sustainable design

Innovator Spotlight: Mahdi Eghbali of VerdiLife

E-Team grantee Mahdi Eghbali of VerdiLife has learned to look for teammates who have vision and passion for the problem the startup is trying to solve.

How Battery Entrepreneurs Learned the Power of Environmentally Responsible Business

With the right training and support, battery innovators can hold to their environmentally responsible values even in this super-charged competitive space.

Cool Ideas to Fix Global Warming: Preparing Cleantech Startups to Counter Climate Change

Climate change, dire threat that it is, also represents a long-overdue invitation to transform society through the adoption of sustainable technologies.

A Sustainable Solution to Food Waste: Give Produce a Longer Life

VentureWell E-Team Hazel Technologies has developed a sustainable solution to address the food waste crisis.

More Plastic, More Problems: How Innovation is Taking on an Ecological Crisis

VentureWell-supported innovators are tackling the growing plastic pollution crisis through invention and entrepreneurship.

Faculty Spotlight: Raja Schaar

Raja Schaar, Assistant Professor of Product Design at Drexel University, focuses her curriculum on health, well-being, social impact, and sustainability.

University of Oregon’s Kiersten Muenchinger: Redesigning Sustainability Education

Sustainability education is the cornerstone of the University of Oregon’s innovative undergraduate and graduate Product Design program.

Innovator Spotlight: Haley Marie Keith

Haley Marie Keith of MITO Material Solutions found that a strong network helped her team wade through the unknown of starting a new venture.

Innovator Spotlight: Aidan Mouat

Aidan Mouat of Hazel Technologies found that startups must learn to make good decisions with limited information.

Sustainability from the Start: Helping Early-Stage Inventors Think Green

Early stage inventors require access to resources and opportunities to explore what it means to integrate sustainability principles into their products.

Grox Industries: Energy Efficiency is a Window of Opportunity for Cleantech UP Winners

Grox Industries’ nanomaterial-based glass window coating reduces energy loss by 50%, saving consumers up to 70% on their heating and cooling costs.

Sanergy: Solving the Sanitation Crisis, One Toilet at a Time

Sanergy builds healthy, prosperous communities by making hygienic sanitation affordable and accessible throughout Africa’s informal settlements.

Infinite Cooling: Clean Energy Champions Aim to Save Power Plants Water and Money

Infinite Cooling invented technology to help power plants reduce water consumption by 20 to 30 percent and save millions of dollars each year.

Drinkwell: Cleaning Water, Generating a Profit

Drinkwell is transforming the world’s water crisis into entrepreneurial opportunity.

Impact Inventing: SiNode Systems’ Approach to Sustainable Energy

VentureWell E-Team SiNode Systems developed technology that enables longer-lasting, faster-charging Lithium-ion batteries.

Helix Steel: Unlikely Champions of Sustainable Design

Helix Steel’s technology is both stronger than rebar concrete and less carbon- and labor-intensive to produce.

Inspire, Engage, Transform: A Photo Essay Celebrating OPEN 2017

Post-it notes and business cards were flying at VentureWell’s Open 2017. Read the photo essay highlighting the engaging and inspiring conference.

The Challenge of Hardware Startups Part II

Hardware startups face unique challenges in bringing their solutions to scale. Learn how one hardware startup succeeded through early stage philanthropy.

Faculty Spotlight: Cindy Gilbert

Learn about Cindy Gilbert’s Sustainable Design program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Greenlight Planet: Bringing light to millions off the grid

Greenlight Planet has leveraged 6,000 micro-entrepreneurs who are earning a steady income by selling the company’s solar lights in their own communities, illuminating their neighbor’s homes.