2022 Green Concept Award
Do you design the future?
The mission: develop and execute green concepts that shall replace non-sustainable products in the future!
Every year, the Green Future Club awards concepts for sustainable materials, products and services that are not yet on the market with the Green Concept Award.
It is aimed at students, young designers, researchers, start-ups and companies who want to showcase, further develop or market their concepts in order to change society and the economy.
We support a selection of participants in the sense of an innovation agency with a variety of activities such as support with presentations and press work as well as introductions to the media, industry and investors.
Categories
The Green Concept Award is divided into 11 categories. Click on the category names for more information. Alternatively, it is possible to participate in the Special Calls “Kuro Units” and “farmwaste 2 products”.
- ARCHITECTURE & TINY HOUSES
- BUILDING COMPONENTS
- CONSUMER GOODS
- FASHION
- HANDICRAFT
- INTERIOR & LIFESTYLE
- KIDS
- KITCHEN
- MOBILITY
- NEW MATERIALS
- SPORT
- WORKSPACE
Prospects and Benefits
You have the concept, we have the platform to achieve sustainable success!
Get started with our Concept Supportto bring your idea to the next level. Submit your concept to enjoy the benefits from our 3-stage award process. In the first stage upon Pre-Selectionyou are included in our sustainable innovation pool, which consists of admittance into our green database, basic website feature and newsletter. You will receive the Pre-selection-LOGO, which you can use unrestrictedly in your communication.
In the second stage Nomineeswill be selected and officially announced. They receive a communication package and have the chance to be introduced to brands, producers and investors. Nominees are part of the Audience Award, where the public and the communities vote for the their favourite green concept (60.000 votes last year). All nominees receive a n individual pointbased feedback.
In the third stage, the Winnerswill be selected by our international jury from the Nominees and announced live in March at our Award Ceremony. They will get visibility through postings across all Award channels and our media partners. Both Nominees & Winners can opt for an upgrade to be featured in our annual Green Trend Book or be part of our exhibitions/summit.
You see, it is a journey we invite you to. Take a look at thedetailed stages & benefits.
1.Receive one of the Green Concept Award Seals (Pre-Selection, Nominee or Winner)
2.Get digital exposure to about 7 million contacts
3.Become part of the annual Green Trend Book
4.Become part of our exclusive pool for talks and exhibitions
5.Receive a certificate & feedback from our jury experts
6.Hints:
+ The Submission Assistancehelps in preparing the submission.
+ Network and ask for support in taking your concept from idea to physical model
Schedule 2021/2022
Concept Support Activities:
- 8.10.2021 Zoom Workshop Toolkit Introduction
- 15.10.2021 Toolkit question & answer session 1
- 18.10.2021 Workshop Pitches from Dutch Design Week
- 22.10.2021 Toolkit question & answer session 2 Sign ups here.
- 13.10.2021 Deadline to apply for Special Calls
- 11.11.2021 Award Submission Deadline
- 13.12. 2021 Nominees Announcement, Jury& Audience Awards voting
- 09.03. 2022 Award Ceremony & Exhibition start at IHM, Munich
EXTRAS: Special calls & Summit
Participation & Fees
Participation in the Green Concept Award is free for students and graduate works from 2020! The fees shown are valid for the 2022 submission phase ending November 11th. Reduced fees apply for a) early submissions b) start-ups and c) participants from lower-income countries. There are only two basic fee-types charged: 1. Submission Fee and 2. Pre-Selection Fee.
- Established companies:
Submission fee + Pre-Selection fee
200€ + 900€ - Start-Ups
Submission fee + Pre-Selection fee
100€ + 450€ - Fees Overview,
Discounts & Extras
DETAILS
Fees above are for the highest price zone per submission stated without VAT. -> Check Details for pricing.
Start-ups: founded within the last two years or where its turnover requires a second source of income.
The Jury
An international jury of experienced experts will assess the submissions with their know-how and thus determine the winners. All nominees and winners receive an individual point based feedback.
Tim Oelker
Tim Oelker Industrial Design/Universal Design Forum e.V.
Tim Oelker is an industrial designer from Hamburg. His office has been developing products and exhibitions for national and international customers for 19 years. For over 12 years he has also been teaching product design at universities and academies in Hamburg, Hanover and Berlin, trying to convey the principles of universal and barrier-free design.
He was appointed universal design expert in 2014, is a member of the Universal Design Forum e.V. in Weimar and is involved in the Council for Sustainability of the German Design Day.
http://www.timoelker.de
Prof. Claus-Christian Eckhardt
Lund University, Sweden
Claus-Christian Eckhardt was appointed in 2001 as professor and director of Lund University School of Industrial Design in Sweden. He studied industrial design at the Braunschweig University of Art. After graduating, he worked for Silvestrin Design, Blaupunkt and Bosch, where later he became head of design. He led the design activities of Tenovis and Avaya. He also a freelance designer since 2000.
Ludovico Durante
Staiy
Ludovico Durante is the co-founder and Marketing Director of Staiy. Born in Turin in 1997 and based in Berlin, he is a creative individual with a strategic mindset. Passionate for sustainable living, he advocates for businesses’ responsibility to provide access to sustainable options. With a background in Psychology and Business Management, he has been guest lecturer across several European universities to touch the themes of entrepreneurship and sustainability, and often a speaker in international digital venues between fashion and tech. Through Staiy, he embodies the mission of accelerating the transition towards a more sustainable lifestyle by means of ethics, aesthetics and innovation. The marketplace has already been recognized by Vogue, WWD, Euronews and more and counts over 120 partner brands.
Katja Lucas
Dutch Design Week
Katja Lucas, senior project manager Design Works, has been working for Dutch Design Foundation (DDF) in Eindhoven since 2003. She studied at the renowned Design Academy Eindhoven. During her studies she developed a passion for design and collaborations. Katja has extensive management experience in design projects and programs. She has contributed to the success of Dutch Design Week (DDW), the event that is nationally and internationally recognized as the leading design event in Europe. In 2018 it attracted 350,000 visitors and offered a platform for 2500 designers with over 500 events. For over 12 years Katja was responsible for the content and quality of the program. Since 2018, she has been responsible for talent development within DDF. Tthe focus is on the master and coaching program Driving Dutch Design together with the partners BNO and ABN AMRO. Every year, 20 studios are selected who undertake an intensive professionalization process for 10 months. She scouts and invites designers and strengthens their studios by making productive connections. Katja Lucas among others was also responsible for several exhibitions at the Design House Eindhoven commissioned by DDF. She cooperates in the online international design platform Dutch Design Daily’s, and is a member of the advisery board of TEDxEindhoven. She is a jury member for several awards in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
Raz Godelnik
Parsons School of Design—The New School
Raz is an Assistant Professor of Strategic Design and Management at Parsons School of Design – The New School in NY, where he explores sustainable business models and how companies can respond effectively to the climate crisis. Currently, he serves as an Associate Director of the Strategic Design & Management BBA Program. Raz is the co-founder of two green startups (Hemper Jeans and Eco-Libris) and the author of Rethinking Corporate Sustainability in the Era of Climate Crisis(Palgrave Macmillan, July 2021).
Prof. Xin Liu
Tsinghua University
Xin Liu is Vice Director of the Art and Science Research Center of the Institute of Sustainable Design at Tsinghua University. His main research in on Sustainable Design, User Research and Product Service System Design. He is the director of LeNS-China (The Learning Network on Sustainability), which includes China’s top 15 universities and co-founder of DESIS-China, an alliance for social innovation and sustainable design in China. Additionally, he is Chairman of the Tsinghua University’s DESIS International Alliance Academy of Arts & Design. In 2012, he was elected Educational Officer of the “Excellent University Talents of the Turn of the Century”.
Sebastian Thies
CEO nat-2™ | thies 1856 ®
Sebastian Thies, 6th generation footwear professional since 1856, is the Founder x Designer of high-end sneaker brand nat-2™ and CEO of progressive sustainable home and footwear brand thies 1856 ®. Sustainability is key since more than 160 years in the family tradition.
Sebastian is also a Creative Director at various other Projects and has worked with companies such as MCM, Wu-Tang, Sony, Paramount, Activision, Ritter Sport, Atelier PMP, Hasbro, Gabor, HBC, Levi’s, Benetton, nowadays, Urban Outfitters, Studio100 … Sebastian’s Designs have been showcased and included to design collections in international re-known exhibitions and museums such as Grassimuseum Leipzig, Red Dot Museums Essen x Singapore, Kunsthaus Vienna, MKG Hamburg, Shoetopia Detroit, Cube Designmuseum NL, Wilhelm Wagenfeld Stiftung Bremen, VirtualShoemuseum, Deutsches Museum…
Sebastian has already won several international awards such as the Red Dot Design Award, German Brand Award, Innovation x Design Award, IspoBrandnew Award, was nominated twice for Germany’s Designpreis and appointed as Fellow and Kultur- x Kreativpilot by the Federal Republic of Germany.
The London Designmuseum has quoted nat-2™ as “one of the 50 shoes that changed the world” in its books.
Jewell Sparks
BiTHOUSE Venture Group /UNITED17 Ventures
Jewell Sparks the founder and managing Director of BiTHOUSE Venture Group /UNITED17 Ventures. Her initiative UNITED17 Venture Lab aims to support brands who create products and services by helping them to employ and build awareness of their products and services amongst youth, mothers and underrepresented groups. She is an American scientist turned innovation/transformation strategist, investor and venture development executive living between Germany and Denmark. Jewell is on the Masters in Entrepreneurship Board and a guest lecturer on Innovation and Transformation at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. She mentors and advises and has sat on several juries for corporate, educational and government programs (Samsung for Impact, Impact EdTech, BSH Connected Home, Alchemist, Techfounders, Projekt Zukunft, Startup Bootcamp, Roche, Venture Cup, EIT, VentureCrush, MassChallenge and more) focused on innovation, transformation and sustainability spanning the areas of health, food, fashion and consumer electronics. She founded OTGC- On the Green Carpet in 2011 and was the acting VP of Sustainable Health for Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute focused on safe materials prior to moving to Germany in 2013.
Prof. Kiersten Muenchinger
University of Oregon
Kiersten Muenchinger is an Associate Professor in the Product Design Program and one of the principles in the Green Product Design Network at the University of Oregon. She was honored with the Sustainable Practice Impact Award in 2018. Muenchinger researches and teaches the intersection of materials, manufacturing and design with an emphasis on sustainability tactics and metrics. Her research utilizes Kansei engineering principles to measure how consumers perceive the sustainability of materials. Kiersten was named “Young Educator of the Year” in 2011by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), and one of the Design Intelligence 30 Most Admired Educators for 2015. Before joining UO, Kiersten was a design engineer with IDEO, Fitch, Sottsass Associatti, and Walt Disney Imagineering.
Karsten Bleymehl, Dipl. Des.
CEO + Founder of The Circular Materials GmbH
Karsten is a trained industrial mechanic for machine and system technology and a qualified product designer. Since his studies he has been working on “New Materials in Product Design”.
From 2005-2013 he was Director Library & Materials Research, significantly involved in building and managing the world’s largest materials library for the New York-based consulting company Material ConneXion. In 2013, the materials expert founded MRC – Materials Research & Consulting, a consulting company for innovative and sustainable product development. MRC advises development departments of well-known companies from Europe, Asia and the USA.
In 2019 he founded “The Circular Materials GmbH”. The company develops and produces tailor-made materials and products for the circular economy.
Since 2009 he has been teaching “Material & Design” and “Sustainability & Circular Design Practice” at various engineering, design and architecture universities.
Katja Reich
DBZ Deutschen Bauzeitschrift
Katja Reich is head of the editorial team of DBZ Deutsche Bauzeitschrift in Berlin and Gütersloh since 2019. She has over 20 years of experience in the conception and editorial implementation of architecture journals with a focus on corporate publishing, in the planning and implementation of specialist events for architects and in the field of construction products. Bringing design requirements and practical building requirements into harmony is the focus of her work across all communication channels.
Professor Martin Charter
Centre for Sustainable Design
Professor Martin Charter MBA FRSA is the Founding Director of The Centre for Sustainable Design ® at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) that was established in 1995. Martin has more than 29 year’s experience in a wide range of topics related to sustainable business with particular expertise in sustainable innovation and product sustainability. Martin has sat on many international expert committees and advisory boards including P&G, Interface, World Resources Forum and Eco-innovation Observatory. He is the organizer of the Sustainable Innovation series of international conferences that is now in its 21st year. Martin has authored research on new ‘green’ business models, sustainable innovation, product design and remanufacturing and marketing & sustainability.
Julius Wiedemann
DOMESTIKA
Julius Wiedemann’s book “Product Design in the Sustainable Era” is one of the most influential books on sustainable design. Julius Wiedemann was born in Brazil where he studied design and marketing. As Executive Editor for Design and Pop Culture as well as Director for Digital Publications at the international publishing house TASCHEN, he was responsible for more than 40 books. He is the author of numerous magazine contributions and has already been involved as a juror in several international competitions. In total, more than 1.5 million copies of Wiedemann’s publications have been sold worldwide, including titles such as “Information Graphics,” “Product Design in the Sustainable Era,” “Illustration Now!”, “LOGO Design,” and “Japanese Graphics Now! “, and many more.
Hon. Prof. Meike Weber
Architect and cultural manager
Meike Weber developed new contents and formats around the architectural trade magazine DETAIL for 15 years. Among other she worked on DETAIL research as an open network of architecture, business, research and politics. Detail research uses various formats to convey topics on the “future of building” based on research results and studies on the effects of social change and megatrends on architecture and the city. For several years, she has also been responsible for teaching at the Institute for International Trendscouting of the Faculty of Design at the HAWK Hildesheim and advises various committees from business, NGOs, teaching, research and politics.
Petra Schmatz
green Lifestyle
Petra Schmatz studied political science in combination with economics and law at the University of Passau. After graduating, she joined AVR Verlag in Munich in 2004 and has since been writing passionately in various departments for its magazines. As a Bavarian child from the countryside, Petra Schmatz is privately very committed to a sustainable lifestyle. That’s why she finds her work as editorial director at green Lifestyle magazine a special highlight of her job and a personal enrichment. She sees tracking down green trends, news and innovations and reporting on them as a great opportunity to make the world a little bit better, bit by bit. In her editorial work, Petra Schmatz focuses primarily on the areas of eco-fair fashion and organic food & beverage.
Tina Kammer
Interior Park
Tina Kammer is together with Andrea Herold InteriorPark. She has been following the developments about sustainability for more than 25 years. As a trained cabinet maker, she gained in-depth knowledge of materials and their processing. She realized her focus on brand architecture for companies like BMW, MINI and IBM worldwide. She developed shop concepts for HUGO BOSS AG and was responsible for various international markets. With Andrea Herold she founded the company InteriorPark in 2010, which brings together architecture, space and communication in high-quality design solutions. At lectures and workshops, she passes on her in-depth knowledge and is involved with the DGNB. For construction projects, her focus is on healthy indoor climate, sustainable design concepts and communication in the room.
Dr. Robert Pludra
Academy of Fine Arts Warsaw
Robert Pludra is an industrial designer and an assistant professor at the Faculty of Design, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he was a Deputy Dean ( 2016-2019). His design office is focused on product, social and exhibition design as well as leading design workshops . In 2013 Robert defended his PhD thesis in social design. He is a member of the Association of Industrial Designers (associated in BEDA). He participated in more than fifty exhibitions at the most important design festivals (in Milan, London, Paris, Berlin or Tokyo). He is a laureate of many competitions and scholarships.
Anna Theil
Studio Für Morgen
Anna Theil co-founded the crowdfunding platform Startnext from 2010 to 2019 and advised and supported many founders and creatives in this context. Her focus was mainly on the topics of social business, sustainability and culture. In 2019, she co-founded “Studio Für Morgen” https://studiofuermorgen.de and deals with the changes in society and the working world. Anna Theil studied media and communication sciences.
Mimi Sewalski
Avocadostore.de
As Managing Director of the online market place Avocadostore.de,Mimi Sewalski is always on the look-out for new product ideas. She has been working with many sustainable start-ups from their beginning and helps them with online presence in brand building and product development.
Avocadostore.de offers more than 200.000 green products from 750 retailers from all over Germany. All the products offered must meet at least one of the sustainability criteria set by Avocadostore.de. Mimi Sewalski studied Sociology and Criminology in Munich. In 2005 she moved to Israel and worked there in a high-tech start-up in the eCommercials. At the same time, she became involved in the plastics recycling sector in Tel Aviv.
Since 2011, she is part of Avocadostore.de.
Katrin de Louw
TRENDFILTER®
Katrin de Louw studied interior design, trend expert and since 1997 Owner and Managing Director of TRENDFILTER®- design future for furniture and materials. Her passion for interior architecture, trends, design and her curiosity led her go to China in the early 2000s, where she worked for Häcker Küchen and Tom Tailor, among others, designing concept stores and being responsible for the on-site construction as well as various product developments. The topics of the future and ecology were always important sources of inspiration and motivation for her work as a trend scout. Since 2007, she has been giving talks on interior trends to decision-makers in the furniture industry, is an author for trade journals, a juror for renowned juries and is seen today as one of the leading experts on interior and furniture trends, materials and surfaces. In the course of her 25-year career, she initiated two successful business networks: FURNITURE FUTURE FORUM as a trend forum in the center of the German furniture industry in East Westphalia, and the still young COLORNETWORK®, which thinks color sustainably for the first time and makes products transparent for planners in their cradle to cradle cycle.
Melodie Abdollahi
Haus von Eden
Melodie Abdollahi is co-founder of Haus von Eden. Before that, she worked for a long time in management consulting and strategic development for large corporations. She spent several years in China and gained expertise in industrial production. There she experienced first-hand the direct consequences of the Western world’s fast-paced consumption and decided to do something about it. Her focus is on corporate social responsibility, which is why she was instrumental in designing the scoring model and the sustainability criteria of Haus von Eden. Based on this, the positive actions of sustainably operating companies are highlighted on the platform. Haus von Eden is the first German-language platform for sustainable design & lifestyle as a reliable contact point for conscious consumers who do not want to forego aesthetics.
Johanna Neves Pimenta
md INTERIOR DESIGN ARCHITECTURE
Johanna Neves Pimenta studied industrial and communication design. As a trainee and editor of the trade journal Designreport, she learned journalistic skills before setting up a press and online marketing department for the international design fair blickfang. As editor-in-chief of md INTERIOR DESIGN ARCHITECTURE, she now brings together an understanding of design, digital competence and journalistic passion in order to lead the prestigious print title into a multimedia future with her colleagues.
The Criteria
The winners will be evaluated and determined based on general and subject-specific criteria.
In order to make it easier for you to highlight the special features of your submission, you can orient yourself on the criteria of the jury. The best way is to download our submission assistance here.
Overall rating
Approach
The originality, reproducibility and credibility are assessed.
Elaboration
Evaluated are the complexity of the analysis, the quality of the preparation and the way of implementation.
Impact
Consider the potential for environmental or social change.
Subject-specific reviews
Design
This is about the design as an overall approach with the following criteria: aesthetics, user-friendly functionality, economic and ecological constructions, possibly the interaction of product and packaging. The quality of communication with the consumer about sustainability is also considered.
Innovation
To assess the innovation, it is examined whether a problem / need (better) is solved, the scale of what is new and how relevant it is. When submitting concepts, there is an additional focus on the respective business model.
Sustainability
Assessment takes place along all phases of the life cycle (concept / pre-production, production, distribution, use, reuse). Information on the material used is considered separately, as well as information on the production conditions.
