Europe 2020 Finalists

Gorjan Jovanovski

AirCare - Know what you breathe!

AirCare, a web and mobile app, was started in 2015, and aimed to help people 'know what they breathe'. It is currently the highest rated air pollution app in the Google Play Store. Since Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, is known to have air that is polluted up to 20 times over the EU limits, it was very important to help citizens understand the severity of the problem. By using open data from government, volunteer and satellite measuring stations, AirCare displays this in a very simple and understandable way. Once people became more aware, this new knowledge triggered massive nationwide protests, with people blocking streets in many cities in North Macedonia, demanding that the government take serious action for protecting our health. Since then, AirCare has expanded to 12 countries in Europe, reaching over 200,000 users in 6 languages - informing them, connecting them to local events and NGOs, and empowering them to fight for a pollution free future. After all, breathing clean air is a human right!

Ivan Zakharov

CLEAPL - edible plastic

My company CLEAPL has developed edible and biodegradable straws, cups, laminate and wrapping films from plant by-product materials at the cheapest available market price of 3 €/kg. We have developed the Russian national standard for biodegradable goods and patented and improved the exploitation of native polymers by bio-modifying proteins and polysaccharides with enzymes. Our material is one hundred percent biodegradable under normal environmental conditions, strong, resistant, transparent and has all the properties normally required of plastic. The use of our product reduces a consumer’s carbon footprint by more than 12 times when compared to using plastics of fossil-fuel origin. CLEAPL has received accolades from the Global Food Summit, GenerationS, StartUpBootCamp, FoodTech (Rome) and the Global Innovators Summit (Dubai) amongst many others and has received support and funding from EXPO 2020. Currently, we are organizing the production of straws in Russia and are engaged in the certification of our products from Technischer Überwachungsverein (TÜV).

Lefteris Arapakis

Enaleia

The organization Enaleia created the Mediterranean cleanup. Mediterranean fish stocks have been steadily declining with fisherman pulling up plastic in their nets instead. Using a network of fishermen and ensuring responsible management of the collected waste into the circular economy, Enaleia trains, empowers and incentivizes old and new fishermen to collect plastic from the sea. This allows fish stocks and the ecosystem to recover, while providing a source of income from plastic brought to shore. They are currently removing more than 1.5 tonnes of marine plastic weekly, and 10 tonnes of discarded fishing gear per year.

Nora Wilhelm

Collaboratio helvetica - collaboration for systemic change

As recognised by Goal 17, we need new forms of collaboration to face the challenges of our time. Beyond fighting the symptoms, there is an urgent need for approaches that address root causes. Founded in 2017, collaboratio helvetica is an initiative that catalyses systemic change towards the societal transformation of Switzerland. We cultivate a cross-sectoral innovation ecosystem, run different capacity-building programs and enable others with our knowledge and resources. With our partners, we convene actors from all sectors in Social Innovation Laboratories around the complex challenges contained in Agenda 2030 to co-create solutions. Building on Switzerland’s heritage of dialogue and democracy, we seek to activate its unique potential to contribute to a change towards a more sustainable and ethical future. Beyond contributing to the transformation of our country, we are part of a global movement and a laboratory that can inspire and support other social innovators across the globe.

Valentina Dipietro

Mykor- mycelium material

As more of us live in increasingly urbanised locations, we have found ourselves yearning to spend time surrounded by soil and plants, while breathing fresh air.

Mykor is an innovative biocomposite material developed to reconnect humans to their ecosystem. Mykor materials recreate the feeling of being in nature from within your house as they translate into homeware products, furniture and lighting. Mycelium, the "root" of mushrooms, has been used to bind wood waste with natural dyes. The mushroom strains will bind the waste material, grow in the span of four weeks in the right environmental conditions, involve minimum use of water and air-dry naturally. These materials are fire retardant, insulating and sound-absorbing and are available in a range of attractive colours. As an application for these materials, I have designed sound-absorbing tiles and also worked with an architect, to develop mycelium insulation for architecture. For the last few months, I have been designing and prototyping a commercial range of everyday products, from vases, wine chillers and lighting to furniture. Produced with local waste and inherently carbon-neutral, these products can be grown wherever needed and are easily decomposed back into the soil.