Five new startups centered on sustainability solutions

During this month’s SXSW pitch competition, three startups were named winners and attracted special attention by investing their time and energy into sustainability solutions. Plus, we focus on travel + leisure global visionary awards, and its eco-friendly hotel initiatives make it easy for guests to give back to the local community.

One of the many events in the Umbrella SXSW event is its pitch competition, which takes place from March 8 to 9 in downtown Austin of Hilton. Competition gives startups an attempt to solve real-world problems with the opportunity to market their companies as part of the startup at SXSW conference. This year, there was a winner in each of the nine categories selected from the 45 participating startups, including three sustainability solutions startups, while another startup dedicated to marine conservation received special rewards. They are here:

• Every year, more than $1 trillion of food is wasted throughout the world. Based in Calgary, Canada-based Kneading Technology is a software company that simplifies food rescue operations and provides an all-in-one platform to transfer food waste from landfills.
• Xatoms, located in Toronto, Canada, uses AI and quantum chemistry to clean polluted waters around the world.
• Helix Earth “grows the world through accelerated liquid gas chemistry.” The Houston, Texas-based company’s capabilities drive environmental improvements, including conserving natural resources, saving 50% or more of energy for refrigerating buildings, and improving cooling opportunities for emerging economies and vulnerable populations.
• Azul Biotechnologies in Brooklyn, New York won the special award for “Best Bootstrap Company”. Azul has created microbiome-based therapies from nature that give ocean life the immunity to human impacts, combat climate change, marine diseases and pollution.

Each stadium winner will receive cash prizes and two badges for next year’s SXSW conference, but arguably more valuable is their exposure to SXSW participants and potential investors. Finalists have raised more than $23 billion in funding since the launch of the promotion program in 2009.

“When we watch the industry change as AI emerges and new technologies move forward, we are excited to showcase these companies and entrepreneurs leading innovative companies and entrepreneurs in their field and provide them with a stage to emphasize their power, which allows us to change our world,” SXSW sales promotion producer Chris Valentine said in a press release. We know that. ”

Give the bag

at the same time, Travel + Leisure Its 2025 Global Vision Awards has just been announced, which inspires individuals, products, destinations and organizations in five categories that pioneer sustainable and environmentally friendly travel. “These visionary people focus on the future of travel and are committed to ensuring that we, as human beings, can continue to explore the world without damaging it as we grow,” he said. Travel + Leisure wrote in the press release.

While the award focuses on leisure travel, the award has attracted our attention, an initiative that can be shared by the event industry: Give the bag. In fact, the initiative was conceived in 2013 by co-founder and CEO Quinn Cox, following a meeting in Las Vegas. “We just want to leave these items in the room, hoping to leave them in the room,” Cox wrote.

It provides an easy-to-implement approach for hotels, which can provide travelers with an easy-to-implement approach, with options for items that are lightly used by the local community in one bag in each room. Travelers place items like books, shoes, and clothes in a gift bag and fill in a short paragraph to share what they donated. Donation Bags have grown from a hotel partner to a dedicated network of influence-driven hotels and brands – Impact Hotels, a selection of more than 350 sustainable hotels in 15 countries around the world.

Cox wrote that working with Impact Hotels means they “make the world a better place through influential sustainability, environmental protection and people-centered initiatives.”

Bravely to all SXSW winners and Travel + Leisure Do the same thing.

Michelle Russell is ConveneEditor-in-chief.