The LAUNCH Family And Our Innovators: What Are The Benefits?

August 1, 2017
Posted in
August 1, 2017 casper

At LAUNCH we are currently reaching out to communities, companies, academia, networks/hubs, incubator, accelerators, embassies and municipalities all around the world to find up to 10 innovators that should be part of the new generation of circular innovators. This year’s theme is ‘Design and Manufacturing for a Circular Economy’, and we encourage everybody with an innovation that is anywhere between pilot-stage and ready-for-market to apply.

However, are you unsure of what happens after you have applied? There are many who are curious what happens if their innovation is chosen to be in our top group. In the following you will learn why dozens of innovators have joined our ecosystem and the benefits they have received.

How does the LAUNCH program work?

 

As a LAUNCH Innovator you will get access to a world-class network of investors, pioneering companies and mentors from our LAUNCH partners– including IKEA, NIKE, eBay, Novozymes, Kvadrat, and other leading global organizations– who are all ready to help scale your innovation. This is a network of industry professionals who know what it takes for innovations to succeed and achieve sustainable growth.

The first step is submitting a very easy application via our online submission page. In this application you will have the opportunity to briefly explain your innovation, its sustainability impact, and your motivation for applying. After the deadline, our team of expert reviewers helps us determine which innovations are most relevant and potentially disruptive for a shift towards a more circular economy. Once these subject matter experts have helped us narrow down the numbers, we conduct phone interviews to dive deeper into those selected innovations.

Next, we invite the top innovators to join our LAUNCH community. The selected innovators will be invited to attend this year’s LAUNCH Nordic Forum at Kvadrat’s Headquaters in Ebeltoft, Denmark on November 29-30, 2017. Here they will get the opportunity to present and discuss their solutions with 35 industry executives, circular economy and materials experts, government officials, and investors. These “council members” have agreed to contribute their expertise, insight, and guidance to our innovators, making commitments wherever possible. The council members will help in creating access to new markets, networks, testing, or resources that can help grow and scale the innovators’ solutions.
 

Finally, following the LAUNCH Nordic Forum, innovators will take part in an accelerator program to help them bring their innovations to scale. The innovators will receive an action plan tailored for their specific company and needs. This action plan includes each council members’ commitments and suggestions to help our innovators – the progress of each plan is checked on a continuous basis by the LAUNCH team.

In the following two videos, Vigga Svensson (LAUNCH Innovator 2014) and Siddharth Hande (LAUNCH Innovator 2016) are interviewed at the World Circular Economy Forum 2017 about what they have gained from being part of the LAUNCH community.

 
Vigga Svensson, CEO and founder of VIGGA.US, was a 2014 Innovator, and she is still participating in the LAUNCH ecosystem. In the video she elaborates on what she has gained and still gains from being part of the LAUNCH ecosystem. 
 
 

Siddharth Hande, founder of Kabadiwalla Connect, became one of the 2016 Innovators. In this video, he elaborates on what he has learned and achieved through the LAUNCH ecosystem. 

 

The LAUNCH Community

 

The unique thing about the LAUNCH innovation challenges is that once you have been selected as a top innovator, you will always be an important part of the community. For example, the LAUNCH community of circular innovators, partners, leading researchers and business executives met this spring at the Circular Innovation Summit at Nike’s headquarter in Portland on March 3, 2017. Fifteen past and present LAUNCH innovators were selected to participate in the Summit. They discussed how to find ways to be more efficient, effective, and economically viable with the limited resources on planet Earth and also discussed some of the key systems changes that are needed to drive circular solutions. You can read more about the event here.

Want to Join?

 

Do you want to be part of the LAUNCH community? Can you transform the way we design and manufacture from linear to more circular models? 

Then apply for this year’s LAUNCH Innovation Challenge on ‘Design and Manufacturing for a Circular Economy’!

LAUNCH Circular is seeking innovators with the potential to create a shift in the way we design and manufacture to enable circular economy. 10 innovators will be selected to receive support to scale through collaboration with a world-class group of industry pioneers, government organizations, investors, innovation experts & technical capacities. So far we have applicants pouring in from all over the world, including Europe, Africa, Australia, North America, South America and the Caribbean. Deadline September 1st! Submit your application today at http://www.launch.org/nordic.
 
For more information on the challenge, please visit the ‘Design and Manufacturing for a Circular Economy’ challenge website or contact LAUNCH Nordic at nordic@launch.org.