5 years, 1 month ago-
Good afternoon everyone,
About precious plastic I think it’s a rewarding project which goes over money. It’s good to see people spending their time to find a solution about this problem, only for free. With the aid of many people, Hakkens was be able to make this project into reality. The strength of this organisation lies in the ability to solve plastic pollution as a problem which afflicts the community and doesn’t make profits. Fortunately, there are some people like that. Also it’s satisfactory recycling plastic into new and useful things, giving them a value and a new life.
About Luca’s question, in my opinion they could sell machines to turn this project into profits, after finding a buyers category. This could be a way to recycling at home for those people who are very busy and they don’t have time to watch tutorials to build it but who care this project. In this way people can create what they want with their available plastic.
After that, I would share with you this beauty products brand carried out by Brianne West who decided to save the world from plastic waste. I leave the link here: https://global.ethiquebeauty.com/?geo_redirection_stay=1
See you!
Linda
Hi everyone!
I firmly believe that we should appreciate companies’ choices regarding envirormental responsibility more, decisions such as using natural resources carefully and ensuring the same resources will be available for next generations: for example, the beauty brand Linda’s article talks about!
Another admirable company that works in this field is Lush Cosmetics, globally known for its awareness of the affects not only certain types of packaging, but also ingredients themselves have on the environment! In fact some of their most famous products are bath-bombs, which come without any packaging, and contain plastic-free glitter! Many kinds of glitters usually contain PET or microplastics, instead this one is made from synthetic fluorphlogopite, an environmentally-friendly alternative to the other largely used types.
Another great example of how committed to minimizing its ecological impact a company can be is one of the world’s biggest furniture companies: IKEA! Did you know it was the first major retailer to sell (and use in their stores) exclusively LED bulbs? Also, the majority of their buildings have solar panels installed, and in 2017 they reached the goal of having 100% wood from sustainable sources in countries with a history of challenges concerning forest management.
Nowadays corporate sustainability isn’t just about the environment anymore, but also about competitiveness and innovation. Still on this subject, three days ago Google launched the Google AI Impact Challenge, with up to $25 million in funding, for businesses, nonprofits and academics with the best ideas on how to use AI to address environmental and social issues. I think of it as an initiative that could really encourage great minds all over the world to try to solve problems to help people and the planet we live in, I hope you agree with me!
Have a nice day!
Good morning,
First of all I want to congratulate with moderator for this topic because I think the plastic problem has become one of the most relevant in the world.
In fact plastics are inexpensive, lightweight and durable materials, which can easily be moulded into a variety of products that we use in a wide range of applications and this is the reason why the production of plastics has increased heavily over the last 60 years.
In my opinion the idea of build an entire plastic recycloing workspace in a container is incredible!
This place can turn plastic trash into a large variety of things, from phone’s cover to plastics jeweleries.Another aspect that make me so excited is the fact that it is an open source project, it means that you can find the executive project to build this workspace for free only surfing the net.
In my opinion this is a simple way to share the idea of plastics recycling with thousands of people with a very interesting method that totally involve the interlucutor.
In the end this is a very good solution to create a community and telling people how important is plastic recycling.
What do you think about it?
Do you agree with me?
Can’t wait for your answers to read!
Have a nice day!Matteo
Hi guys!! How are you?
I want share with all of you this event related to the last topic. I think it could be very interesting if you don’t have programs 🙂
https://www.polimerica.it/articolo.asp?id=20763
Have a nice evening!
Hi everyone,
I had a look at the website indicated by the moderator concerning the new topic.
I found it very interesting and I went looking for info about the proceedings concerning plastic waste and its recycling in Italy. I found the organisation Corepla – Italian Consortium for the Collection and Recycling of Plastic, that represents the main companies dealing with the plastic waste and its reuse. Corepla, in addition to the whole process of plastic wastes’ management, within its R&D Division, sustains and finds resources to finance new ideas in this field and created a call named “Alla ricerca della plastica perduta” https://www.coreplacall.it/ . The results and the selected ideas will be presented on November 8 th 2018 in occasion of “Ecomondo Rimini”, one of the biggest and most important exhibitions dealing with environmental solutions http://www.corepla.it/news/premiazione-di-4-progetti-che-hanno-aderito-alla-call-ideas-corepla?page=37
Furthermore I found out that in Novara there is a company called Amut Group Spa, leader in the plastic recycling plants. All above refers to plastic generated by municipal and industrial wastes.
The biggest problem however, is the plastic waste dispersed in the environment without control. This waste lands in rivers, lakes and oceans, forming enormous floating islands.
The Great Pacific garbage patch, also described as the Pacific trash vortex, is a floating cluster of debris in the central North Pacific Ocean.
Within the various ideas I stumbled on, I was very impressed by a system proposed by Boyan Slat and financed by several companies as well as crowd founding, aimed to reduce the plastic presence in Great Pacific Sea.
It started many years ago but only recently it turned into reality and will presumably
remove half of the Great Pacific garbage patch in just five years with lesser costs.
Here below the link:
https://www.theoceancleanup.com/
What do you think about this project? Will it be the solution?
Waiting for your comments, have a nice week.
Giorgio
Hey guys! How are you?
In these days in China is taking place the China International Import Expo, an initiative supported by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Shanghai Municipal Government to promote world trade, staged in the economic capital of China from 5th to 10th November 2018. It is a global event that sees for the first time China engaged in a fair dedicated exclusively to the import of products and services, encouraging the presence of foreign exhibitors. This brings me to reflect on how China in recent years has expanded its economic horizons and led its market to compete with the whole world.
So i would like to ask you, if you were a start upper and you could decide where to start your business, would you choose China? If yes why and in which market would you focus your business? If not, would you choose to stay in Europe or would you still want to move elsewhere?
In my opinion China is a fertile ground for who wants to open a start up, starting from the fact that they are a country in economic expansion (commercial wars permitting), moreover China after the US is the country with the greatest number of unicorns: start ups valued over one billion dollars. In 2014, the government has launched mass innovation projects, in 4 years 13 million new companies were created, 90% of which were private. Then, in last years investments in startups have grown in percentage terms more than in the United States.
So, I think that doing start ups in China could be interesting even if the Eldorado remains the Silicon Valley. Personally if I had to open a start up I would position myself in the Tech market or in renewable energies.
And you guys what do you think? Let me know!!!
See you!
Luca
Hi guys,
very interesting topic Luca,
in my opinion I think we talked for a long time about the escape of talents, young and future startuppers who saw Silicon Valley as the right school in which to experiment their idea of startup, seeing it as the home of the current big companies.
But I think that Europe can be just as fertile for the birth of new businesses in terms of legislation and funding, but also in terms of human capital: a European entrepreneur has completely different characteristics from an US risk appetite, choice of business or relationship between growth and profit. It is true that the highest number of American startups is concentrated in the tech, while in the old continent the companies populate the traditional sector in a more consistent way, with particular attention to km 0 and the use of nearby resources, available and easily available.
Europe, in all ancient and modern history, has been the home of the greatest civilizations and the greatest innovations, with a greater historicity than the United States, whose known history starts in more modern times. Startups in Europe have more time to be tested and are have the chance to grow slowly, but with solid foundations so that they can bring more consistent results into the future. A question of mentality and approach, therefore.
In Europe the laws are different from country to country and this certainly makes it more difficult for a young entrepreneur to open his company, but obviously once he has passed the exam, the European startupper can tackle everything; US laws, by contrast, are generally fairly uniform in every state and therefore make life easy for budding entrepreneurs. But the European employee is happier than the American one and this is due to the greater protection that European laws provide to employees in the old continent, from lighter working hours to the protection of holidays and permits.
For example, a reality like Germany, thanks to a set of elements that are able to guarantee the success of the company, such as the level of education, infrastructure, transparency, connectivity, the regulatory framework, can be a terrain fertile for new start ups.
In China, time passes faster and even the technological innovations seem to go through a fast lane. Speed is not always the best solution and a more European-style analytical approach could be the key to success.
What do you think guys?
Good morning everyone,
according to this last topic my opinions are closer to Edoardo’s ones regarding many aspects.
Of course Chinese most developed cities are a great fertile ground for start-ups to grow, due to key factors such as great expansion rate, huge investments and above all will to invest. They are growing everyday more, they have already began to watch and to seek overseas, searching for ideas, searching for start-ups, catching know-how to bring home, given the presence in Silicon Valley of Chinese Accellerators and Incubators which aims at this, because they know that intellectual property is the key to an economy’s growth, to a nation’s development. Obviously this is known to US which has already blocked many acquisitions, especially in the tech sector. The other side of the coin, that goes on with high growth rate, is high competition: I remember, from my experience, the challenge that every student since their youth is facing to go on studying, because they are a lot and not everyone will make it. And if you don’t, well, there aren’t many opportunities for you, for your work and for your life; as said they are many and not everyone can rise. Competition can push up innovation rates, but if it’s too much heighten it can cause negative effects on environment appetite in my opinion.
According to this view of high competition, great opportunities and growth, together with an easier sailing in the “laws sea” (at least for US), I imagine this “Chinese Silicon Valley” as well as the American one as an open water ocean (apologize for the recurring water-related metaphors), while I figure the European ecosystem as a calm lake, due to law protection and culture. This is to try to explain why I don’t think Silicon Valley should be seen as an Eldorado, given the fact that not all that shines is gold. Of course you can grow faster, you have more opportunities and great concentration of knowledge (as well as Britain’s Industrial Districts of ‘800s, second industrial revolution), but you have to face with sharks, which are the many competitors and the eventuality of failure. Last but not least, the cradle of knowledge and innovation has moved from Italy (very early stage) to Continental Europe, then to Britain and now to Silicon Valley, US, so the crucial importance of it should never be underestimated. I was simply arguing about my hypothetical choice, if I were a start-upper, not to move overseas, but staying in Europe, hopefully in Italy according to an optimistic scenery. This choice follows the presence also in European cities of models such as the already mentioned industrial districts, even if not as marked as in Silicon Valley. A more calm environment may in part brake growth, but on the other hand ensures lasting protection and safety to start-ups, also given the fact that strong growth rates such as the Chinese one are never endless.
Have a nice day,
Stefano
Hello everybody!!!!!
I’m agree with the last two opinions. I’m positive to think about that we have good opportunities to create start-up in Europe especially in our country. I’ve found a good report (a little bit long, but very interesting) about start-up act in Italy.
Good evening guys!
What a beautiful topic @lucalost! I’m totally agree with @edoardoceffa and I find so interesting this article Valentina!
We should be more optimist! Why not? Europe could be the perfect land to create innovative startups, think about what we have, yes, I believe that China has made efforts of enormous economic weight to get where it has arrived, but everything starts at 0, Europe is an artistic, gastronomic eccellence.. I woud work in what we are the best, wouldn’t we?I believe that now, the best advice is to learn about these big realities as China, Sillicon Valley…there is always time to improve, but the most important is grow and overcome our internal problems, so we could become a global example for others.
Personally, I recognize the huge steps forward made by China, the initiative: ‘China International Import Export’ is really interesting, I would take part in this kind of events, I would like to be in contact with these realities, for China is an opportunity to gain visibility.
I think it’s true that we have two different cultures, but I don’t agree that this is the cause of the main difference, this affects but not at all.
Do you agree with me? Let me know!Hi everyone,
with regard to the investment of start-ups in a country like China, I would like to report the testimonies of the participants to the meeting held at the Fondazione Novara Sviluppo in Novara about “A3Cube: big data, supercomputers, great success” I attended yesterday.
Dealing with the Asian continent is quite complicated. One of the main difficulties consists in establishing proper business relationships using their standards (business etiquette, basic language knowledge, general knowledge of their history and living habits which differ very strongly from ours). You need to have a resident trustful correspondent over there, with very good contacts in the places that count, i.e. the Government, Municipalities etc. You have to protect your ideas in the most efficient way, because projects and ideas you present, are very likely to be shared and exploited by the Chinese government on public platforms.
What do you think about it?
Have a nice weekend,
Giorgio
Hi everyone!
About the topic Luca introduced, regarding where to mainly focus an hypothetical business, I think your opinions are totally valid. Europe could be a fertile ground for human capital, but we have to consider that the venture capital industry here is relatively new and less common, and for this very reason it could maybe take a longer time to grow a business, if compared to USA for instance. But as yesterday’s meeting showed us, we should also consider that growth and profits are often in conflict with one another. VC is a model that particularly suits Silicon Valley companies but not necessarily every other business or start-up in another country and in a completely different context/reality, for a large number of factors, and financial habits are certainly one of them.
As Giorgio wrote, yesterday they also showed us how difficult it is to deal with a radically different work envirorment from the one we refer as “normal”, therefore it’s not an immediate decision that of choosing where to place a business or even just to expand an existent one. For instance, China’s economy is full of specific regulations and standards often connected to cultural aspects, rules that both chinese and foreign companies need to respect, and in addition to this, it’s not that easy for an outsider company to define its target market, or it should be more appropriate to talk about markets in plural, due to the geographical, economical and cultural different characteristics present in the “single” chinese market.
If startups’ main goal is to grow fast and if they have issues with moving their enstablishments abroad, a clever solution might be to create a dual company, which maintains operations in the home country but tries to find financial funding opportunities out of the EU, to raise more capital. In fact, according to this article (https://www.startupbusiness.it/dual-companies-europe/93019/) “Dual Companies raise approximately 30% more capital than scaleups that raise only through domestic investors. In Italy, 16% of the scaleups has chosen the dual model, raising 23% of the total capital raised by Italian scaleups […]”. Numbers speak for themselves!
What are your thoughts about this? Have a nice weekend!
Goood Morning!
Benedetta’s report is very interesting. I believe that the possibility of maintaining the dual companies depends on the set strategy. In the sense that a company after developing its idea and the business plan, it isn’t said that it should maintain this criteria if it wants to maintain its market in the country in which it has its headquarters. Conversely, if you want to exclude yourself, then moving your marketing and sales offices would be a very good strategic choice (a classic example of a divisional structure on the various markets). A critical point, however, that continues to exist in Italy is the fact of the relocation of production facilities. What do you think about it?
Hi everyone,
Talking about start-ups, we should consider the main authority in this field in Italy, “Invitalia”, investment bank belonging to the “Ministero del Tesoro”.
Invitalia is the National Agency for inward investment and economic development, owned by the Italian Ministry of Economy.
It manages all national incentives that encourage the creation of new companies and innovate start-ups. It finances projects both large and small, targeting entrepreneurs with concrete development plans, especially in innovate and high added value sectors.
It provides services to Public Administration to speed up the spending of EU and national funds, as well as to promote cultural heritage. It is the Purchasing Body and Contracting Authority for the execution of strategic actions at local level.
I want to share with you the call “Smart&Start Italia” http://www.smartstart.invitalia.it/site/smart/home/eng.html, dedicated to start-ups, with the purpose to facilitate the development of new projects in digital economy, environment, green energy and sustainable/innovative industrial processing.
The support consists of an interest-free loan covering capital investment and operating costs related to starting the business. For start-ups based in Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sardinia and Sicily, a non-repayable contribution of 20% of the loan is envisaged.
What do you think about it?
Have a nice weekend,
Giorgio
Hi guys,
To answering about Luca’s question, I would say that in my opinion China, being an economically growing nation, offers great opportunities for new start up creations. But it’s not as easy as it looks because, as someone of you has just said and as I was able to heard to the conference, we should relate to a different culture which has another business deal way. Moreover rules, costs and politics for starting a new business are many and different from one city to another one, therefore we must know with certainly where we would to create our business in China.
Anyway I take the view that Europe is able to accomplish considerable improvements but I think many times the potential isn’t exploited to the full. Moreover to create a start up we must consider some elements like state support, cost of living and taxes. However, I’m all about potential of our continent and also of Italy accordingly I’d rather invest time and and money without going out this country. As Luca already said, I’d like to focus my idea on new tech, too.
Also about Giorgio’s topic I think it’s a great idea encourage to open or growing up start up through these incentives all over Italy. Is the way to start believing in the success and potential of own ideas and business.
Have a nice day
Linda
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