I’m currently in the middle of the book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by William McDonough and a central theme of the book is how complex technology and pollution have become. Making the task of creating sustainable systems very hard and in my opinion unlikely that such a vast and complex problem can ever be solved by just a few innovators.
With that in mind Nike, NASA, USAID and the US State department have come together to create LAUNCH.
LAUNCH is a global initiative that aims to accelerate the development of solutions to global problems primarily through a forum type platform approach that hopes to bring together the best minds to share knowledge, collectively develop and implement solutions. Bringing together Inventors, Industry and Government.
The LAUNCH SYSTEMS CHALLENGE 2013 forum on September 26-28, 2013 is a crowdsourcing, open call challenge for the purpose of sharing developments on sustainable materials and fabrics.
“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” – LAUNCH
Submissions are open till July 15h and in September the applicants of selected proposals will be invited to share their insights and innovations with the LAUNCH Council, a group of 40 thought leaders in business, government, science, technology and communication.
Innovations should range from applications that eliminate toxins in fabrics, to smart and/or self-healing materials, to fabrics that efficiently and effectively enable recycling.
Via LAUNCH
74 FOOTWEAR DESIGN CONSULTING 