HEY IMPACT COMMUNITY!

With June in full bloom, we are excited to share what we have been up to lately. At Studio Nima we have been working on quite a few different projects all with the aim of creating a positive impact, with topics ranging from circular materials to sustainable design and traceability.?

MATERIAL LAB AT OUTDOOR BY ISPO MUNICH

After the great success of the first edition of the Material Lab at ISPO Munich 2023, innovative circular materials were again put into the spotlight at OutDoor by ISPO from June 3-5, 2024. OutDoor by ISPO brought together brands, retailers, key opinion leaders and decision makers to provide an international platform for a new outdoor movement.?

The Material Lab, as part of the Sustainability Hub showcased innovative circular materials in a very tangible and inspirational way, exhibiting the complete life cycle and development journey of the materials, highlighting the progression from raw components through intermediary stages to the final refined material.?

Curated once again by Studio Nima, the Material Lab featured a diverse range of exhibits, including rubber alternatives made of walnut shells and olive pits from Kuori, leather alternative made of hemp from revoltech, black pigment and material additive derived from sewage sludge from OurCarbon and yarn made of wood pulp from Spinnova. We were thrilled to feature many more innovative materials from Malai Eco, Ohoskin, Ponda, Re-Root-Tex Solution, Climafibre, Fraxinea and two solutions from the MA Material Futures at Central Saint Martins, Beyond Flares and Cuemái. Read more about the solutions and check out our photo gallery here.

NATURELINK

The collaborative journey between Studio Nima and Alara Ertenü has been an innovative explorative process over the past several months. In August 2023, the EU-funded WORTH Partnership Project, which aims to foster disruptive collaborations, selected Alara’s research project, Packioli, to join forces with Studio Nima for its 10 month-programme.?

Our joint efforts turned into Naturelink, an innovative bio-composite material with a bold vision of providing a home-compostable, drop-in alternative to plastic-based packaging. By harnessing agricultural waste, such as corn, Naturelink aims to develop a competitive biomaterial with home-compostability at its core.?

The aim of the WORTH Partnership Project was to develop an innovative sustainable product with a commercialisation focus by combining the experience of established companies with the creativity of designers. With Naturelink we are now preparing for the next phase of research and development, where we will continue to push the boundaries of innovation and sustainability, by designing a streamlined pilot system of our compounding process.

MCBW DESIGN SUMMIT

Leonhard was moderating this year's mcbw Design Summit, which was held on the 13th of May under the motto "How to Co-Create with Nature". The event was the main Summit of the Munich Creative Business Week, Germany's largest design event and platform for new ideas, trends and creativity with over 190 partners and more than 200 events in Munich.

The mcbw Design Summit featured numerous speakers, including the renowned Italian architect Stefano Boeri who is most known for the Bosco Verticale - a high-rise complex with two towers in Milan, holding an entire forest of 800 plants. Boeri, who is now building 40 of these vertical forests at the same time, shared his insights on interdisciplinary collaboration and creating healthy habitats for people and nature.

In a joint discussion, Daniela Bohlinger (BMW Group) dived into possible future scenarios where mobility and sustainability go hand in hand, without compromising each other. Maurizio Montalti (Co-Founder of SQIM) shared insights on working with mycelium, a fungal structure that can now be used to create textiles and interior design pieces – organic and sustainable, and scalable to industrial dimensions.

ONGOING PROJECTS?

We have quite a few updates on the ongoing projects we are working on with GIZ, BMUV, Bertelsmann Stiftung, Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur and BMW Group.?We hosted the 5th Roundtable of the DIASCA project by GIZ that aims to create interoperability of digital traceability systems for global agricultural supply chains. Within our SINA (Soziale Innovationen für Nachhaltigkeit) project, on which we collaborate with Yunus Environment Hub and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV), workshop #6 took place in February with the topic of repair.

Moreover, the second Roundtable of the Gaming for Democracy initiative took place in February, organized by Bertelsmann Stiftung and Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur. Finally, we were involved with the radhub #18 by BMW Group earlier this year in Berlin, with the aim to develop future scenarios on how mobility could and should look like in the year 2050.

ACCELERATOR PROGRAMS & MODERATIONS

By now you might know about our involvement in various accelerator programs. It is always fun and enriching working with startups and entrepreneurs from all around the world, who all aim to create a positive social or environmental impact. We are currently involved in Phase 3 of the IOC Athlete365 Business Accelerator on behalf of our friends at Yunus Sports Hub working with Olympians to help them set-up their own businesses in a sustainable way. Moreover, the fifth cohort of the RESPOND Accelerator by BMW Foundation and UnternehmerTUM is now in full swing. And in April we were conducting a Masterclass on Impact Measurement as part of the Climate Tech Incubator run by our friends at the Impact Hub Berlin.

Leonhard was moderating several events in the past months, including the Intersport Deutschland Top Partner Event featuring Gordon Herbert, coach of the German national basketball team as the keynote speaker, as well as the L'Oréal SustainAbility Forum with Dr. Michael Braungart, founder of the design concept Cradle-to-Cradle. Leonhard also hosted the final event at the AI for Impact open innovation program by N3XTCODER taking place at re:publica in Berlin.??

WORKING STUDENT CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Join our team! We’ve got some really exciting opportunities coming up in the field of circular economy - and we need support from future-thinking, entrepreneurial talents! As of July or August 2024 we have an open vacancy for a Working Student to work on our circular economy projects and join us in our office in Munich! Check out the position and apply here!?

We wish you all a great summer. We are looking forward to many exciting impactful projects for 2024. If you want to learn more about what we do, please get in touch with us if you want to join forces and work on impactful projects! And follow us on Linkedin or Instagram!

Your Studio Nima team