Ideas for climate protection honored

A team from Bandung, Indonesia, wins the Carbon Footprint Challenge 2019: the team called BACOAT developed the idea and concept for edible coatings to preserve fresh fruit and vegetable. At the final event in Zurich, students from all over the world participated. Together with leading global companies from different industries such as Bühler, Evonik and Oracle as well as with nine top European universities, Covestro enables this challenge to support students and young professionals in developing business ideas for climate action.

“The Challenge provides a global space in which young people with innovative ideas – from around the world – can develop their concepts under high-pressure, professionally supported conditions,” explains David Ward, secretary general of UNITECH International, the uniting organization of the contest. Challenge completed – ideas awarded

After two intensive days of workshops led by innovation coach and CEO of NOSCO, Jesper Müller Krogstrup, the six finalist teams pitched their ideas to the Carbon Footprint Challenge 2019 jury.

Covestro supports the Challenge already in the second year. “We want to foster innovation and sustainability by supporting students and young professionals in their personal and professional development,” explains Wolfgang Miebach, Head of Human Resources at Covestro.

The goal of the expert jury is to supply the young innovators with a broad variety of networking opportunities from a global perspective. Jens Peter Joschek, Head of Innovation Excellence at Covestro and jury member, summarizes: “All teams provide the broad variety of perspectives needed to solve the global issue of climate change and bring inspiration from their local environment, from farming in Ireland to water scarcity in India. This links perfectly with the open innovation culture of the companies supporting the Challenge.”

The 350 ideas represent a mixture of technologies and approaches to achieve a climate positive impact. Innovations ranging from gamification through digital applications to educate and change behaviors to the winning idea, coatings for fruit and vegetables with the purpose of decreasing food waste, are represented in the 2019 challenge. Overall 3460 registrations, 1400 comments and 1230 likes coming from 56 countries underline the mission of the Carbon Footprint Challenge – make good ideas grow and turn in to a sustainable business opportunity through professional support and collaboration.

About CFC2019:

The Carbon Footprint challenge is an initiative with its roots in Unitech International. In the multi stakeholder environment created by the Unitech network, the Carbon Footprint Challenge initiative was born in order to use the platform to take action in a topic of such high importance, climate change.

Find more information at carbonfootprintchallenge.org

About UNITECH International:

The Unitech International Society was founded in 2000 for the academic and corporate worlds to jointly develop a group of talented young engineers to enable them to successfully manage future challenges in global industry and to help bridge the gap between the corporate and academic world. Unitech also provides a platform for networking and exchange of ideas.

Find more information at www.unitech-international.org/about-us

About Covestro:

With 2018 sales of EUR 14.6 billion, Covestro is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, construction, wood processing and furniture, and electrical and electronics industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health and the chemical industry itself. Covestro has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,800 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2018.

Find more information at www.covestro.com.
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