Business Planet went to Paris to discover how award winning business is creating a change by transforming food waste into renewable energy. French firm ‘Love Your Waste’ gathers food waste and turn it into treasure. The waste is turn into bio-gas, organic fertilizer, and renewable energy. The aim of the business is to promote a circular economy, by reducing the wasted resources and using what is left over to utilize. ‘Love Your Waste’ further advises its customers on ways to reduce their waste. For more information: https://www.euronews.com/2019/06/28/social-innovation-when-business-becomes-a-force-for-good

The major tech giant is trying out a different marketing method by introducing new branding. Facebook company says that it will rebrand to match other services they are providing such as Instagram and WhatsApp. However, even with Facebook’s new approach, US senator Elizabeth Warren argues that this is merely another attempt made by Facebook to hide the fact of their monopolization. With criticisms being launched against Facebook and experts of marketing wondering if their new attempt to rebrand will work, we will just have to wait and see how Facebook will pull this off. For more information: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50300142

'Inside Bill's Brain' is a three-part documentary about Bill Gates, a former CEO of Microsoft, who carried out various social and economic projects with the creative and innovative mind and motivations. The first part of the documentary illustrates how Bill Gates and his team studied and introduced an innovative technology of disposing and recycling human waste for less economically developed countries (LEDC) that do not have proper sanitation facilities. "I don't want my brain to stop working," said Bill Gates. Propagating his belief in positivity, Bill Gates in these episodes attempts to articulate how he thinks about things and initiates his visions, thoughts, and strategies. Each episode deals with different social, economic, and environmental problems and how Bill Gates has strived to accomplish initiatives as to sustainability such as 'Climate Action' and 'Clean Water and Sanitation.' The interesting storytellings of his fascinating and innovative ideas and actions are well-bundled up in this documentary. For more information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPWWIxyRTvQ

Hitch, China and Hong Kong’s popular ride-hailing firm is being accused for discriminating women. The company is implementing a controversial service of banning females from using the service late at night. This is due to the killings of two female passengers while they grabbed a car during late night hours. The company says that in order to ensure passenger safety, it will only let female customers book rides until 8 pm, while males can use this app till 11 pm; though it was the male drivers who killed the female passengers. The company quickly repealed this regulation after a massive push back from Chinese females. For more information: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/08/tech/didi-app-china-hitch/index.html

As Sweden now faces a challenge of a growing aging population, IKEA, a giant furniture company, initiated a novel sustainable housing project in collaboration with Swedish construction company Skanska. Specifically targeting those suffering dementia, a disease with memory loss, some modifications on housing are added to help save the governmental fund and facilitate patients to live comfortably at home. Along with Japan and the U.S., a quarter of the Swedish population will be 65 years by 2040. Due to a high life expectancy and a developed welfare system, a government financial burden is expected to exponentially increase. A joint venture of IKEA and Skanska, so-called BoKlok, is now on the progress of cooperating with local governments, having initiated a small pilot program by building six apartments outside Stockholm. The core initiative focuses on “large volumes, low prices.” For more information: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/08/business/ikea-sweden-dementia/index.html

Grant funding innovation has many advantages toward its customers, the larger market, and the economy itself. Nesta refers to innovation as the process by which ideas transfer into practical value in society: new goods and new services. There is a relationship between economic growth and innovation. Nesta’s research reveals that 2/3 of productivity growth in the UK was the result of innovation and innovative businesses are likely to have a high employment rate. Countries such as Finland and Korea, which take innovation seriously, tend to develop. For more information: https://www.theguardian.com/social-enterprise-network/2013/oct/28/nesta-be-grateful-innovation

Business Planet went to Paris to discover how award-winning business is creating a change by transforming food waste into renewable energy. French firm ‘Love Your Waste’ gathers food waste and turn it into treasure. The waste is turned into bio-gas, organic fertilizer, and renewable energy. The aim of the business is to promote a circular economy, by reducing the wasted resources and using what is left over to utilize. ‘Love Your Waste’ further advises its customers on ways to reduce their waste. For more information: https://www.euronews.com/2019/06/28/social-innovation-when-business-becomes-a-force-for-good

Denmark's Professional Foundation (or Specialisterne), an organization that changes the way society perceives autism by changing autism from handicap to competitive advantage. The Specialist offers three main services. First, its evaluation and training program includes a 3-5 month individual assessment in which participants clarify their own strengths and weaknesses. Second, business service programs help 40 percent of participants become IT consultants in the Danish Specialistern. Third, the Danish Special School has launched a three-year education program for young people aged 16 to 24 with autism spectrum disorder. The Specialist People Foundation has shown that if you are innovative enough, you can run a thriving social business with public customers, mitigating the public welfare system. For more information: https://www.theguardian.com/social-enterprise-network/2013/apr/30/social-innovation-denmark-welfare-system

The U.S. business magazine Fast Company released a list of the 10 most innovative companies in Africa in 2019. The winners were chosen based on the one that had the greatest impact on both industry and culture. Africa's top companies include African Leadership University, Plutorwave and Palm to Market Alliance. African leader teenagers topped the list this year by retraining education tailored for the new era. Education enthusiast Fred Swanicker set up the African Leadership Academy, a residential school for children in South Africa to stem the brain drain in Africa. Flotterwave, a Nigerian startup that e-commerce payments in more than 150 countries, was named the second most innovative company. This company eases business flows across Africa because it allows customers to make international payments in their currency. For more information: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/20/africa/africa-innovative-companies-intl/index.html

Sarah Drummond is already convinced of the direction of her job as a designer. Drummond, a trained product designer, is part of the GetGo Glasgow team at the Glasgow School of Fine Arts in Glasgow, holding in hand social transformation projects. Drummond and other young designers use their expertise in service design to make social changes. The service design can work with end-users to identify what they need. The social innovation approach has been pioneered in Germany by Professor Birgit Mager of Sedes Research at the Cologne International School of Design. She conducted projects to establish the Gulliver Survival Station for the Homeless in Cologne, and a unit for prostitutes addicted to drugs in Eindhoven. The project is part of a design committee mentoring program for managers of public services called public services by design. The priority was to understand the customer's needs by having the staff photograph the customer's needs before and after the visit. "It's really important not to design for people, but to design with them," Drummond says. Through interviews and workshops with Windford residents, Drummond and Gatgo teams have established the need for a framework for all forms of community events and groups. For more information: https://www.theguardian.com/service-design/social-innovation

Imagine living in a pitch-black world where you are void of any sight or sound. For those who are both deaf and blind this is their world. For these people communicating with others is no easy task. This is precisely why Tom Bieling created his new invention, the Lorm glove. Lorm, is a tactile alphabet spelled out with strokes to the hand. This type of communication was invented in the 19th century by Hieronymus Lorm and is still used today by the deaf-blind community. Since the Lorm relies significantly on physical contact, people have to meet face-to-face in order for them to communicate. Due to this factor, only a few people ever enter the deaf-blind people’s social circle. However, now with the help of the ‘Lorm glove’ the deaf-blind can widen their social network. The ‘Lorm glove’ is knitted out of fabric pressure-sensors, which translates a hand touch alphabet into digital text. This allows the deaf-blind to communicate freely online with anyone of their choice. For more information: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150312-how-to-talk-online-with-only-touch

Planning to initiate 100% renewable energy use by 2030, Amazon announced its innovative plan towards sustainable business by promising billions of dollars of investment to battery-powered delivery vans from Rivian, an electric-truck startup. Jeff Bexons, CEO of Amazon, claimed that its investment is critical to meet commitments of the Climate Pledge, and that is exactly why Amazon invested $440 million in Rivian. Unlike the Trump administration attempting to alleviate fuel-economy regulations, there have been many attempts in America to develop electric and hybrid cars in the U.S. According to Rivian, the company plans to produce 100,000 electric delivery vehicles by 2021 for Amazon. Amazon also signed on the Climate Pledge that calls for net-zero carbon by 2040. For more information: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2019/09/19/amazons-multibillion-dollar-bet-on-electric-delivery-vans-is-game-changer-for-startup-rivian/#34a81f34d013

Pakistan, a country where over 20 million tons of solid waste is generated annually, has never managed this waste problem directly. Due to the lack of infrastructure, only half of the waste is collected by the government and they also face a severe lack in the number of landfills sites. This has led to the country choosing to dump or burn the remaining trash, which poses a severe health risk to its citizens. Zymal, a 10-year-old Pakistan girl, created the brand “Zeebags” to address this problem. “Zeebags” is a brand that hopes to reduce pollution and increase awareness about the environment. These bags are made out of old newspapers, which Zymal turns into beautifully ordinated bags. The profit earned by these bags is distributed to local charities. Her idea of this eco-friendly brand has attracted local and international attention terming her as “Pakistan's youngest social entrepreneur." For more information: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40251360

What3words, a London-based mapping startup, introduces you an innovative and more user-friendly way to substitute traditional addresses to track down where you are. Chris Sheldrick, CEO of What3words, came up with an idea of pinpointing a specific place by assigning only three random words tied to that location, such as "caramel.kingdom.signature." Rather than using redundant words, only three words of a new address will subsequently direct a user to other mapping providers, such as Google maps. Such an innovative idea has already been successfully implemented in Mongolia, one of the grand land-locked countries in the world. The service is currently available with 36 languages, including English, Korean, and Chinese. For more information: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/27/tech/what3words-app-w3w-address-startup/index.html

Berlin cheaply offers an open space. One of these collaborative workspaces, the Institute of Social Impact, is designed to promote collaboration and foster ideas. Many social businesses made money here through scholarship programs. George Tarne, the CEO of Soulbotles, which produces carbon-neutral water bottles, states “a community or a dreamer madhouse where you can work with other crazy people who believe you can actually change the world.” Berlin is gaining a reputation as a hub of sustainable creative social projects due to the space for such cooperation. Twenty percent of Berlin’s GDP flows to the creative industries and more than four percent is created by higher education. Berlin has built the most creative foundations together with over 70 public funds, along with 40 technology incubators. Recently, the German International Cooperation Federation launched a "comprehensive corporate action network" in Berlin. Also, entrepreneurship, the latest initiative, vows to establish a social enterprise in which entrepreneurs across Germany will reinvest half of their profits into social projects. Germany's largest crowdfunding platform, the StarNext Institute in Berlin, hosts entrepreneurs in office space. Regional collaboration eliminates intermediaries between producers and consumers. Startnext Lab's crowdfunding campaign for Original Unverpackt has collected more than 100,000 euros to fund the unpackaged store. Supporting businesses that strive to make social impact is a great act. By making a social impact, businesses in Berlin can achieve the five principles of social impact, including change, clarity, confidence, courage, and being considerate. For more information: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/mar/30/social-innovation-business-berlin

First, consider the fact that growing cows produce environmentally harmful methane and require more land and water than other livestock. With this fact in mind, think about how beef is a key ingredient in making burgers. In order to cut back on the carbon footprint and decrease greenhouse gases at the same time, the University of London decided to remove all beef products from sale and began to charge a 10 pound levy on bottled water and single-use plastic cups. For more information: https://www.bbc.com/news/education-49321560

Considering that the cost and price of wind and solar energy has fallen to the point where it is almost as competitive with other forms of fossil fuel, Budweiser has decided to use wind power to brew beer. Specifically, Budweiser agreed to take roughly half of the electricity from the $435 million wind farm in the Thunder Ranch deal, which produces enough electricity to power nearly 90,000 homes. Technology companies including Facebook, Google, and Amazon often participate in these deals to support use of renewable energy to evade blame for emissions of greenhouse gases and grasp control over substantial electricity costs. For more information: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/12/climate/renewable-wind-solar-energy.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FSustainable%20Development&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=45&pgtype=collection

Switzerland has pledged under the 2015 Paris Agreement to cut down on net emissions by 50% by 2030. To follow up from the previous pledge, Switzerland recently promised to have zero net emissions by year 2050. Although the Council admits that this is an ambitious goal, Switzerland has continuously been working to cut down on emissions by cutting CO2 emissions from buildings, transport, and industry along with decreasing methane produced from agriculture to alleviate climate change. Other countries that have committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 include the UK, Finland, France, Sweden, and Norway. For more information: https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3080965/switzerland-targets-net-zero-emissions-by-2050

Access to safe drinking water has been a long-lasting problem in Bangladesh. To circumvent this problem, scientists from Uppsala University, Sweden, and Dhaka University have demonstrated how green macroalgae species could be used to extract cellulose nanofibers, which could be then transformed into thin paper sheets to purify water. The filter has proven to be very effective in removing harmful virus and bacteria from contaminated water and very affordable. Thus, this paper filter can eventually save the lives of the Bangladeshi people and more, amounting up to over 168 million people. For more information: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190819092958.htm

Silver and copper were usually main ingredients used in making modern electronics and solar cells. Yet, with new innovative technology, scientists from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warwick have discovered a new way of patterning the metals to provide energy in a more sustainable and cost-effective manner for large scale production without producing toxic chemicals and waste. The researchers discovered that the organofluorine layer only needs to be used in 10 billionths of a meter to be effective whereas before, more was used in making the solar cells and electronics. The pioneering approach is forecasted to be extremely effective in the coming years where sustainable energy is needed more than before. For more information: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190814101647.htm