike new energy and to make this actually applicable are to us prior conditions to start new projects.)

The aim of econcept is, to support companies, consumers and other organisations on their path to a more sustainable, future-oriented way of producing, consuming and thinking (sustainable development).

We design sustainable products and services, consult companies, carry out research projects and disseminate knowledge through training, education, publishing, networking and workshops.

Material Sense is a dynamic organisation linking designers, researchers and cutting-edge companies in an active network. By sharing expertise and collaborating in the exploration of the properties of materials, new products and new ways of utilizing materials are created. Material Sense lobbies for a materials-oriented design and development of products.

Van Marcoviec is a modern fashion brand that, besides trendy clothing, cares for human rights and planet Earth. Their fashion is made in an ethical way with a minimal ecological footprint. The Brand integrates social and environmental responsibility within its codes of conduct.

News:

Recently we do investigations and market analysis in human needs for fashion and search for sustainable solutions for our project. We also analyse what the public procurement offers in sustainable fashion and textile by now and try to find out how that can be improved.

In addition we actively search for potential and competent partners to work with us for a further development of the sustainable fashion and textile market.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_accordion][/vc_column][vc_column width=“1/2″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

pss_austriaEntwicklung einer erfolgversprechenden Planungsstrategie für Anbieter von Produkt Dienstleistungssystemen (PSS) in Österreich basierend auf der Analyse von Best practice Beispielen von Produkt Service Systemen sowie von internationalen methodischen Ansätzen zu ihrer systematischen Entwicklung.

Dauer des Forschungsprojekts
Januar 2006 bis Januar 2007

Projektpartner
GrAT / TU Wien, STENUM GmbH und econcept

Kurzbeschreibung

Das zentrale Ziel des Vorhabens ist die Ausarbeitung einer Entwicklungsstrategie für das initiieren erfolgreicher PSS Beispiele in Österreich. Wesentliche Grundlage dafür ist eine systematische Analyse bestehender Fallbeispiele sowie bestehender methodischer Ansätze hinsichtlich der erfolgsbestimmenden Faktoren. Im Hinblick auf die Relevanz für österreichische Wirtschaftsverhältnisse wird auf die Rolle von Klein- und Mittelbetrieben ein besonderer Fokus gerichtet.

Als Methode für die Strategieentwicklung wird von MEPSS – Methodology for Product Service Systems, dem gleichnamigen Handbuch und Webtool (www.mepss.nl) ausgegangen.

Parallel zum Konzeptdesign werden die Erfolgsfaktoren am Markt überprüft und verifiziert und die entwickelten Szenarien hinsichtlich ihrer Relevanz für nachhaltige Entwicklung bewertet.

Ausgehend von einer systematischen Analyse österreichischer und internationaler Beispiele erfolgreicher und weniger erfolgreicher Produkt Service Systeme werden die wichtigsten Erfolgs- und Misserfolgskriterien für ausgewählte Branchen und Zielgruppen extrahiert. Aufbauend auf dieser qualitive Recherche von PSS Beispielen aus der Praxis und einer Analyse Internationaler Trends wird auch die Rolle von Methoden und Instrumenten für die gezielte Entwicklung von Produkt Service Systemen beleuchtet. Aus diesem Hintergrundwissen werden Chancen und Risiken, Erfolgsfaktoren sowie Entwicklungspotentiale für Produkt Service Systeme in Österreich erarbeitet. Aus den abgeleiteten Erfolgsfaktoren werden Handlungsempfehlungen für Politik, unternehmen und Konsumenten abgeleitet. Darüber hinaus erfolgt eine Abschätzung der Relevanz von Produkt Service Systeme für die österreichische Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft.

score1Score! ist ein EU-gefördertes Netzwerk zum Thema Nachhaltigkeit in Konsum und Produktion. Econcept ist Teil des Koordinationsteams. Projektwebseite: www.score-network.org